Reviews

Miracle Creek by Angie Kim

snikkidee's review

4.0

This book could be triggering to a lot of people. I’m a nurse practitioner who greatly fears hurting someone unintentionally and putting myself in the position of any one of these characters in the chain of events was very anxiety producing.

I thought all the plot points wove together well and reveals weren’t out of left field. It wasn’t predictable, which is something I rarely find anymore.

It would’ve been a 5 star read. It was well written and engaging, but it was so depressing and distressing to me that I just couldn’t do it.

ninamarie400's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

The mystery in this books kept me on my toes. I didn’t think I would like “courtroom dramas” but that ended up being my favorite aspect of this book. 

I really disliked the Matt and Mary story line. I feel like we could have gotten to the end result with another motive.

 

The time jumps and perspective changes were confusing at times, but may have been due to me listening to the audio, and was much easier to recognize by the d of the story. 

emsunders's review

mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

pchap101's review

4.0

Wowsa! This was a ride. A lot of good commentary and characters that you both love and hate. I knew Angie Kim would be the author for me, and don't understand why I put this off so long. Excited to try Happiness Falls.

sophiakenneytolentino's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

chess__bored's review

the way she wants to be Little Fires Everywhere so bad 

curlyjessreads's review against another edition

4.0

This is a multilayered book! On one hand it's about immigrants and the difficulty they have assimilating in the US. But it's also a courtroom drama, and also about parenting through medical and/or neurodivergent issues. It will make you question your first thoughts and wonder how you may (or may not) have responded differently! 
I appreciated the twists and turns. We slowly get the story as lies are revealed, and we try to figure out who done it and why! I also liked how it ended. It was surprising in some ways, as I don't think many people would think that way, but it was a good resolution! 
It was a great book for our book club to discuss! We had a lot of topics to talk about. 

caleito's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No

3.75

sparklefarm's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.5

I'm glad I read Happiness Falls before this one because I did not enjoy this read. Some small quibbles, but enough serious concerns that I do not recommend. Thoughts in no particular order below.

• Could have done without the entire
  Matt-Mary
  storyline. It's not like it was portrayed in a good light, I just prefer my books without that kind of yuck.
• Relatedly I never want to hear the word
  penis
  again.
• In general this book felt overwritten. So. Many. Similes.
• The writing on autism felt borderline offensive. So much talk about wanting kids to be ~normal~ and the only characters who had a different outlook were vilified. I did not get this sense from Happiness Falls, which also deals with autism, so I hope there has been some learning in the meantime.
• Incredible audio narration.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Suicide, Death, Child death, Ableism, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, and Rape

Minor: Grief

nspekkers's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75