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khakipantsofsex's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, Incest, Classism, Death, and Suicide
Moderate: Biphobia and Homophobia
Minor: Self harm
dodgethepurple's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence, Violence, and Pregnancy
Minor: Suicide
salvianlehdet's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.25
Very nice, tense and interesting book! I liked the 12 days of christmas anagram game alot, it made me read some of the chapters multiple times though since I was determined to find all of them. At the end of the book the plot started to get a bit all over the place and crazy and I feel like some of the things were crammed to the end but otherwise absolutely a great read!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Car accident, Blood, Alcohol, Grief, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Murder, Violence, and Suicide
stephabee_reads's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Bullying, Confinement, Death of parent, and Blood
Moderate: Suicide, Pregnancy, Incest, and Self harm
scribblinginthemargins's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Violence, Murder, and Self harm
Moderate: Gaslighting, Grief, and Incest
chloe_marshall's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Death, Gun violence, Murder, Violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Incest
sweekune's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
3.5/5
Audiobook narrated by Laura Costello.
Lily Armitage returns to her childhood home, Endgame House, following the death of her aunt. To everyone else, she's there to play a game of riddles to win the rights to the house, but secretly she's also there to find out what happened to her mother.
- Originally I thought this was a cosy Christmas murder mystery, sort of a modern Agatha Christie-esque story. However, it was definitely more of a thriller. Yes it had the trappings and decoration of a lighter story but actually things ended up being pretty dark by the end.
- I liked the fun of the riddles and clues both to The Christmas Game and to the mysteries within Endgame itself. they were lyrical and fun but did always make sense. I think it would have been better to read them in the physical version as in the audiobook, you couldn't literally see the clues hidden in them.
- The setting was both festive and creepy. An old manor house with a maze, ice house and chapel really was an amazing place to weave a mystery.
- This book was actually amazingly queer with multiple characters being queer in some way, shape or form. I also liked how this wasn't forced, it was just there and who the people were, not necessarily their entire personality. And as a bisexual, I'll always appreciate a bi main character.
Dark, eerie but festive. For those who want a Christmas read with a bit of a puzzle and a side of murder.
Audiobook narrated by Laura Costello.
Lily Armitage returns to her childhood home, Endgame House, following the death of her aunt. To everyone else, she's there to play a game of riddles to win the rights to the house, but secretly she's also there to find out what happened to her mother.
- Originally I thought this was a cosy Christmas murder mystery, sort of a modern Agatha Christie-esque story. However, it was definitely more of a thriller. Yes it had the trappings and decoration of a lighter story but actually things ended up being pretty dark by the end.
- I liked the fun of the riddles and clues both to The Christmas Game and to the mysteries within Endgame itself. they were lyrical and fun but did always make sense. I think it would have been better to read them in the physical version as in the audiobook, you couldn't literally see the clues hidden in them.
- The setting was both festive and creepy. An old manor house with a maze, ice house and chapel really was an amazing place to weave a mystery.
- This book was actually amazingly queer with multiple characters being queer in some way, shape or form. I also liked how this wasn't forced, it was just there and who the people were, not necessarily their entire personality. And as a bisexual, I'll always appreciate a bi main character.
Dark, eerie but festive. For those who want a Christmas read with a bit of a puzzle and a side of murder.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Blood, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Grief, Pregnancy, Murder, Death of parent, and Death
Moderate: Car accident, Cursing, Homophobia, Biphobia, Incest, and Alcohol
ruthdaniell's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Suicide, and Blood
atalea's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Confinement, Grief, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, and Bullying
Moderate: Incest, Toxic relationship, Suicide, and Violence
Minor: Car accident
beckyyreadss's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
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
4.0
This book was gifted to me by a family member as I was feeling festive this year. I was hoping to feel more festive reads and I was excited going into this and I love a mystery and I love Christmas so it was a perfect mix.
This book is based on Lily Armitage. She never intended to return to Endgame House, the grand family home where her mother died twenty-one Christmases ago. Until she receives a letter from her aunt, asking her to return to take part in an annual tradition: the Christmas Game. The challenge? Solve twelve clues, to find twelve keys. The prize? The deed to the house. Lily has no desire to win the house, but her aunt makes one more promise: the clues will also be revealed who really killed her mother all those years ago. So, for the twelve days of Christmas, Lily must stay at Endgame House with her estranged cousins and unravel the riddles that hold the key not just the family home, but to the family’s darkest secrets. However, it soon becomes clear that her cousins all have their own reasons for wanting to win the house and not all of them are playing fair. As a snowstorm cuts them off from the village, the game turns deadly. Soon Lily realises that she is no longer fighting for an inheritance, but for her life. This Christmas is to die for . . . let the game begins.
I love a good mystery and the build-up and the twists and turns. I loved Lily and Isabelle and the aspect of the Christmas Game every year. I always love reading or hearing about people’s traditions. I loved the games that Alexandra has within the book though I could only do the wordsearch because I'm too stupid for anagrams. I loved reading Lily’s story and getting to know her even though it was mainly focused on Lily’s grief which can affect a lot of people are Christmas plus she was going through a lot of life changes during these twelve days. I loved Mrs Castle and Isabelle and was hoping they were popping in more, but they weren’t family, so they only showed up during the end. I love the LGBT relationships in these, and I wanted to hug them all.
I would have loved for this book to be bigger to get the full back story on some of these members, I was forgetting some of them because they were forgettable. I managed to guess the killer quickly but I'm putting that down to me reading a lot of thriller and mystery books. I would have loved this book to be multiple POV to see what everyone else was thinking. I wasn’t thrilled with the pregnancy aspect either, but I just don’t like pregnancy in books.
Overall this was an intense Christmas mystery and would recommend it to anyone who likes the game Clue or Knives Out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Incest, Pregnancy, and Suicide
Minor: Sexual content, Biphobia, and Alcoholism