Reviews with content warning for Cursing - We Begin at the End

Title: We Begin at the End
Author: Chris Whitaker
Genre: Mystery
Rating: 3.25
Pub Date: January 1 2021

T H R E E • W O R D S

Devastating • Gritty • Compulsive

📖 S Y N O P S I S

After being convicted in a fatal hit-and-run, which killed the sister of his then girlfriend Starr Radley, Vincent King has spent the past 30 years in prison. He is now being released and returning home to his small California town. Walk, now the town's sheriff, was responsible for Vincent's conviction, yet promised him he'd look out for Star while he was in prison. However, Star's life is a mess. Her two children, Duchess and Robin, are forced to grow up all too quickly. An act of revenge will change all of their lives forever. We Begin at the End explores themes of love, loss, sacrifice and of course, family.

💭 T H O U G H T S

When I saw the absolutely stunning cover of this book, I instantly added it to my TBR. It started out quite slow, and I considered DNFing around the 30% mark. However, I persisted, deciding to seek out the audio in order to tandem read, which ended up helping some. I cannot say I loved or hated this book.

Let me start out by saying the writing is absolutely beautiful! The descriptive scenery felt in line with the cover, and the author uses his way with words in a way that works. The plot didn't instantly suck me in, and I didn't feel a strong connection to the characters and their stories. Oddly enough, Duchess is such a fierce, brave, and vulnerable character I couldn't help to root for, and yet I am not sure I will remember her. Her relationship with, her love for, and her protective nature of her younger brother is my favourite thing about this book. In fact, it is what kept me reading. While Duchess and Walk are great characters, there was definitely something missing for me with the rest of the cast. The themes of family - both born and chosen family - and the resilient nature of the human spirit ended up making this book worth reading, despite it not completely working for me.

We Begin at the End is a unique and powerful story, however, taken as a whole I was left underwhelmed. It felt like a modern Western, which would be one of the reason it didn't feel like the right fit for me.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• Western fans
• lovers of small town crime fiction

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"None of us are any one thing. We’re just a collection of the best and worst things we’ve done."

Content Warnings

happiestwhenreading's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Unpopular opinion: This book was just fine to me. It didn't blow my socks off, and while I will probably find myself reflecting back on some of the characters, it just didn't dig in and attach to my heart in any way. The best part of the story was definitely the characters, but unfortunately, I got too distracted with all the moving pieces to really care. I can't really say one of the things that made me dislike the book the most without giving some spoilers, but suffice it to say that I liked this book, I liked the writing, and I liked the potential, but it doesn't have enough "oomph" to be memorable for me.

Content Warnings

kerrygetsliterary's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

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