Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.34 AVERAGE
3.34 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
challenging
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
fast-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
mysterious
medium-paced
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:
Yes
Great thanks to Dreamscape Media, the American Library Association, and Libro.fm for the ALC.
The description from the publisher says this is a "atmospheric Southern cozy debut" novel. It is neither atmospheric nor cozy, though it does take place in Georgia and it is, apparently, a debut. So out of the gates we're getting something that's half-assed.
I don't remember the last time I read a book with such a massively unlikable protagonist. This whole thing read like the author got some kind of fill in the blanks "write your own cozy mystery" worksheet and called it a day. Protagonist returns to their small town because of "quirky" inheritance and/or failed career? Check and check. Our main character is a failed actor returning to her home town after her aunt dies, leaving her house that is also a bookstore. Small town full of "quirky" characters that all know everything about everyone in which every 'secret' is just unspoken... and yet somehow there's a murder and no one knows who to suspect? Check. Set in Enigma, Georgia; which sounds fake but is a real town with a population of 1,000 according to Wikipedia. "Quirky" character details sprinkled through out? Oh, so many "quirky" character details; none of which mean anything to anything.
This book is awful. Really and truly awful. The plot is simplistic. The prose has no momentum. The dialogue is wooden. The characters are one dimensional, with the noted exception of their "quirks" which are blatant attempts to flesh them out but instead comes across as ridiculous. The awfulness of this book can be distilled to one moment:
At one point about 65-75% of the way through the book, the main character (Madeline) is in a situation in which she should very obviously make a phone call for help. It is at this point that the author writes that Madeline is a "luddite" and doesn't own a cell phone. This character detail had no come up at any point before this pivotal moment and will never be mentioned again. The entire book is full of moments like these. A young girl is murdered the day after Madeline meets her and Madeline decides she has to solve the murder. Why? Because the plot says so. Madeline finds out that there's a "secret" codicil in her aunt's will that established the terms of her inheritance; Madeline was unaware of this until the moment when the lawyer informs her at the end of the book. Codicils are not and cannot be secrets; they're actionable pieces of the will. But the plot needed it to be a "secret" so it was.
A large part of the problem with this book is that Madeline is an asshole. There's no other way to describe her. She's an insufferable asshole. She thinks she knows better than everyone else, is regularly proven wrong, and yet she continues to be condescending, narcissistic, and cocky. She is an asshole. There are multiple chapters in which Madeline is sure she has solved the murder because a character "confessed" by saying "(he) never meant to hurt her." When multiple characters (INCLUDING THE POLICE) inform Madeline that this is not a confession and could mean any number of things... Madeline keeps on accusing this guy of murder, completely assured that she's right and everyone else is wrong. This is AFTER she had accused ANOTHER man of the murder and interrupted the police's interview with the man and very literally said "so by now you know that I told the police I suspect you of the murder." But because the plot doesn't say so, Madeline is not immediately arrested for obstruction.
About 90% of the way through the book I was hoping there would be a shocking twist; I was sincerely hoping that it would be revealed that Madeline was actually the killer and I'd have to recontextualize everything that happend to that point, Sixth Sense style. It was the only thing I could think of that would save this novel. That is not what happened. About 95% of the way through the book I was hoping someone would murder Madeline.
The rest of the characters are no better. The one cop only shows up when the plot needs him to and, of course, doesn't show up when the plot needs him to not show up. Madeline's dead aunt's best friend, Philomena, is an abrasive busy body and I guess the author thought no one remembers Fried Green Tomatoes because Philomena's "big reveal" that she and the aunt were in love was as obvious as anything else in the book.
There just no thought or care put into anything in this book. Things happen, none of it matters, the plot moves forward only because the author got to a point where he said "and now I write about the mystery for a few pages," and then the mystery means nothing for another few chapters. At one point I genuinely wondered if A.I wrote this because characters were having a conversation that felt completely inhuman. It's terrible. The entire book is just awful.
