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3.47 AVERAGE
3.47 AVERAGE
I decided to read this on a plane trip because it seemed easy to read and get into without having to think too hard, which is good because I get sleepy on planes. I don't often read mysteries but I'm determined to read everything Harris writes. I like her other two mystery protagonists, Lily Bard and Harper Connelly, but I have to say I like Aurora Teagarden the least.
Aurora is pretty plain and boring, even without her being a librarian. She lives alone and doesn't even have a pet. She's 28 and wears jean skirts, blouses with flowers on them, and heels with bows on the back. Yikes. Clothing choices aside, I didn't really connect with Aurora. She has almost no personality and you never really get inside her head. Pretty much the only thing she's good at is butting in where she doesn't belong. I found this happened a lot with Lily Bard too so maybe this is something that's normal for a mystery series; I guess you have to give the character a reason for being in the book. With Harper, it makes sense that she's involved in a murder mystery. A librarian or a housekeeper? Not so much.
Even with all that, I still enjoyed the story. I liked that you weren't given that many clues and I was guessing until the end about the murderer. There were three people that I considered, but I was way off! The novel could have used some beefing up though, and the reason that it was such a quick read came from the fact that there was little to no character development or description of many of the surroundings. I'm hoping the rest of the books in this series improve on this greatly.
It sounds like I'm really ragging on this book but I did enjoy it. It definitely has it's shortcomings but I see some promising things that could be developed and I'll continue reading this series.
Aurora is pretty plain and boring, even without her being a librarian. She lives alone and doesn't even have a pet. She's 28 and wears jean skirts, blouses with flowers on them, and heels with bows on the back. Yikes. Clothing choices aside, I didn't really connect with Aurora. She has almost no personality and you never really get inside her head. Pretty much the only thing she's good at is butting in where she doesn't belong. I found this happened a lot with Lily Bard too so maybe this is something that's normal for a mystery series; I guess you have to give the character a reason for being in the book. With Harper, it makes sense that she's involved in a murder mystery. A librarian or a housekeeper? Not so much.
Even with all that, I still enjoyed the story. I liked that you weren't given that many clues and I was guessing until the end about the murderer. There were three people that I considered, but I was way off! The novel could have used some beefing up though, and the reason that it was such a quick read came from the fact that there was little to no character development or description of many of the surroundings. I'm hoping the rest of the books in this series improve on this greatly.
It sounds like I'm really ragging on this book but I did enjoy it. It definitely has it's shortcomings but I see some promising things that could be developed and I'll continue reading this series.
mysterious
Es el primer libro de una serie con Aurora Teagarden como protagonista, y el primero que leo de esta autora porque es la escritora True Blood, pero como organizaron una lectura conjunta de este libro y pude apuntarme he empezado por aquí es un libro donde conocemos un poco a Aurora está entretenido y me tuvo pendiente de la trama y como siempre no lo vi venir, seguiré con los siguientes para ver si disfruto con esta protagonista
Fast paced and easy read. Some interesting characters that I'm interested in reading more about at some point.
Aurora's narration took me by surprise at first. I have no idea why.
I gave this book 3 stars because although it was an easy and enjoyable read, Aurora wasn't as "active" as a protagonist in this detective type book as she could have been. A fact that actually alluded me until I watched the Hallmark adaptation. For the first time ever, I can honestly say that some of the alterations made to characters, particularly Aurora, in the adaptation process made this story better and fixed some of the smaller character and plot issues.
Aurora's narration took me by surprise at first. I have no idea why.
I gave this book 3 stars because although it was an easy and enjoyable read, Aurora wasn't as "active" as a protagonist in this detective type book as she could have been. A fact that actually alluded me until I watched the Hallmark adaptation. For the first time ever, I can honestly say that some of the alterations made to characters, particularly Aurora, in the adaptation process made this story better and fixed some of the smaller character and plot issues.
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Quite a bit darker than I typically expect from a cozy (though it was written in ~1990, so...?). Dark (really traumatic stuff happening to more than one character), and obviously a first (in the series), but it pulled me in and was written well enough that I didn't really think about the flaws until it was over. I also enjoyed the reminder of how things were so different in small-town America in the 80s and 90s (like, letting a 6 yr old play alone outside?). Overall, would recommend.
i read book 2 in this series first, hated it, and decided to hateread the first book on the off chance that it would be interesting! it wasn't.
edit: forgot to mention the homophobia! yikes.
edit: forgot to mention the homophobia! yikes.
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Torture
I think I'm rating this so high because I love the hallmark series and watched it before reading this book. I wonder what I would have rated it if I could have left the series out of it, maybe 3 stars? It's alright, but there are way better heroines in cozy mysteries out there.
mysterious
medium-paced