Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
3.5 rounded up
Hazel’s struggles with balancing cultural and parental expectations felt incredibly authentic and resonated deeply with me as a child of immigrants. I was immediately drawn to Madeline and wished we could have explored her character more in-depth. While the “handsome rich guy with a secret” trope was somewhat predictable, Hazel’s investigative process kept the story engaging. Overall, I found the book to be an entertaining read.
Hazel’s struggles with balancing cultural and parental expectations felt incredibly authentic and resonated deeply with me as a child of immigrants. I was immediately drawn to Madeline and wished we could have explored her character more in-depth. While the “handsome rich guy with a secret” trope was somewhat predictable, Hazel’s investigative process kept the story engaging. Overall, I found the book to be an entertaining read.
I couldn't put it down! What a breath of fresh air after reading a couple of duds. I loved Hazel so much, and this was a well-crafted story that kept me guessing until the end, but still made sense.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
My first book by Daniel G Miller and I really enjoyed it. It was engaging to read and full of mystery and intrigue. I can’t wait to read the sequel when it comes out and will be reading some of his other boons in the mean time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
This is a typical thriller with the main character finding things “by accident” because she is to ditzy to use real skills to figure out who is committing the crimes. The ending wasn’t a great surprise either. It wasn’t a bad read but very mediocre.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A great October read for the spooky and mysterious theme of the month! Highly recommend if you’d like a mix of mystery and true crime!
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
<<some spoilers>> I have mixed feelings and I can’t exactly pinpoint why. It felt like there were a lot of competing themes between Hazel’s identity as a Korean woman and her career choice mixed with the overall investigation and orphanage. It felt like there was a duality between this book being about Hazel defining herself and also being a book about a missing girl. There was also a weird focus on food as it was mentioned fairly frequently. I found the pace could be a bit on the slower side and remained fairly steady until about the last 20% or so of the book when things picked up slightly. I didn’t feel like there were enough clues for the reader to really latch onto along the way so you were more observing the plot rather than playing along with it. I wouldn’t call the ending a plot twist so much as an expected betrayal. Furthermore, even though Hazel found out more in her investigation than the previous PI’s, she also just happened to stumble upon the culprit and the location. She found Mia because the bad guy tried to get rid of her first after she got a little too close and he brought her to the scene of the crime, so to speak. It’s because her roommate was looking out for her that she survived and Mia was found. So I think the happenstance of being successful took away a little bit of the triumph. It wasn’t a bad book, I was entertained and it was an easy read, it just felt like there could’ve been a bit more to it.
And to be frank, it seems a bit strange to me that the voice of this novel is female while the author is male, it just feels a little bit unauthentic.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Murder
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.5 ⭐️
I expected the plot. And everything was okay. The writing was easy to read despite it taking me so long to finish it.
It was fun overall. But the plot kinda picked up slow for me. I was kind of dragging myself to finish it
I expected the plot. And everything was okay. The writing was easy to read despite it taking me so long to finish it.
It was fun overall. But the plot kinda picked up slow for me. I was kind of dragging myself to finish it
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Definitely a surprise