The description from the publisher says this is a "atmospheric Southern cozy debut" novel. It is neither atmospheric nor cozy, though it does take place in Georgia and it is, apparently, a debut. So out of the gates we're getting something that's half-assed.
I don't remember the last time I read a book with such a massively unlikable protagonist. This whole thing read like the author got some kind of fill in the blanks "write your own cozy mystery" worksheet and called it a day. Protagonist returns to their small town because of "quirky" inheritance and/or failed career? Check and check. Our main character is a failed actor returning to her home town after her aunt dies, leaving her house that is also a bookstore. Small town full of "quirky" characters that all know everything about everyone in which every 'secret' is just unspoken... and yet somehow there's a murder and no one knows who to suspect? Check. Set in Enigma, Georgia; which sounds fake but is a real town with a population of 1,000 according to Wikipedia. "Quirky" character details sprinkled through out? Oh, so many "quirky" character details; none of which mean anything to anything.
This book is awful. Really and truly awful. The plot is simplistic. The prose has no momentum. The dialogue is wooden. The characters are one dimensional, with the noted exception of their "quirks" which are blatant attempts to flesh them out but instead comes across as ridiculous. The awfulness of this book can be distilled to one moment:
At one point about 65-75% of the way through the book, the main character (Madeline) is in a situation in which she should very obviously make a phone call for help. It is at this point that the author writes that Madeline is a "luddite" and doesn't own a cell phone. This character detail had no come up at any point before this pivotal moment and will never be mentioned again. The entire book is full of moments like these. A young girl is murdered the day after Madeline meets her and Madeline decides she has to solve the murder. Why? Because the plot says so. Madeline finds out that there's a "secret" codicil in her aunt's will that established the terms of her inheritance; Madeline was unaware of this until the moment when the lawyer informs her at the end of the book. Codicils are not and cannot be secrets; they're actionable pieces of the will. But the plot needed it to be a "secret" so it was.
A large part of the problem with this book is that Madeline is an asshole. There's no other way to describe her. She's an insufferable asshole. She thinks she knows better than everyone else, is regularly proven wrong, and yet she continues to be condescending, narcissistic, and cocky. She is an asshole. There are multiple chapters in which Madeline is sure she has solved the murder because a character "confessed" by saying "(he) never meant to hurt her." When multiple characters (INCLUDING THE POLICE) inform Madeline that this is not a confession and could mean any number of things... Madeline keeps on accusing this guy of murder, completely assured that she's right and everyone else is wrong. This is AFTER she had accused ANOTHER man of the murder and interrupted the police's interview with the man and very literally said "so by now you know that I told the police I suspect you of the murder." But because the plot doesn't say so, Madeline is not immediately arrested for obstruction.
About 90% of the way through the book I was hoping there would be a shocking twist; I was sincerely hoping that it would be revealed that Madeline was actually the killer and I'd have to recontextualize everything that happend to that point, Sixth Sense style. It was the only thing I could think of that would save this novel. That is not what happened. About 95% of the way through the book I was hoping someone would murder Madeline.
The rest of the characters are no better. The one cop only shows up when the plot needs him to and, of course, doesn't show up when the plot needs him to not show up. Madeline's dead aunt's best friend, Philomena, is an abrasive busy body and I guess the author thought no one remembers Fried Green Tomatoes because Philomena's "big reveal" that she and the aunt were in love was as obvious as anything else in the book.
There just no thought or care put into anything in this book. Things happen, none of it matters, the plot moves forward only because the author got to a point where he said "and now I write about the mystery for a few pages," and then the mystery means nothing for another few chapters. At one point I genuinely wondered if A.I wrote this because characters were having a conversation that felt completely inhuman. It's terrible. The entire book is just awful.
adventurous
dark
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:
No
mysterious
A relaxing read ! I loved the narrator of the book the most. She did a wonderful job with the different characters’ voices.
Thank you, Netgalley, for the ARC!
Cute, would absolutely read the next in the series