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3.02 AVERAGE
3.02 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
There were times when Little Secrets was interesting and engaging, but at other times, I found the story line difficult to buy into. Many of the sub-plots showed promise (which is why I read the book to the end), but fizzled out becoming somewhat implausible with disappointing, unrealistic outcomes. The characters started out with the suggestion that they would develop into well rounded participants in the story, but ultimately turned out to be shallow, self-centred, unlikeable and difficult to empathise with. Overall, for me, this book showed promise, but did not deliver. Thanks to Harlequin Australia (HQ Fiction) and NetGalley for the ARC.
Too many one dimensional characters and too many plot holes.
In the small country town of Colmstock, there’s an arsonist – or arsonists – on the loose and little girls in town are receiving small, porcelain dolls that look just like them. For Rose Blakley, it’s not only concerning when her little sister receives a doll, but potentially her ticket out of Colmstock. An aspiring journalist without the means to leave, the story might just be enough to make her name as a journalist.
Somewhat of a cross between Jane Harper’s [b:The Dry|27824826|The Dry (Aaron Falk, #1)|Jane Harper|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1456113132s/27824826.jpg|47804789] and Liane Moriarty’s [b:Big Little Lies|19486412|Big Little Lies|Liane Moriarty|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1492239430s/19486412.jpg|27570886], Anna Snoekstra’s Little Secrets is a competent thriller, if not particularly spectacular as a work of fiction.
It’s a read easy to digest, a real page-turner. The mysteries underlying the story were more than enough to keep me reading, as I wondered just what was going on and what was going to happen next. There are several twists that were enough to keep me guessing.
However, I also found the characters… all sort of awful? It’s all on a sliding scale, of course – there are some truly despicable characters there. It doesn’t help that it comes out of left-field for some of them – characters like Mia and Frank seem to turn suddenly evil for drama. Even Rose, who is the protagonist and clearly one we’re meant to be sympathetic to, isn’t immune to this. I began the novel feeling sorry for her, but it rapidly becomes clear that she doesn’t care about anything more than her “dream career” – she’s exploitive and frequently betrays the trust of people she supposedly cares about, and the only characters in the story that aren’t hideously awful are treated horribly by her in her quest to become a famous journalist. While I started the novel rooting for her, hoping she’d be able to escape, I ended it wondering if she deserved to escape.
I also felt that some things were left unresolved, unexplored – perhaps Snoekstra is laying the groundwork for a sequel or deliberately leaving things up in the air for the sake of atmosphere. While the key mysteries are resolved, I finished the novel feeling sort of bemused by everything else and unhappy.
So while I can say that Little Secrets is a page-turning read, I ended it feeling frustrated and unhappy with the way things had developed.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy to review from the publishers via Netgalley.
Somewhat of a cross between Jane Harper’s [b:The Dry|27824826|The Dry (Aaron Falk, #1)|Jane Harper|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1456113132s/27824826.jpg|47804789] and Liane Moriarty’s [b:Big Little Lies|19486412|Big Little Lies|Liane Moriarty|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1492239430s/19486412.jpg|27570886], Anna Snoekstra’s Little Secrets is a competent thriller, if not particularly spectacular as a work of fiction.
It’s a read easy to digest, a real page-turner. The mysteries underlying the story were more than enough to keep me reading, as I wondered just what was going on and what was going to happen next. There are several twists that were enough to keep me guessing.
However, I also found the characters… all sort of awful? It’s all on a sliding scale, of course – there are some truly despicable characters there. It doesn’t help that it comes out of left-field for some of them – characters like Mia and Frank seem to turn suddenly evil for drama. Even Rose, who is the protagonist and clearly one we’re meant to be sympathetic to, isn’t immune to this. I began the novel feeling sorry for her, but it rapidly becomes clear that she doesn’t care about anything more than her “dream career” – she’s exploitive and frequently betrays the trust of people she supposedly cares about, and the only characters in the story that aren’t hideously awful are treated horribly by her in her quest to become a famous journalist. While I started the novel rooting for her, hoping she’d be able to escape, I ended it wondering if she deserved to escape.
I also felt that some things were left unresolved, unexplored – perhaps Snoekstra is laying the groundwork for a sequel or deliberately leaving things up in the air for the sake of atmosphere. While the key mysteries are resolved, I finished the novel feeling sort of bemused by everything else and unhappy.
So while I can say that Little Secrets is a page-turning read, I ended it feeling frustrated and unhappy with the way things had developed.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy to review from the publishers via Netgalley.
This book was a solid three stars, the fourth star was given because of the last 60 pages or so when all of the action took place. That was by far the best part. Patience with this book really paid off. It's not often that I find the ending to be better than the entire book, but this was definitely the case. Three quarters of the book were quite an uneventful build up, but again the ending made it worthwhile.
overfladisk og desværre ret skuffende! læs min fulde anmeldelse her:
https://sidsesbogreol.dk/dukkesamleren-anna-snoekstra/
https://sidsesbogreol.dk/dukkesamleren-anna-snoekstra/
I’m such a sucker for books set in Australia; I’m not sure what it is about the setting, but they feel atmospheric in a way that reading about stories happening in the United States just doesn’t compare to. I was a huge fan of Snoekstra’s last book, [b:Only Daughter|29095402|Only Daughter|Anna Snoekstra|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1456412033s/29095402.jpg|49331400], and when I saw she had another book coming out I couldn’t request it quickly enough. While this was a good read, I want to be clear that it is completely different from the style and pacing of her debut novel. Where [b:Only Daughter|29095402|Only Daughter|Anna Snoekstra|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1456412033s/29095402.jpg|49331400] was tense, mysterious, and compulsive, Little Secrets was more of a slow paced, lighter read that left me feeling halfway engaged, but invested enough to want to view the outcome. One thing I felt was done really well in this book was the slow building sense of paranoia in this town. What started as brief, snippets of second thoughts turned into full blown mistrust and delusion. If you enjoy authors such as [a:Liane Moriarty|322069|Liane Moriarty|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1459827224p2/322069.jpg] who are excellent at blending domestic drama and a suspenseful mystery together, you may enjoy Little Secrets. I must point out it’s one of my favorite covers of the year. :)
* I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
* I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
**2.5**
I really wanted to like this book but
1. it moved too slowly and was too verbose for my taste. 2. I just didn't care much for Rose. she was annoying and too "woe is me" for my taste. I also felt like the story was too predictable.
I really wanted to like this book but
1. it moved too slowly and was too verbose for my taste. 2. I just didn't care much for Rose. she was annoying and too "woe is me" for my taste. I also felt like the story was too predictable.