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bean0530's review against another edition
3.0
I think I'm settling on 3.5 stars. Maybe. Ugh I'm torn.
I'm seriously feeling half and half on this one. I honestly did enjoy this one for the most part. Just certain things kept nagging at me. For instance, the main character's constant stammering.
It was mostly the main character I think. The way she was too obsessed with her best friend/cousin it felt like it ruined who she was rather than gave her strength. She was too timid and lacked anything memorable to make me feel for her hardships.
The ending was pretty interesting with all the twists and shockers. But I think the book should have been named something else because it was more about love and secrecy rather than any May Queens being murdered. It just wasn't at all what I was expecting from the title. I didn't hate it. I enjoyed it. But I was more having conflicting feelings.
I'm seriously feeling half and half on this one. I honestly did enjoy this one for the most part. Just certain things kept nagging at me. For instance, the main character's constant stammering.
It was mostly the main character I think. The way she was too obsessed with her best friend/cousin it felt like it ruined who she was rather than gave her strength. She was too timid and lacked anything memorable to make me feel for her hardships.
The ending was pretty interesting with all the twists and shockers. But I think the book should have been named something else because it was more about love and secrecy rather than any May Queens being murdered. It just wasn't at all what I was expecting from the title. I didn't hate it. I enjoyed it. But I was more having conflicting feelings.
biblioghost's review against another edition
3.0
Update: Tried it again as the premise just kept calling to me...and again felt the same. I'm not sure why I didn't like this other than the inconsistent characterization. It had all of the elements I usually love, but I just didn't and I admit I skimmed the last third of the book.
I really loved this story in the beginning. I loved the small mountain town setting and the superstitions of the townspeople. The closed off community made for a very unsettling feeling which I was definitely digging. But I found myself not caring much for what was happening to the characters.
I really loved this story in the beginning. I loved the small mountain town setting and the superstitions of the townspeople. The closed off community made for a very unsettling feeling which I was definitely digging. But I found myself not caring much for what was happening to the characters.
xokristim's review against another edition
4.0
This book was great!! I was hooked from beginning to end. The storyline was extremely interesting, and kept me guessing the whole time. I had very high expectations for this book and it lived up to pretty much every one. I thought the story flowed wonderfully, and the writing was impeccable. It was easy to follow, yet still made me pause to think about certain plot lines. I love when books do this, it really helps me feel connected to the story and characters. I will be highly recommending this book to lovers of mystery!
ARC REVIEW
ARC REVIEW
shviii's review against another edition
1.0
I really struggled to finish this particular book and near the end it just turned out to be completely confusing with no real killer really as so many people played their hands in the murders.
pagesplotsandpints's review against another edition
2.0
Initial Impressions 3/26/20: So I cheated just a little bit and ended up skimming a lot in the middle of the book... Whoops. I read the first 85 pages or so the first day I started reading and I just didn't feel a lot of motivation to spend much more time on this book, but the positive reviews for it said a lot happened in the end and I wanted to find out how the book ended and what was so fantastic about it.
First, let's start with some other things. The writing left a lot to be desired. There just wasn't much to pull a reader in aside from the intrigue of murder and for me, the book took way too long for anything to really happen. There was a lot of set-up on what this town was and who the people were, except we really don't get anything from the characters except for a surface level glimpse, even from the main character. Ivy (and her family) live in a small town in the Ozarks, which is also another reason that kept me reading, and it wasn't because of the book. I love the show Ozark so I was begging for a connection to that, at least how to imagine the setting, but this town and characters were too different so that didn't really help me connect either. But anyway -- this is a small, small town and the residents there are often accused by locals of being a cult. They have a simpler way of life, living off the land, generally not using modern technology, and have beliefs wrought with many superstitions. It was kind of bothersome to me because it seemed like it had very little purpose, I guess. It took characters away from technology and set them in a backwoods location and added some old-fashioned superstitions, yes. But I would have loved to see that developed a bit more too, especially right off the bat. I read 85 pages and things just weren't really explored or explained enough for me as a reader to really be on board with it all.
Things just also took forever to get started. I think the book could have *started* with the May Queen celebration and we could have gotten to know the characters throughout the celebration, gotten some history and background, seen how they interact with each other and developed their personalities there.... but after 85 pages, the May Queen celebration is barely in sight and the synopsis says Heather disappears after May Day. I was just waiting and waiting for it to happen and it took too long to get there for me. I personally like my thrillers to kick off with some action so I'm hooked and the weird things that happened before all of that were just odd and not what I was looking for.
Because of this way of life, Ivy is incredibly sheltered, and we know how I'm feeling about sheltered characters right now. It was hard to read and Ivy was just so naive and clingy and believing. Once Heather is gone/missing, Ivy makes some decisions of her own and she does grow a little bit, but her voice wasn't one I enjoyed reading. The other characters are just really bland and flat and no one else even stood out for me at all.
