Reviews

Spitting Gold by Carmella Lowkis

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acarter's review against another edition

4.0

SPITTING GOLD is an atmospheric & tense sister story set in 19th-century Paris. Sylvie has made her way out of the gutter, positioned now as a Baroness with her grifter past far behind her...or so she thinks. Sylvia is rattled when her younger sister Charlotte appears on her doorstep, begging her to pull off one last con. Reluctantly, Sylvie agrees to pose once again as a medium to help (or, scam) a family who thinks they're being haunted by one of their ancestors. The longer their scam goes on, though, the more the sisters begin to worry that the ghost might be real after all. Atmospheric & exciting, SPITTING GOLD is a fast-paced, twisty-turny historical thriller perfect for fans of Sarah Waters!

brunstadb's review

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mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

chlcrc617's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

bearholebooks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.75

100percent_cotton's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

3.0

rmm17360's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

jrayereads's review

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3.0

I had high hopes for this but ultimately it was just fine. The pacing was frustrating and I struggled to get through the first 90 or so pages. We get a twist around halfway and then we get A LOT of backtracking from a different perspective to fill in the holes of what is going on. That section of the book REALLY needed to be cut down, because even though we were being provided the behind-the-scenes of what was going on, I still felt like we were retreading the same stuff. If that section had been more brief and that time was spent actually developing Sylvie and Charlotte’s relationship, I think that would’ve done wonders for making the story more engaging. Make me care about them!!

Speaking of the ridiculousness of the characters, I truly just did not understand WHY Sylvie needed to be involved WITHOUT being in the loop on the revenge plan. That made no sense to me, and I ended up sort of being on Sylvie’s side, even when it went against the relatively believable and sympathetic couple made up of Florence and Charlotte. We needed so much more time to be spent on developing the relationship between the two sisters that was instead spent on the romance and overexplaining the twist.

Also the “argument” Sylvie had with her husband when he suspected she was cheating on him infuriated me because she did nothing to defend herself? That felt like a moment that encapsulates the issues I have with characterization, which is that I didn’t really understand any of the characters’ motivation for why they did what they did, things just HAPPENED to move the plot along. This made me feel disconnected from most of the main cast.

Still giving it three stars for the atmosphere, the writing, and for surprising me with the twists. Those were strong elements, so I can see why people are rating this highly. I liked how things were slowly revealed over time and that gave the mystery these layers that were fun to delve into before the reveal. Unfortunately, I didn’t connect with the characters or their motivations and that made it kind of a slog to get through. I would definitely check out more from this author in the future, though.