A review by megspiteri
The Appeal by Janice Hallett

dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.5

okay I have a lot to say on this book. I was excited to read it, I'd heard good things and I really enjoyed the Christmas novella sequel thing BUT the email/text style of writing gets old really quickly. It was a good style for the short novella but in this 300+ page book it got boring very quickly. ALSO some of the (main) characters are INSUFFERABLE which I know is deliberate but it got so annoying and put me off reading the book. ALSO if you are reading this for a murder mystery, it doesn't happen until about 70% of the way through, and it feels like the solving is very rushed and squished into the last bit of the book. I kept reading until the end to find out what happened but I didn't enjoy the reading, I just wanted to know how it all worked out, and although the mystery does solve pretty nicely, I don't think it is groundbreaking enough to undo all the annoying and boring bits about the book. The actual story is great but the way it's written ruins it. Other books by Janice Hallet are on my TBR but I'm not sure I will read them if they involve the same annoying characters and the email/text writing style
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