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bel017's review against another edition
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Loved the focus on positive female friendship, and the comfort scones sound amazing. Sign me up for both of those.
Didn't like Nora's relationship with Jed. He's the perfect book boyfriend: handsome, considerate, thoughtful, rearranged his life to take care of her, always turns up to save her in the nick of time; you know the type. She thinks he's hot and leads him on to get information out of him. Not cool Nora.
It's a cosy murder mystery. The goodies are good, the baddies are bad, the books are quotable and the scones are still warm.
Didn't like Nora's relationship with Jed. He's the perfect book boyfriend: handsome, considerate, thoughtful, rearranged his life to take care of her, always turns up to save her in the nick of time; you know the type. She thinks he's hot and leads him on to get information out of him. Not cool Nora.
It's a cosy murder mystery. The goodies are good, the baddies are bad, the books are quotable and the scones are still warm.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Murder and Injury/Injury detail
heather667's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Body shaming, Murder, Violence, Car accident, and Sexism
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Pregnancy
Minor: Suicide, Mental illness, and Rape
helalost's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Body shaming, Car accident, and Ableism
Moderate: Alcohol and Abandonment
Minor: Infidelity
strawberrydolly's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This was my first Ellery Adams, my first cozy mystery (and first StoryGraph review) and I really enjoyed it.
A fair warning that this review contains slight (vague) spoilers.
I’ve heard some say it’s slow-paced and I can’t argue with that too much, but I’d still say it was more of a medium pace. The plot never slowed down or went off track. Lots of different events kept things interesting and even the side love story made some contributing points to the overall mystery. The reason behind the murder itself, confused me at first, but after the entire situation was explained a few times, I understood it.
I definitely loved all the characters. They were all diverse and different. I only had a problem with June and sometimes Nora who said Hester was young and naive several times throughout the book. It just seemed unnecessary and was a tad bit annoying to hear it. It wouldn’t have bothered me otherwise, but it definitely had that kind of feeling in the cases of boomers muttering, “kids these days,” under their breath. Other than that, The characters were great and lovable, despite their past. Estella was my favorite and I hope to see more of her in the next book, considering what happened to her in this one. I also loved Jed and am excited to see his and Nora’s relationship grow.
I did enjoy how the characters had depth to them and everyone, even minor characters had secrets and a hidden past.
Another notable mention is there were SO many literary refences that a few have to go over your head. Luckily, most of them don’t hold any significance to the major plotline and if it does, its throughly explained. It’s simply a more enjoyable read if you understand them. I enjoyed the twist this book gave, I truly wasn’t expecting it. The afterword definitely got me hooked into reading the next book (which I was planning on anyways). Overall, 4.5/5.
A fair warning that this review contains slight (vague) spoilers.
I’ve heard some say it’s slow-paced and I can’t argue with that too much, but I’d still say it was more of a medium pace. The plot never slowed down or went off track. Lots of different events kept things interesting and even the side love story made some contributing points to the overall mystery. The reason behind the murder itself, confused me at first, but after the entire situation was explained a few times, I understood it.
I definitely loved all the characters. They were all diverse and different. I only had a problem with June and sometimes Nora who said Hester was young and naive several times throughout the book. It just seemed unnecessary and was a tad bit annoying to hear it. It wouldn’t have bothered me otherwise, but it definitely had that kind of feeling in the cases of boomers muttering, “kids these days,” under their breath. Other than that, The characters were great and lovable, despite their past. Estella was my favorite and I hope to see more of her in the next book, considering what happened to her in this one. I also loved Jed and am excited to see his and Nora’s relationship grow.
I did enjoy how the characters had depth to them and everyone, even minor characters had secrets and a hidden past.
Another notable mention is there were SO many literary refences that a few have to go over your head. Luckily, most of them don’t hold any significance to the major plotline and if it does, its throughly explained. It’s simply a more enjoyable read if you understand them. I enjoyed the twist this book gave, I truly wasn’t expecting it. The afterword definitely got me hooked into reading the next book (which I was planning on anyways). Overall, 4.5/5.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual assault
Minor: Alcohol and Medical trauma
kibbles15's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I liked this book, but I did not love it. I felt that the plot was slow and the characters themselves were not developed as much as I would have liked. I also feel that the sexual content, while mild, was more explicit than necessary. Note while this is considered a "Cozy murder mystery", several hard topics are discussed in the process as the four main characters get to know each other. These include domestic and child abuse, teen pregnancy, drunk driving...to name a few. That being said, I do think the theme of friendship through adversity was a nice touch to the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, Grief, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Murder, Medical content, Infidelity, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Death
Minor: Pregnancy
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