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librarymouse's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
A book within a book within a book made for a wild and very engaging read. I finished it in a day.
the novel ending with Leo, whose storyline seemed to be constantly unfinished, waiting for Winifred and Marigold made the whole thing more meta. For Freddie to be seemingly stalked by the Leo that Leo the murderer praises Hannah the author for creating was such an interesting way to fold the layered universes in on themselves! Leo the murderer stalking the author who then wrote a Leo the character stalking Winifred the author character who was friends with Marigold, the stalker of Whit, who had done an unsettlingly large volume of research on Cain to try to exploit his mom's shoddy lawyering into a pullitzer makes for a very interesting web of morally gray people. I did want Leo the character's story to be tied up more. He's still characterized as helpful, which I think ads an interesting tilt to the story being told about Leo the murderer and Hannah the author and the impact of what he gave her on her writing. But I want to know more about the reasoning behind the cupcakes and the groceries. Is it flirting, stalking, or friendship? I wasn't expecting for Leo the murderer to be a racist, but using that racism and vitriol to show his descent into delusion was interesting, especially in how that morphed from what could be perceived as advice on US perceptions of race and how it impacts jnteracrjoms with the police.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual content, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Violence, and Police brutality
regaliaofchaos's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual violence, and Stalking
Moderate: Drug abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Blood, and Pandemic/Epidemic
keeparas's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Listened to the Audio: Naration was fine, different characters were identifiable.
Review: Too slow and drawn out. Very predictable. I didnt get to enjoy the "twists & turns" of the book because the author set it up to be too obvious. The plot was about an author writing her murder mystery book based on the events that unfold in front of her while she sits at a library. A fan, or beta reader offers suggestions chapter by chapter & we, the audience, are reading them. With each chapter, the beta reader got more and more annoyed with the story and asked the writer to change something or adapt it to a more "American" style (the author character in the book is Australian) and the next chapter does the exact opposite of the suggestion, making it seem like the Aussie author is doing it on purpose.
I didn't love the style, really only listened half heartedly & rolled my eyes half the time when the obvious became reality.
Review: Too slow and drawn out. Very predictable. I didnt get to enjoy the "twists & turns" of the book because the author set it up to be too obvious. The plot was about an author writing her murder mystery book based on the events that unfold in front of her while she sits at a library. A fan, or beta reader offers suggestions chapter by chapter & we, the audience, are reading them. With each chapter, the beta reader got more and more annoyed with the story and asked the writer to change something or adapt it to a more "American" style (the author character in the book is Australian) and the next chapter does the exact opposite of the suggestion, making it seem like the Aussie author is doing it on purpose.
I didn't love the style, really only listened half heartedly & rolled my eyes half the time when the obvious became reality.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
Minor: Gun violence and Blood
vj_thompson's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
The ending had me questioning what I just read. Overall, the plot kinda of dragged once I reached the halfway point. There were so many plot twists happening that it was hard to keep up. I loved the duel story element. The emails were a nice touch.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Gun violence, Blood, Medical content, Stalking, and Death of parent
Minor: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
paintergirl's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I wanted to like the book. I dug the concept but found it ultimately clumsy.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence and Blood
sophiesometimesreads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Still not completely sure as to what I want to rate this, but I think 3 stars (or somewhere in that range) is where it sits for me. I had an enjoyable time reading it but there were a few things that didn't work as well for me.
The first was the dual storyline. I felt as soon as I was getting sucked into the murder mystery story, the letters would come in and bring me out of it, reminding me that the murder mystery story wasn't real in the context of the story. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed both storylines but they felt like two different stories to me. I also would've liked to see the two stories connect a bit more at the end.
The ending also confused me a bit.It felt like it had wrapped up just for her to see Leo in the elevator and him saying they might need his help, but I didn't really see the benefit of that in context. Also, what did it mean? I read a few analyses online but it seems like I'm not the only one who feels this way.
The murder mystery storyline was interesting, though there were only four main characters with one being the narrator so that left only a few options for who did it. The big reveal didn't absolutely shock me but I hadn't quite pieced it all together, so it was not a horrible conclusion to that storyline. But, like I said before, I wasn't as invested in this part as I could've been knowing that it wasn't a real timeline of events in the context of the story.
I enjoyed the characters, despite them being not the most developed, and I liked getting to know Cain's backstory and how it wove into Hannah's story.
I felt like this book had good moments that sucked you in, but ultimately the two different parts of the story didn't quite work together as well as they could've for me. In saying this, I still enjoyed my time reading this and there was some good exploration into the extent to which real world issues can and should be woven into stories.
The first was the dual storyline. I felt as soon as I was getting sucked into the murder mystery story, the letters would come in and bring me out of it, reminding me that the murder mystery story wasn't real in the context of the story. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed both storylines but they felt like two different stories to me. I also would've liked to see the two stories connect a bit more at the end.
The ending also confused me a bit.
The murder mystery storyline was interesting, though there were only four main characters with one being the narrator so that left only a few options for who did it. The big reveal didn't absolutely shock me but I hadn't quite pieced it all together, so it was not a horrible conclusion to that storyline. But, like I said before, I wasn't as invested in this part as I could've been knowing that it wasn't a real timeline of events in the context of the story.
I enjoyed the characters, despite them being not the most developed, and I liked getting to know Cain's backstory and how it wove into Hannah's story.
I felt like this book had good moments that sucked you in, but ultimately the two different parts of the story didn't quite work together as well as they could've for me. In saying this, I still enjoyed my time reading this and there was some good exploration into the extent to which real world issues can and should be woven into stories.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Stalking, and Pandemic/Epidemic
heathermarie08's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
At first, I really didn't like this writing style. Just a tad confusing and took me a bit to get in the groove of it. But as I got used to it, it began to feel almost as if I was discussing the book with another person (the author to author emails). It was also exciting to see the remarks from the other author put into the rest of the story. The story is enjoyable and kept my interest. It ends up turning into 2 stories in one which is fun.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Murder
Minor: Gun violence, Racism, and Blood
displacedcactus's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
This was a fun detour from my usually fantasy-heavy reading list. It's very meta, and at times the framing device irritated me, but it does pay off. I don't think it will particularly stick with me but it was a good read for cross-country flight!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence and Blood
Minor: Child abuse and Sexual assault
racl's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
It wasn't bad, and as someone who's not huge on mystery as a genre, it was easy and engaging enough to read.
Freddie, the main character, feels like a blank slate to me in a lot of ways - what we know about her is circumstantial, and her actions are fairly often contrary to her own perception of self.
The fiction within fiction gimmick was enjoyable - for me it helped separate the main mystery into more manageable chunks while adding another layer on top.
I won't read it again, but I had a good enough time with it.
Freddie, the main character, feels like a blank slate to me in a lot of ways - what we know about her is circumstantial, and her actions are fairly often contrary to her own perception of self.
The fiction within fiction gimmick was enjoyable - for me it helped separate the main mystery into more manageable chunks while adding another layer on top.
I won't read it again, but I had a good enough time with it.
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Sexual assault, Blood, and Stalking
lauren_e_d's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This was an ok book. I enjoyed the mystery and how the 4 were brought together, and I actually did enjoy the subplot with the emails. However I think the email thing could have been more interesting and drawn out because it felt resolved quite quickly. In terms of the mystery, I liked it although I had a suspicion of who it might be. It wasn’t the best mystery ever but an easy read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder