Reviews

The Birdcage by Eve Chase

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leona28's review against another edition

3.0

This was the #hfbookclub pick for March with most of us not loving this book unfortunately!

Synopsis:
Kat, Flora and Lauren are half sisters who share a famous artist dad and a terrible secret. Each has found a way to bury the secret and over the years they have grown apart, living very different lives. However, their father asks them all back to Rock Point, where they spent their summer holidays with their father. Rock point is beautiful, beside the sea but thick with secrets! There is also someone watching the house, the sisters and their every move.

I loved the sound of the synopsis of this one so I was excited to read it but unfortunately it was a little bit of a disappointment. Although it kept me reading to find out what happened a lot of the plot and twists were easily guessed before they happened. I felt there were some plot holes too especially with Angela's character and not a lot of character development of the main characters too. The sisters were all very different, a little bit stereotypically different, with one all about her family, one obsessed with work. And each chapter was from a different point of view. I enjoyed Lauren's chapters the most as I enjoyed her character the best, the other sisters I didn't love so I didn't enjoy their chapters as much! I felt maybe if all the chapters were from Lauren's point of view it may have been better. Another point I enjoyed was that the end of the chapters would sometimes end in a cliff hanger but the next chapter wouldn't tell you straight away what happened, leaving you wanting to read ahead.

Overall, this was okay and an easy read, however I don't think it will be a book I would pick up again. Saying that a lot of people in this book club recommended her other books, and that they are brilliant so I'm going to read them too and see!

linjinski's review against another edition

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4.0

3.5 ✨

milly_in_the_library's review against another edition

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hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

There is some completely beautiful writing at the start of the book-I made many highlights on my Kindle!

bibliobethreads's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

kalleigh's review against another edition

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2.0

I had a hard time with this one as the genres for it were “horror”, “mystery”, “gothic”, “thriller”, etc. and it was absolutely none of those things. So because of that, I felt disappointed when I got to the end as I kept waiting for said themes.

There was one scene that had potential to fit some of these boxes but then it turned into reasonable adults talking it out and everything was fine.

This is a story about a family who had a bad day in 1999 and struggled to move past it. Even the bad day didn’t need to be built up as much as it was. I’m not sure why all of the secrecy throughout… it all pretty much lead to nothing.

There were some characters that were meant to be red herrings but again, lead to nothing. Other characters had predictable outcomes and the story lacked the suspense needed to really give the feeling of a good twist.

Go in with an open mind knowing it’s the opposite of the genres listed and you will probably enjoy it. The writing is beautiful and descriptive and I liked learning about the different sisters and their lives. It’s ultimately a story about nostalgia and that family comes in all shapes and sizes.

I just didn’t love that I was waiting for something more. It fell a bit flat for me.