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tangleroot_eli's review against another edition
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
First, a couple things I appreciate about this book:
- Our Heroes are pretty bad at sleuthing, and they admit it. A nice choice in a subgenre full of amateur detectives who’ve never investigated so much as a checkbook register but can suddenly solve a murder
- A group of women! Who are friends! And support each other! Rather than constantly tearing each other down!
- Adams has attempted to give the Society members “tragic pasts” and really seems to have considered the ramifications of that for their interpersonal relationships
So those things are good! And then there’s… the rest of the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and Misogyny
Moderate: Car accident, Body shaming, Murder, Death, Abandonment, Sexual assault, Racism, Cultural appropriation, Fatphobia, and Alcohol
Minor: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Xenophobia, and Pregnancy
kibbles15's review
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I liked this book, but I did not love it. I felt that the plot was slow and the characters themselves were not developed as much as I would have liked. I also feel that the sexual content, while mild, was more explicit than necessary. Note while this is considered a "Cozy murder mystery", several hard topics are discussed in the process as the four main characters get to know each other. These include domestic and child abuse, teen pregnancy, drunk driving...to name a few. That being said, I do think the theme of friendship through adversity was a nice touch to the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, Grief, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Murder, Medical content, Infidelity, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Death
Minor: Pregnancy
genny's review against another edition
The dialogue sounds so unnatural. The very first conversation was already awkward, and the prose didn't really improve from there. These are characters who barely know one another yet they're quick to spill life stories and spout honeyed words of wisdom out of the blue. Just very clunky/corny and I couldn't ignore it any longer.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Death and Violence
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