Ivy may have been naive but I was annoyed that this whole community let legends, hearsay, and superstitions run their lives when things got weird. Everyone just assumed it was crazy Birch Markle out there *somewhere* in the woods for years doing odd and creepy things but did anyone ever actually SEE this guy? Everyone just sort of believes it and goes along with it. I personally never thought it was him from the start and when the truth comes out at the very end (the exact thing I was waiting for), it was just kind of a vomit of reveals one after the other. One reveal and twist would have been plenty but things just kept going and it was a little too much. There's also kind of a weird mess of paranormal horror and real life thriller. Ivy sees some weird things, almost like premonitions of deaths, but it's not really explained why (or I guess maybe it is but I skimmed) and as far as I know it's chalked up to superstition... Just another thing that was too much, trying to jam-pack horror in there when we could have had some cool straight-up thriller or some weird paranormal straight-up horror. I didn't really like the messy lines here.
So, I guess I should have listened to those who told me to skip it but I did want to read an older title this month and some Goodreads friends who I trust actually liked it, so I had hoped I would too! I'm kind of glad I read it and kind of glad that I only skipped through some of it. I still feel like I accomplished some good, solid reading and enough to form an opinion of it and to count it as having read the book!
First, let's start with some other things. The writing left a lot to be desired. There just wasn't much to pull a reader in aside from the intrigue of murder and for me, the book took way too long for anything to really happen. There was a lot of set-up on what this town was and who the people were, except we really don't get anything from the characters except for a surface level glimpse, even from the main character. Ivy (and her family) live in a small town in the Ozarks, which is also another reason that kept me reading, and it wasn't because of the book. I love the show Ozark so I was begging for a connection to that, at least how to imagine the setting, but this town and characters were too different so that didn't really help me connect either. But anyway -- this is a small, small town and the residents there are often accused by locals of being a cult. They have a simpler way of life, living off the land, generally not using modern technology, and have beliefs wrought with many superstitions. It was kind of bothersome to me because it seemed like it had very little purpose, I guess. It took characters away from technology and set them in a backwoods location and added some old-fashioned superstitions, yes. But I would have loved to see that developed a bit more too, especially right off the bat. I read 85 pages and things just weren't really explored or explained enough for me as a reader to really be on board with it all.
Things just also took forever to get started. I think the book could have *started* with the May Queen celebration and we could have gotten to know the characters throughout the celebration, gotten some history and background, seen how they interact with each other and developed their personalities there.... but after 85 pages, the May Queen celebration is barely in sight and the synopsis says Heather disappears after May Day. I was just waiting and waiting for it to happen and it took too long to get there for me. I personally like my thrillers to kick off with some action so I'm hooked and the weird things that happened before all of that were just odd and not what I was looking for.
Because of this way of life, Ivy is incredibly sheltered, and we know how I'm feeling about sheltered characters right now. It was hard to read and Ivy was just so naive and clingy and believing. Once Heather is gone/missing, Ivy makes some decisions of her own and she does grow a little bit, but her voice wasn't one I enjoyed reading. The other characters are just really bland and flat and no one else even stood out for me at all.
Ivy may have been naive but I was annoyed that this whole community let legends, hearsay, and superstitions run their lives when things got weird. Everyone just assumed it was crazy Birch Markle out there *somewhere* in the woods for years doing odd and creepy things but did anyone ever actually SEE this guy? Everyone just sort of believes it and goes along with it. I personally never thought it was him from the start and when the truth comes out at the very end (the exact thing I was waiting for), it was just kind of a vomit of reveals one after the other. One reveal and twist would have been plenty but things just kept going and it was a little too much. There's also kind of a weird mess of paranormal horror and real life thriller. Ivy sees some weird things, almost like premonitions of deaths, but it's not really explained why (or I guess maybe it is but I skimmed) and as far as I know it's chalked up to superstition... Just another thing that was too much, trying to jam-pack horror in there when we could have had some cool straight-up thriller or some weird paranormal straight-up horror. I didn't really like the messy lines here.
So, I guess I should have listened to those who told me to skip it but I did want to read an older title this month and some Goodreads friends who I trust actually liked it, so I had hoped I would too! I'm kind of glad I read it and kind of glad that I only skipped through some of it. I still feel like I accomplished some good, solid reading and enough to form an opinion of it and to count it as having read the book!
meredithmc's review against another edition
2.0
I really wanted to love this book. It just didn't happen. It had great potential but I didn't see it get to where I thought it was going to be.
taishacasimir's review against another edition
5.0
The May Queen Murders was a great read. In the book, there was not one, but three people who were killed someone. I also think Ivy was kinda of obsessed with her cousin, Heather. like Heather, Heather, and Heather. She didn't understand why Heather wanted to leave, like not everyone wants to stay in the Glen. I would recommend this book to a friend.
talexandre's review against another edition
4.0
Holy cow this book was a wild ride from start to finish. Star crossed lovers, secret trysts, murders kept long hidden, and Boo Radley-esque villains hollering in the woods? This book’s got it all. It felt anachronistic at times because of the back woods traditions of a rural community, but all in all it was a thrilling and unpredictable read. Just when I thought i had it figured out, a new twist was revealed. I couldn’t put it down.
l1brarygirl's review
3.0
"She's Heather. I'm Ivy," I answered flatly. In nature, ivy and heather never grew together. They couldn't because ivy liked shade, whereas heather required sun. They did better apart because side by side, one withered.
Horrific and creepy.