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trudy1963's review
4.0
This was a fun book and quick read. Already listening to the second in the series!
theavidreaderandbibliophile's review
4.0
The Book of Secrets by Melissa McShane is the first novel in The Last Oracle series. Helena Davies is interviewing for a job at Abernathy’s, a local disorganized bookstore. She is shocked when Nathaniel Briggs hires her and asks for her to start immediately after signing a handwritten contract. Helena is typing (on a typewriter) labels to mail out catalogues when a customer enters the store looking for Mr. Briggs. Malcolm Campbell is astonished that Helena was hired to work in the store. Helena goes searching for Mr. Briggs and discovers him dead from a stab wound in the basement. Who would want to harm Mr. Briggs? Malcolm must explain to Helena that Abernathy’s is no mere bookstore. It is a living oracle that provides prophecies. Helena, as the new custodian (she signed the contract) is tasked with finding the right book to answer the question put to the oracle by Wardens. Abernathy’s is an important tool in helping them fight the invaders in the Long War (information overload for Helena). Magic is real, and creatures invade from outside their reality to obtain it. Unfortunately, Mr. Briggs died before training Helena and the instruction book to assist her is missing. Malcolm is not the only person surprised by Helena’s appointment. Judy Rasmussen has been training for twelve years and wants Helena to abdicate (and she is quite pushy about it). Helena needs to learn her new position while fulfilling her customer’s needs, deal with Judy’s hostile attitude, discover who murdered Mr. Brigg’s before the police arrest her for the crime, and evade the deadly creatures who seem intent on attacking her (that’s not good). Despite everything that is happening, Helena believes she might have finally found her place.
The Books of Secrets is well-written and engaging. It has fast pace that will keep readers on their toes. I liked the author’s unique take on magic. I would say more but I do not want to spoil it for you. I did appreciate that the author did not dump out all the details at once. It develops throughout the story, but readers are not given everything in this first installment (we are left wanting to know more). The creature’s descriptions are enough to give a person nightmares (it did not stop me from reading though). Abernathy’s is a fascinating place. The author’s concept for the store was creative and multi-layered. Melissa McShane did a remarkable job at creating a one-of-a-kind world for her characters (and for us). I did feel that the characters needed more development and backstory. I wanted to know more about Helena’s upbringing and Malcolm’s background. I was also not a fan of Viv, Helena’s best friend. I found her annoying, overbearing, and immature. As Helena’s best friend, she is the logical choice for a sidekick. I just wish the author had tweaked her personality a bit. I am glad that The Book of Secrets is just the first book in The Last Oracle series. For a delightful story containing magic, murder, mayhem and mystery grab a copy of The Book of Secrets.
The Books of Secrets is well-written and engaging. It has fast pace that will keep readers on their toes. I liked the author’s unique take on magic. I would say more but I do not want to spoil it for you. I did appreciate that the author did not dump out all the details at once. It develops throughout the story, but readers are not given everything in this first installment (we are left wanting to know more). The creature’s descriptions are enough to give a person nightmares (it did not stop me from reading though). Abernathy’s is a fascinating place. The author’s concept for the store was creative and multi-layered. Melissa McShane did a remarkable job at creating a one-of-a-kind world for her characters (and for us). I did feel that the characters needed more development and backstory. I wanted to know more about Helena’s upbringing and Malcolm’s background. I was also not a fan of Viv, Helena’s best friend. I found her annoying, overbearing, and immature. As Helena’s best friend, she is the logical choice for a sidekick. I just wish the author had tweaked her personality a bit. I am glad that The Book of Secrets is just the first book in The Last Oracle series. For a delightful story containing magic, murder, mayhem and mystery grab a copy of The Book of Secrets.
katieinca's review
2.0
I shelved this magical bookstore romp (with a murder mystery!) as TBR for the next time I was feeling brain dead, and last week it delivered. I read it in about a day and a half and quickly downloaded the next one. The writing's really not great, the dialog is often not how real humans talk, and I spent a lot of time trying to figure out if this was supposed to be for kids, teens, or adults. But the worldbuilding was cool, and it certainly moves right along. Spoiler-not-spoiler: I'm currently on book 5, and expect to finish the 9 book series in under 2 weeks.
being_b's review
4.0
Reminded me a lot of Ilona Andrews' Innkeeper Chronicles series: A woman is caretaker of a magical building that serves as a neutral party in a paranormal universe. The woman finds original solutions to problems. There's a dashing and attractive man. Basically, if you liked one, you'll like the other.
sarahlreadseverything's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 rounded down - I've always enjoyed Melissa Mcshane but this one didn't chime with me as much as others have
malreynolds111's review
4.0
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. As a library staff member I love to read books that are about bookstores and libraries. The thought of having your issues solved by reading a certain book was a fascinating concept. I could have done with out some of the extra mushy doe-eyed cute guy talk, especially since the girl was not some lovesick teenager, but that is a personal preference. Looking forward to the next book in the series.
kerryiscurrentlyreading's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
medium-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
2.5
It has potential. The magic system in a little confusing and not super well explored in book one, some of the dialogue is painful and the main characters motivations are a bit wishy washy. I like the concept, even though the oracle process isnt (in my opinion) very well explained or thought out. Willing to persevere with Book 2
mycupoftealcsw's review
2.0
This book is…not good. It felt like a first draft and was in desperate need of an editor.
