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celastine's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-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? No
2.0
spencerfantastic's review against another edition
slow-paced
0.5
This is one of the worst books I have read in a long time and I have read over 240 books this year alone. Literally nothing about this book works. The only thing that I liked was how short the chapters were because it (thankfully) made the incredibly slow and dull plot go by faster.
This book is supposed to be based on the Lizzie Borden murders and as someone who is intimately familiar with this case (I grew up outside of Fall River and have even stayed overnight in the Borden house) I can easily say, no it's not. It's like the author heard about this story one time years ago and then didn't bother to do any research into the case when writing this (which, while reading the author note, seems to be true as she admits to basing this on a book she skimmed as a child). I thought perhaps the author would have fun and actually reference the Borden murders or have kids sing the infamous jumprope song that everyone who lives around here knows ('Lizzie Borden took an ax and gave her mother forty wacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty one') but no. The only reason why I didn't dnf was because I wanted to see the murder scenes, but the author fully skips over this part, which was incredibly disappointing.
The plot for this story in stupidly slow and predictable and the 'evidence' that Maddie and Charlotte find to support the theory that their mother was killed was incredibly thin and placed way too far apart to actually feel relevant. The police do no investigation into their mother's death, which makes no sense, even with the reveal at the end. The dual POV was completely unnecessary and added nothing to the plot. Character motivations make absolutely no sense; I don't understand why their father hated them, why Amber was such a bitch about their mother's death, why Stephen was an unsupportive boyfriend who wore black to the funeral, why Uncle Jack was a dick who didn't try to help, or why Lana did what she did. Maddie and Charlotte's deteriorating mental health was supposed to be a major factor to this story but was done incredibly poorly.
Overall, this book was lacking in every way and I don't recommend it to anyone as it is so disappointing. Just go and actually read about the Borden murders instead.
This book is supposed to be based on the Lizzie Borden murders and as someone who is intimately familiar with this case (I grew up outside of Fall River and have even stayed overnight in the Borden house) I can easily say, no it's not. It's like the author heard about this story one time years ago and then didn't bother to do any research into the case when writing this (which, while reading the author note, seems to be true as she admits to basing this on a book she skimmed as a child). I thought perhaps the author would have fun and actually reference the Borden murders or have kids sing the infamous jumprope song that everyone who lives around here knows ('Lizzie Borden took an ax and gave her mother forty wacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty one') but no. The only reason why I didn't dnf was because I wanted to see the murder scenes, but the author fully skips over this part, which was incredibly disappointing.
The plot for this story in stupidly slow and predictable and the 'evidence' that Maddie and Charlotte find to support the theory that their mother was killed was incredibly thin and placed way too far apart to actually feel relevant. The police do no investigation into their mother's death, which makes no sense, even with the reveal at the end. The dual POV was completely unnecessary and added nothing to the plot. Character motivations make absolutely no sense; I don't understand why their father hated them, why Amber was such a bitch about their mother's death, why Stephen was an unsupportive boyfriend who wore black to the funeral, why Uncle Jack was a dick who didn't try to help, or why Lana did what she did. Maddie and Charlotte's deteriorating mental health was supposed to be a major factor to this story but was done incredibly poorly.
Overall, this book was lacking in every way and I don't recommend it to anyone as it is so disappointing. Just go and actually read about the Borden murders instead.
sunny_610's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
firekissedlibrary's review against another edition
3.0
My actual rate is 3.5 stars - this book wasn't necessarily bad. It was good in some parts and then was boring in others. I disliked Charlotte more than I should of and Maddi was 50/50 for me. I feel like what I was waiting for all happened within the last 80 pages of the book which disappointed me a little bit. I wanted more action to happen throughout, not just be pushed off. This story was just one big misunderstanding and that had me a little confused. I wouldn't not recommend it - but there are a few holes towards the end.
thebroestofbros's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
tessahope's review against another edition
4.0
more of a 3.5 but i did really enjoy it. the characters were completely unhinged and it was a really interesting story but the pacing really took it down for me
rachelkollar's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
booksngrannies's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0