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minimicropup's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
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
3.0
Inquisitive. Detached. Impressionable.
🇺🇸🎅🏼 Set in a small town in Upstate New York, with the story unwinding in the days leading up to Christmas.
POV: The narrative mainly follows a bookshop owner and their retired sheriff father, spanning both their current life and past experiences as a teen. The narrative is mostly first person, but some minor characters have third person.
Mood Reading Match Up:
-A gritty Christmas-themed murder mystery with a “solve or cold?” aspect.
-Dark coming-of-age storyline intertwined with a love triangle.
-Subplot of a ‘friends-to-’ romance
-Themes include rebellion, betrayal, control, love, friendship, loyalty, virtue, and vice.
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🐺 Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags 🐕
✏️ Writing: The writing style initially confused me with the POV (it took me way too long to realize Madeline and the dancer are two separate characters 🤦🏼♀️). It eventually settles into a compelling narrative. The timeline jumps can be disorienting, with the story oscillating between different periods in the lead-up to Christmas but sometimes it isn’t clear which time period we’re in.
🫥 Characters: Madeline’s journey from a conscientious teen to someone whose judgment is skewed by various pressures is engagingly explored.
🗺️ Worldbuilding: The setting provides a vague backdrop, allowing readers’ imaginations to fill in the details.
🔥 Fuel: Suspense is fuelled by the mystery of whether the past killer worked alone and the uncertainty over their conviction. There are also elements of jump scares, fight-for-your-life escapes, and moments of distrust.
🐢 Pacing: The story, while engaging, feels long for a novella, but it was enough to keep me hooked to find out the characters’ fates.
🎬 Scenes: Dialogue and body language occasionally felt stilted, requiring me to re-read sometimes for clarity.
💭 Random Thoughts: Christmas vibes are more pronounced at the beginning, continuing subtly through planning and dialogue.
I predicted the Big Bad, but it didn’t ruin it for me. I did find Madeline a bit dense sometimes, like she is looking for clues and doesn’t notice big red flags right in front of her. But it wasn’t too convenient or contrived, more like part of her personality.
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Content Heads-Up: Sexual content (dancing). Medical (stroke, dementia; rehab and caregiving). Murder. Confinement, kidnapping. Parental abandonment (feels and recall). Violence (physical, gun). Drugging. Sexual assault.
Rep includes: White and ambiguously described characters.
Format: Library Digital via Libby.
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Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Confinement, Violence, Kidnapping, and Gun violence
Minor: Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Injury/Injury detail
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