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eggsandwich's review against another edition
2.0
I did not find the dialogue engaging and the book was very slow paced for me. The last couple chapters were great though, so if you can stick it out it might be worth it.
marua's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Fun😀nice plot twists, sometimes expected.
imzadi88's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
sil_the_lobster's review against another edition
3.0
Well. This book has been sitting on my must-read list for quite some time and I finally read it. It came highly recommended and I was very much looking forward to it. And now? Phew. Not sure how to say this but it left me feeling a little meh.
It's an exciting story, full of intrigue, witty dialogues, interesting plot twists and a subject that is not all too far-fetched. There's 2 intelligent, strong women with strengths and flaws. There's no man-bashing. There's sexy sex scenes but they don't dominate the story. There's slow burn but not so slow as to get the reader fed up. Lee Winter writes a great style, quick-paced but not hectic--she knows how to tell a story.
So why only three stars?
To be honest, there's only two things I didn't like about this book but they're strong enough to make me take off two stars.
First, I couldn't connect with the MCs. I just couldn't warm up to them. IMO, Catherine is a bit too haughty and too icy, and Lauren is a bit too blue-collar. It's not blatant stereotyping, Lee Winter is too smart a writer for that, and yet, they irked the hell out of me. For some reason I got tired of Catherine being labelled the Caustic Queen, and Lauren just girl-next-doors too much. I'm well aware how silly and probably unjustified and a wee outta there that sounds, but I thought long and hard how to explain my, well not exactly dislike... my indifference towards these two women--and that's the best I can come up with. I just didn't care enough.
Then, the beginning. I know that writing courses and how-to books and probably editors, too, push the point of having a story start in the middle of the action. No intros, please, no scene-building. Throw the reader right into the scene, grab their attention, pull them with you, or else they won't stick around. Well guess what: Beginnings like that have begun to annoy me. Like, really annoy me. Enough to think about stopping right at the beginning, and this one's a classic. The phone rings, MC wakes up, where is she, oh no, she can't remember, oh no, hell broke loose at work or may break loose, oh no, how did that video happen, she nearly falls out of bed to rush to get to work, throws on some clothes, nearly forgets her keys, rushes back, grabs a hat to hide her bedhair, impatiently drums her fingers on the steering wheel... you get my drift. Annoying. I don't want to be grabbed by a story. I want to be introduced--not necessarily by a 30page intro of how the dewdrops clinging to the blades of grass remind MC of careless summers spent with beloved grandparents, but by showing me around rather than grab me and yank me about.
But I liked the story itself enough to finish it and I liked the overall writing style, too, so this will not be the last Lee Winter book I've read. Heard her Requiem for Immortals is pretty good as well and I'm fairly certain I'll check this one out soon.
3 out of 5 stars for this one.
It's an exciting story, full of intrigue, witty dialogues, interesting plot twists and a subject that is not all too far-fetched. There's 2 intelligent, strong women with strengths and flaws. There's no man-bashing. There's sexy sex scenes but they don't dominate the story. There's slow burn but not so slow as to get the reader fed up. Lee Winter writes a great style, quick-paced but not hectic--she knows how to tell a story.
So why only three stars?
To be honest, there's only two things I didn't like about this book but they're strong enough to make me take off two stars.
First, I couldn't connect with the MCs. I just couldn't warm up to them. IMO, Catherine is a bit too haughty and too icy, and Lauren is a bit too blue-collar. It's not blatant stereotyping, Lee Winter is too smart a writer for that, and yet, they irked the hell out of me. For some reason I got tired of Catherine being labelled the Caustic Queen, and Lauren just girl-next-doors too much. I'm well aware how silly and probably unjustified and a wee outta there that sounds, but I thought long and hard how to explain my, well not exactly dislike... my indifference towards these two women--and that's the best I can come up with. I just didn't care enough.
Then, the beginning. I know that writing courses and how-to books and probably editors, too, push the point of having a story start in the middle of the action. No intros, please, no scene-building. Throw the reader right into the scene, grab their attention, pull them with you, or else they won't stick around. Well guess what: Beginnings like that have begun to annoy me. Like, really annoy me. Enough to think about stopping right at the beginning, and this one's a classic. The phone rings, MC wakes up, where is she, oh no, she can't remember, oh no, hell broke loose at work or may break loose, oh no, how did that video happen, she nearly falls out of bed to rush to get to work, throws on some clothes, nearly forgets her keys, rushes back, grabs a hat to hide her bedhair, impatiently drums her fingers on the steering wheel... you get my drift. Annoying. I don't want to be grabbed by a story. I want to be introduced--not necessarily by a 30page intro of how the dewdrops clinging to the blades of grass remind MC of careless summers spent with beloved grandparents, but by showing me around rather than grab me and yank me about.
But I liked the story itself enough to finish it and I liked the overall writing style, too, so this will not be the last Lee Winter book I've read. Heard her Requiem for Immortals is pretty good as well and I'm fairly certain I'll check this one out soon.
3 out of 5 stars for this one.
lezreadalot's review against another edition
3.0
I don't know what it is about this one. Maybe I don't like books about journalists and reporters and investigative sleuthing. But even as I say that, I know it's not really true? I like mysteries, I like amateurs solving mysteries, I like (most) detective stories. But something about this and the angle from which it was written just wasn't my jam.