First of all, the dialogue is very clunky. Much of it did not seem natural and really did not tell the reader who the characters were because no one has a clear voice.
One nit picky thing (because it’s a pet peeve of mine when books don’t get their time frames right) - when Lucia tells Helena she’ll give her an hour of her time to explain things, then after a conversation that would have taken 15 minutes max in real time she looks at her watch and says “time’s up”. This is where editing would have been very helpful. If the dialogue didn’t take an hour, go back and change it to Lucia saying “I’ll give you 15 minutes” or make it take the hour - but the inconsistency is annoying.
There are a lot of weird bits of information in the book that are totally unnecessary that disrupts the flow of the story. For example, when she is describing her family home, she mentions that they have a 1 ½ car garage that only fits one car because her mother’s stuff takes up the other space- but you can only ever fit one car in a 1 ½ car garage because there is no such thing as half a car so we didn’t need most of that information.
My favorite editing issue is in chapter 8 when one character tells Helena out of nowhere that "Diantha even looks a little like you" - with zero explanation of who Diantha is and Helena doesn't even question it. Diantha is also Never. Mentioned. Again. Who the hell is Diantha? What happened to her? When will she get the justice she deserves?
Helena’s motivation for keeping the job really doesn't make sense. She’s basically an unambitious, extremely passive pushover kind of person who prefers boring and stable but somehow decides to go all in on a potentially very difficult, very dangerous job because a person she just met and who she spent all of 5 minutes with said she would be good for the job. This makes no sense and does not fit her personality at all. Later she also gets super defensive when anyone dares to suggest that she might not be able to do this job she doesn’t understand, has no training for, and exists in a world she just found out about less than 24 hrs ago. She even thinks about running after one of the characters to insist she is capable - based on what, hun? Your vast experience in doing mundane, low stakes, minimally difficult things with average success your whole life? And acting like you know how to do a job that you’ve only known about for 3 days and had zero training in is just immature and stupid.
And, Judy, we get it. You’re in your big feelings about not getting the job. We don’t need to hear about it every time you open your mouth.
Back to who Helena is as a character - why is a 21 year old woman and her best friend texting in all caps? Also, saying her handwriting sucks because she wasn’t taught cursive - printing well is an option and no one that age cares that much that they didn’t learn cursive. I bet Diantha has impeccable handwriting, though.
First of all, the dialogue is very clunky. Much of it did not seem natural and really did not tell the reader who the characters were because no one has a clear voice.
One nit picky thing (because it’s a pet peeve of mine when books don’t get their time frames right) - when Lucia tells Helena she’ll give her an hour of her time to explain things, then after a conversation that would have taken 15 minutes max in real time she looks at her watch and says “time’s up”. This is where editing would have been very helpful. If the dialogue didn’t take an hour, go back and change it to Lucia saying “I’ll give you 15 minutes” or make it take the hour - but the inconsistency is annoying.
There are a lot of weird bits of information in the book that are totally unnecessary that disrupts the flow of the story. For example, when she is describing her family home, she mentions that they have a 1 ½ car garage that only fits one car because her mother’s stuff takes up the other space- but you can only ever fit one car in a 1 ½ car garage because there is no such thing as half a car so we didn’t need most of that information.
My favorite editing issue is in chapter 8 when one character tells Helena out of nowhere that "Diantha even looks a little like you" - with zero explanation of who Diantha is and Helena doesn't even question it. Diantha is also Never. Mentioned. Again. Who the hell is Diantha? What happened to her? When will she get the justice she deserves?
Helena’s motivation for keeping the job really doesn't make sense. She’s basically an unambitious, extremely passive pushover kind of person who prefers boring and stable but somehow decides to go all in on a potentially very difficult, very dangerous job because a person she just met and who she spent all of 5 minutes with said she would be good for the job. This makes no sense and does not fit her personality at all. Later she also gets super defensive when anyone dares to suggest that she might not be able to do this job she doesn’t understand, has no training for, and exists in a world she just found out about less than 24 hrs ago. She even thinks about running after one of the characters to insist she is capable - based on what, hun? Your vast experience in doing mundane, low stakes, minimally difficult things with average success your whole life? And acting like you know how to do a job that you’ve only known about for 3 days and had zero training in is just immature and stupid.
And, Judy, we get it. You’re in your big feelings about not getting the job. We don’t need to hear about it every time you open your mouth.
Back to who Helena is as a character - why is a 21 year old woman and her best friend texting in all caps? Also, saying her handwriting sucks because she wasn’t taught cursive - printing well is an option and no one that age cares that much that they didn’t learn cursive. I bet Diantha has impeccable handwriting, though.