Reviews tagging 'Trafficking'

Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies by Misha Popp

3 reviews

shottel's review

emotional funny tense fast-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

4.0

A fun novel with a touch of macabre. Daisy Ellery outwardly sports the role of a 50’s housewife, but really comes a hair shy of being a serial killer. Her targets are all awful men, but this only offsets the vibes so much, as she hums cute little murder ditties while baking specially-ordered death pies.

This tonal dissonance is can be very amusing, but sometimes is too outwardly stated; by 50 pages in the very pleasing image a housewife intent on killing abusive men has set in, so when she acts cheery as can be while lying about her weekend there’s no need to state that she’s lying. We can pick it up on our own.

Other than being a little too forward with the protagonist’s moral complexity and the rare confusingly constructed sentence, the mystery also didn’t take too much hold on the plot. By the halfway point the picture was fairly clear, and the question began to shift to “well, how do we solve this problem?” Not complaining too much about it, just found it odd it was billed as a mystery novel.

Despite these issues, I enjoyed reading it. It got several laughs out of me and I loved the representation. The love triangle was also well done, nuanced by the way their very different personalities influenced Daisy. Some people may not like how the love triangle is resolved, but I was okay with it.

Overall, if this book seems interesting to you, I recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Trafficking, and Abandonment

mandareads222's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious tense fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism

Moderate: Cancer, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Sexual harassment

bronwyn's review against another edition

funny lighthearted mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent and Murder

Minor: Alcoholism, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Trafficking, and Kidnapping