We're following two journalists: Catherine, who's more experienced and jaded, and Lauren, who's looking to find her big break. They work for the same newspaper but have been rivals almost since they met. They end up teaming up with each other to investigate an anomaly at a political party, which soon unravels into a bigger conspiracy. I vacillated between really liking and really disliking both characters. We're following Lauren's sole POV, and she's fun and smart and snarky. She never really grew on me though? Catherine is your classic ice queen, and I always have trouble with those. Sometimes she would be cool and collected and haughty in that perfect sexy way. And then sometimes she just came off as snooty and classist and mean, and I just really did not like her. The mystery itself was okay. Very well plotted, very well drawn out, and you can tell that Winters has a background in this kind of stuff and knew what she was talking about. However... it just wasn't that interesting. In the end, I really think it comes down to the characters and the fact that I didn't feel any kind of connection with them. Their romance was slow-moving and developed really well in all the ways that I usually like, and near the very end, Catherine does some stuff that bumps her up a few notches in my esteem, but I can't deny that I was never really rooting for them as a couple.
Listened to the audiobook as read by Victoria Mei, a.k.a. Natalie Naudus, who gave a great performance as she always says does. If anyone could have made me like this book more, it would have been her. But in the end, I just feel sort of okay about it. There seems to be an overarching plot that could continue into further books, but I already know that I'm not too interested in continuing to read about these characters. But rest assured, it's definitely a "it's not the book, it's me" scenario.
We're following two journalists: Catherine, who's more experienced and jaded, and Lauren, who's looking to find her big break. They work for the same newspaper but have been rivals almost since they met. They end up teaming up with each other to investigate an anomaly at a political party, which soon unravels into a bigger conspiracy. I vacillated between really liking and really disliking both characters. We're following Lauren's sole POV, and she's fun and smart and snarky. She never really grew on me though? Catherine is your classic ice queen, and I always have trouble with those. Sometimes she would be cool and collected and haughty in that perfect sexy way. And then sometimes she just came off as snooty and classist and mean, and I just really did not like her. The mystery itself was okay. Very well plotted, very well drawn out, and you can tell that Winters has a background in this kind of stuff and knew what she was talking about. However... it just wasn't that interesting. In the end, I really think it comes down to the characters and the fact that I didn't feel any kind of connection with them. Their romance was slow-moving and developed really well in all the ways that I usually like, and near the very end, Catherine does some stuff that bumps her up a few notches in my esteem, but I can't deny that I was never really rooting for them as a couple.
Listened to the audiobook as read by Victoria Mei, a.k.a. Natalie Naudus, who gave a great performance as she always says does. If anyone could have made me like this book more, it would have been her. But in the end, I just feel sort of okay about it. There seems to be an overarching plot that could continue into further books, but I already know that I'm not too interested in continuing to read about these characters. But rest assured, it's definitely a "it's not the book, it's me" scenario.
yayathegreat38's review against another edition
funny
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
4.5
soy_ahoy's review against another edition
5.0
Simply obsessed with Lee Winter's books, and I keep trying to savour them and not read them all one after the other, but every time I read one it makes me want to binge like five more. Great as always. Loved the mystery and the chemistry between Ayers and King.
aliu6's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars
Lauren King is tired of writing puff pieces on celebrity gossip. So tired that when she finally gets a whiff of a good story, she agrees to a collaboration with Caustic Queen Catherine Ayers in order to pursue it. Lauren thinks Catherine is arrogant, bitter, and downright rude... at first. But as the two women work together, Lauren discovers that there's more to Catherine that meets the eye, not that she doesn't like what she sees already. Will Lauren and Catherine get to the bottom of the story, as well as find their own happily ever after?
It's official, Lee Winter is so amazing and I'm just going to have to buy all of her books. This is the 4th book by her that I've read, and they're just all so good. Where do I start?
Characters: Amazing! I should probably stop using that word, but wow. Lee Winter can write an ice queen with complicated layers so well. And she also knows how to write the perfect spunky heroine to melt through the ice. I loved both Lauren and Catherine so much. They really complemented each other, and they had so much depth.
Plot: I don't understand how Lee Winter can write an awesome ice queen romance while weaving in a fascinating plotline about the case the leads are reporting on. I'm not familiar with the news industry and reporting, but Winter's portrayal seems very realistic.
This book isn't my favorite by Lee Winter, but it was thoroughly entertaining, and I will be looking into the sequel. Definitely would recommend.
Lauren King is tired of writing puff pieces on celebrity gossip. So tired that when she finally gets a whiff of a good story, she agrees to a collaboration with Caustic Queen Catherine Ayers in order to pursue it. Lauren thinks Catherine is arrogant, bitter, and downright rude... at first. But as the two women work together, Lauren discovers that there's more to Catherine that meets the eye, not that she doesn't like what she sees already. Will Lauren and Catherine get to the bottom of the story, as well as find their own happily ever after?
It's official, Lee Winter is so amazing and I'm just going to have to buy all of her books. This is the 4th book by her that I've read, and they're just all so good. Where do I start?
Characters: Amazing! I should probably stop using that word, but wow. Lee Winter can write an ice queen with complicated layers so well. And she also knows how to write the perfect spunky heroine to melt through the ice. I loved both Lauren and Catherine so much. They really complemented each other, and they had so much depth.
Plot: I don't understand how Lee Winter can write an awesome ice queen romance while weaving in a fascinating plotline about the case the leads are reporting on. I'm not familiar with the news industry and reporting, but Winter's portrayal seems very realistic.
This book isn't my favorite by Lee Winter, but it was thoroughly entertaining, and I will be looking into the sequel. Definitely would recommend.
rachelslacey's review against another edition
5.0
If it's possible, I loved this book even more the second time!
laconni4's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
slow-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? It's complicated
4.0