16kneidels's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Blood, Car accident, Stalking, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, Domestic abuse, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content
mrmarshall591's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Sexism, Murder, Excrement, Sexual content, Misogyny, Gore, Animal death, Death, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Car accident, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Suicide, Mental illness, and Kidnapping
Minor: Gun violence, Confinement, Addiction, Ableism, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Body shaming, and Death of parent
bambicat234's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Blood, Murder, Animal death, Sexual content, Violence, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, and Kidnapping
Minor: Confinement, Death of parent, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cursing, and Domestic abuse
sarahmae531's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, Kidnapping, Animal death, Murder, Death of parent, Torture, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Confinement
tzureader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Graphic: Murder and Animal death
jry's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.25
Graphic: Sexism, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Confinement, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Rape, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Torture, Suicide, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Domestic abuse
stephanieluxton's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.75
A friend of mine once told me that you don't know if you're in a rom-co or a horror movie until you've made at least one bad decision and thats basically the concept of this book - which I enjoy! The pacing was decent. The setting was interesting. I enjoyed the isolated ranch. It could be seen as romantic or spooky. I don't hate the writing as a whole.
The problem is that this book feels like it was written by aliens or AI because PEOPLE DO NOT ACT THIS WAY. First of all, no woman would stay in an Air BNB in which the owner is also staying there the whole time sharing the space, and there's not even a lock on the room. There's no way. Bad things start happening to Grace super early on and she just brushes them off. For example, at one point she slides into a random pit onto a dead animal full of maggots and she's basically just fine with that. Theres a few scenes where she comes close to being seriously injured and she doesn't go home.
Calvin is a weirdo and no guy in real life would think the thoughts he thinks - especially not a hot guy. There's no way. He's simping for Grace immediately and he talks in so many similes and metaphors that it's just ridiculous. The amount of time he talked about Grace's "blue blue eyes" was exhausting. I think it would have been better if the book wasn't half written from Calvin's perspective. It would have maintained a but more mystery.
Also I have beef with the author because trying to create twists is silly when the book is written in first person omniscient from both Grace and Calvins perspectives. It's hard to keep secrets from us when we are in your characters heads. The ending felt cheap. Maybe it's supposed to be a like a dumb Lifetime movie but JEEZ. Wasted potential. It was low-key better when it seemed more like a romance.
Now to spoil it:
Spoiler
I have a lot of thoughts so here we go. So basically it ends with us finding out Calvin kills women who come to stay with him at his Air BNB and mounts their heads in his closet on plaques with their names. Which is kind of ridiculous because the police visited him multiple times and if they had a warrant he would be done so quickly. This actually surprised me. Calvin gets creepy towards the end but I mostly thought that he was a simp because his thoughts lead you to believe that he's totally fallen for Grace, albeit in an obsessive way. The main twist (which I predicted immediately) is that Grace is a serial killer who kills Air BNB hosts. I predicted she was a killer because she never left when bad shit was happening and she seemed creepy and comfortable around death, blood, and guts. I didn't expect her to target air bnb guests. There was a lot of additional hints that Grace was weird like when Calvins friends got bad vibes from her, she couldn't remember her name and address immediately after her concussion, her refusal to mention the weird stuff to the police, and the docile horse didn't like her - although with that logic, the horse shouldn't have liked Calvin either. I kind of pictured her to be running from the law or something for hurting/escaping someone that abused her so that she could be more likeable. Also we find out that Grace has a husband and 2 kids at home. So I find it even more irredeemable that she was also cheating on her husband on top of being a serial killer. So in the end, Grace drugs and kills Calvin then goes home to her family. The climax of the story isn't really a climax. We find everything out in a short conversation. It's disappointing. I think it would have been better if Grace found things out more organically, stumbling upon things in the basement and then the shed on the property. She finds a book with his guests names in the basement but why would Calvin keep that if it has names of people he's killed in it? And why haven't the police been looking at his ranch for ALL the other girls that died there? Plot holes. This would have been a better story if Grace was falling for the handsome air bnb host and then slowly uncovers the mystery that he or someone close to him is a killer by accident and has to play pretend while finding a way to escape. It could have had a similar vibe to the movie 'Ready or Not?' with some epic girl boss moments but instead it focused too heavily on trying to surprise the reader, ultimately falling flat and feeling disappointing. I also don't think Calvin should have wanted to kill Grace because it seemed like he actually did develop some kind of feelings for her. It seemed like the townspeople were all tight knot so it even would have been more interesting if more of them were in on it. Or it would have been cool if Charlotte and Calvin killed people together but then Calvin started to fall in love with Grace and that complicated the game. There could have been so many layers here. I NEEDED MORE. Maybe I should write a book. But writing books sounds exhausting, which is why I hate leaving bad reviews. But I hate unrealized potential even more so here we are.This is the second book I've read by the author and I suppose it will probably be the last because I also hated The Perfect Marriage. Someone who enjoys silly popcorn thrillers may enjoy this. Or if you just want something to read that doesn't involve any brain power.
Moderate: Alcohol, Gore, Confinement, Car accident, Murder, Animal death, Alcoholism, Blood, Toxic friendship, Violence, Death, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Sexism, Domestic abuse, Drug use, and Misogyny
I'll tell you about the animal deaths. A deer is hit by a car, some chickens are killed via raccoon (i can't remember if they kill the raccoon?), a mountain lion is shot.erica_reads_things's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Kidnapping, Sexual content, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, and Blood
Minor: Death of parent, Medical content, Mental illness, and Body shaming
giveortakeacomma's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Sexual assault, and Murder
readingwithbritney's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, Animal death, Murder, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury