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marilynw's review against another edition
4.0
Until I Met Her (Emma Fern #1)
by Natalie Barelli, Kate Rudd (Narrator)
Fern seems so nice. Very humble and snarky, but mostly in her head, because she's a nice person. She tries to be the best wife she can be for her husband since he's so brilliant and smart and above her in almost every way and he needs a good little wife to take care of things on the home front. He doesn't expect his wife to meet his brilliance, after all, how could she?
But things are changing. Fern had wanted to write a book once and now she has her chance, sort of. Now she's actually able to put a real book out there, kind of. And it's all because she has met her favorite author, Beatrice Johnson-Greene, and Beatrice actually likes Fern. She wants to be Fern's mentor and she wants to spend time with Fern. She also wants Fern's help.
Things do go all cattywampus at some point but as anxious and off her rocker as Fern may get at times, she's up to the task of fixing what needs fixing. Just you watch her! It's a mistake to underestimate Fern and just about everyone has done so.
Pub June 16, 2016
This was a Kindle Unlimited audiobook.
by Natalie Barelli, Kate Rudd (Narrator)
Fern seems so nice. Very humble and snarky, but mostly in her head, because she's a nice person. She tries to be the best wife she can be for her husband since he's so brilliant and smart and above her in almost every way and he needs a good little wife to take care of things on the home front. He doesn't expect his wife to meet his brilliance, after all, how could she?
But things are changing. Fern had wanted to write a book once and now she has her chance, sort of. Now she's actually able to put a real book out there, kind of. And it's all because she has met her favorite author, Beatrice Johnson-Greene, and Beatrice actually likes Fern. She wants to be Fern's mentor and she wants to spend time with Fern. She also wants Fern's help.
Things do go all cattywampus at some point but as anxious and off her rocker as Fern may get at times, she's up to the task of fixing what needs fixing. Just you watch her! It's a mistake to underestimate Fern and just about everyone has done so.
Pub June 16, 2016
This was a Kindle Unlimited audiobook.
areclusereader's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- 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
3.25
routergirl's review against another edition
4.0
While I loathed the main character (so entitled! So clueless and yet...so devious!), I loved this book. Thanks for the rec, Josie!
wellingtonestatelibrary's review against another edition
3.0
Just okay. I needed something totally different while I process my Kingdom of Ash read.
andreanicole866's review against another edition
5.0
This was soooo good! From start to finish I was hooked. I will say I hated the husband so damn much. I know she made him stay because she was obsessed and knew it would hurt him but I wished she would’ve fucked Jim over and found someone who appreciated her. Like his other work partner who always flirted with her.
cschmitz3's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting story
This was a good murder story but not as good as Natalie's other books. I enjoyed reading this one but it didn't hold my attention until the end. Also not at all what I expected at the end. Beatrice was not a nice person but I never hoped that she would die!
This was a good murder story but not as good as Natalie's other books. I enjoyed reading this one but it didn't hold my attention until the end. Also not at all what I expected at the end. Beatrice was not a nice person but I never hoped that she would die!
sbougeard's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
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? It's complicated
3.25
mandyherbet's review against another edition
1.0
Full disclosure: I skimmed the last third of this book because it was so awful. And by awful I mean self-published (I assume), two-dimensional and flat throughout. So, yes, awful. I hate-read it simply to be able to "finish" it and warn everyone else in my friends list to stay away.
Let's begin with the plot, which is actually the one redeeming feature of this book. There's a murder (or are there two murders? NOT TELLING) - Emma Fern, bestselling author and literary prize nominee has killed her best friend, author Beatrice. This is not a secret - we're told this in the first chapter so I'm not spoiling everything for you. How she comes to have killed her is the tale we're told from Emma's perspective.
Emma is a mild-mannered shop owner who comes from poverty and now lives with her super-smart economist husband, Jim, and enjoys a boring life until she meets her FAVOURITE author, Beatrice, one day in her shop. What follows is a request from Beatrice (who quickly becomes Emma's BEST FRIEND IN THE WHOLE WORLD) to pretend to have written a book by Beatrice and be her stand-in because the book is totally different to anything she's ever written and no agent will take it seriously. Obviously Emma descends into a spiral of jealousy and delusion which culminates in murder. Interesting, right?
EXCEPT all the characters are completely flat and so two-dimensional that they'll give you paper cuts. Emma is obviously unhinged from the beginning so there's no descent into delusion that would be necessary to make the day she "snaps" believable. Her husband Jim obviously detests her from the start despite the author trying to tell us that their marriage was super happy and perfect. Beatrice is so craven and rude that you actually want to reach in and throttle her and, well, the story is told in such a way that you might think you're reading the outline instead of the fleshed out book.
And this is before I even talk about the dialogue, because AWFUL. There are no words but I'll try find them: stilted like a stick man walking on stilts does not even come close. I'd come up with examples but just trust me, awful.
Let's begin with the plot, which is actually the one redeeming feature of this book. There's a murder (or are there two murders? NOT TELLING) - Emma Fern, bestselling author and literary prize nominee has killed her best friend, author Beatrice. This is not a secret - we're told this in the first chapter so I'm not spoiling everything for you. How she comes to have killed her is the tale we're told from Emma's perspective.
Emma is a mild-mannered shop owner who comes from poverty and now lives with her super-smart economist husband, Jim, and enjoys a boring life until she meets her FAVOURITE author, Beatrice, one day in her shop. What follows is a request from Beatrice (who quickly becomes Emma's BEST FRIEND IN THE WHOLE WORLD) to pretend to have written a book by Beatrice and be her stand-in because the book is totally different to anything she's ever written and no agent will take it seriously. Obviously Emma descends into a spiral of jealousy and delusion which culminates in murder. Interesting, right?
EXCEPT all the characters are completely flat and so two-dimensional that they'll give you paper cuts. Emma is obviously unhinged from the beginning so there's no descent into delusion that would be necessary to make the day she "snaps" believable. Her husband Jim obviously detests her from the start despite the author trying to tell us that their marriage was super happy and perfect. Beatrice is so craven and rude that you actually want to reach in and throttle her and, well, the story is told in such a way that you might think you're reading the outline instead of the fleshed out book.
And this is before I even talk about the dialogue, because AWFUL. There are no words but I'll try find them: stilted like a stick man walking on stilts does not even come close. I'd come up with examples but just trust me, awful.
amiramariex's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
llwilliams080117's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.75