sashastadler's review against another edition
dark
tense
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
5.0
aliyyah's review
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? Yes
4.0
This may not be for everyone but it was for me!
The writing was so compelling and addictive I just ate it up. Scratched that itch in my brain and felt like a fever dream.
Ironically, now I’m craving homemade bread.
The writing was so compelling and addictive I just ate it up. Scratched that itch in my brain and felt like a fever dream.
Ironically, now I’m craving homemade bread.
checkie's review
3.0
I was really disappointed that I didn't like this book more. I had assumed that the strange happenings in the village and the mass hysteria episode would form more of a major plot point but instead it was relegated to the background, tacked onto the end of the novel in what felt like a rushed afterthought. Instead, Mackintosh focussed on the sexual tension between the narrator, Elodie and two recent arrivals to the community, the ambassador and his sophisticated wife, Violet. This tension had initial interest but it quickly became repetitive and I found the ambiguity it resulted in lazy and frustrating. There was so much potential for Mackintosh to further explore the disturbing happenings in the village and their impact on this isolated community, but instead the events leading up t0 the mass hysteria were glossed over and neglected, diminishing their potential impact on the reader.
biblizo's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- 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
2.0
trauermaerchen's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
5.0
booklover_17's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
agiali's review against another edition
2.0
❀ 259/ 100
No one wanted to love this book more than myself, but unfortunately, I'm contributing to the low Goodreads rating. :(
Essentially, this novel takes place in 1951 in a small French village where everyone was mass poisoned, and Sophie Mackintosh reimagines it as poisoning through bread. We follow the baker's wife as she obsesses over a new couple in the village but more specifically on the wife: Violet.
Although novels about female obsession are my forte, this did not hit for me like I wanted it to. I had heard about this book via TikToker @bridgetish where she had said something about "How could a book about cursed bread be so erotic?" and I was like OOOOOOOO.
To say this book didn't live up to the hype or its to-die-for cover would be an understatement. I wanted to love this more than I did, but if I rated this even a star higher the guilt of lying would make me want to eat poisonous bread.
(The first book of the Bloomin' Readathon is done! Read for the Moon Prompt: Read a book set in a different country than the one you live in)
No one wanted to love this book more than myself, but unfortunately, I'm contributing to the low Goodreads rating. :(
Essentially, this novel takes place in 1951 in a small French village where everyone was mass poisoned, and Sophie Mackintosh reimagines it as poisoning through bread. We follow the baker's wife as she obsesses over a new couple in the village but more specifically on the wife: Violet.
Although novels about female obsession are my forte, this did not hit for me like I wanted it to. I had heard about this book via TikToker @bridgetish where she had said something about "How could a book about cursed bread be so erotic?" and I was like OOOOOOOO.
To say this book didn't live up to the hype or its to-die-for cover would be an understatement. I wanted to love this more than I did, but if I rated this even a star higher the guilt of lying would make me want to eat poisonous bread.
(The first book of the Bloomin' Readathon is done! Read for the Moon Prompt: Read a book set in a different country than the one you live in)
readwithbells's review against another edition
I’m all for sad girl books wrapped up in a woman’s subjectivity and interiority, but Jesus this is so one-note I’m exhausted. Mackintosh’s writing is gorgeous but I am almost halfway through this book and have no idea what’s going on, Elodie’s horniness is more pathetic than sexy, Violet is not very interesting for being a mysterious femme fatale and I’m just bored. I’d pick up another of this author’s books, but without a semblance of a through-line, I don’t want to put myself through the rest of the story to hopefully get to the weird and uncanny I was looking for from the beginning.
acbrummitt's review
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5