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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
Delightfully intriguing new teen detective series with plenty of homages to Sherlock Holmes. Perfectly paced and full of unique and real characters. Delightful dialogue, (Jen, who recommended it to me mentioned to read it out loud to yourself in an aussie accent for added pleasure - yup it did it even though my accent was atrocious) fast paced, suspenseful and delightfully quirky. Looking forward to cracking open its sequel which the publisher just sent me.
10 out of 5
sorry but this book here is pure perfection. THE CHARACTERS. it's all about them, teenagers with freaking mature way of being but also sometimes being just teens and getting themselves in trouble with parents and each other and making mistakes and learning from them GOD I HAVE SO MANY FEELS
where do I find my own Mycroft. and Rachel is so badass, exactly the type of friend I've been looking for since FOREVER.
so many feels about the story I feel like screaming. I think I need to sit and think about it all.. nah now I'm off to read second part bye.
sorry but this book here is pure perfection. THE CHARACTERS. it's all about them, teenagers with freaking mature way of being but also sometimes being just teens and getting themselves in trouble with parents and each other and making mistakes and learning from them GOD I HAVE SO MANY FEELS
where do I find my own Mycroft. and Rachel is so badass, exactly the type of friend I've been looking for since FOREVER.
so many feels about the story I feel like screaming. I think I need to sit and think about it all.. nah now I'm off to read second part bye.
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
This was exactly the book I wanted to read right now. I loved it. I love Mycroft and Watts together and I can't wait to read the next one. No long review on this one. It would just be me gushing.
Second Read: 11 Nov, 2016
I ran out of book on the train, but I had a copy of this on my ipad so I started rereading.
My goodness, I'd forgotten just how much I loved it.
First Read: 3-12 Oct, 2015
AHHHH!!!!!
To all the people who let me go so long without reading this: You're fired.
THIS BOOK WAS SO AWESOME!!!
I ran out of book on the train, but I had a copy of this on my ipad so I started rereading.
My goodness, I'd forgotten just how much I loved it.
First Read: 3-12 Oct, 2015
AHHHH!!!!!
To all the people who let me go so long without reading this: You're fired.
THIS BOOK WAS SO AWESOME!!!
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
"Did you know that Einstein got expelled from school?" Mai gestures with her iced treat. "And apparently Edison was a complete jerk. And Sherlock Holmes-""Was fictional."
"Don't interrupt. Sherlock Ho;mes was a total nightmare, shooting holes in the walls, and not talking for days, and playing violin until all hours, and being a general pain in the ares to live with."
This book was such a fun book to read. Really enjoyed the mystery and the suspense in it. The characters were amazing, too. Marney really did a good job on making Mycroft similar to Sherlock Holmes, which I find was amazing. And instead of Dr. Watson, we have Watts, which in fact, is a girl. I really, really liked this aspect of it. Will definitely read the next book!
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
“I'm only a genius with facts. I'm an academic genius and a social moron.'
'At least you admit to being a moron at something.'
'I admit to being a moron at lots of things. Being a moron in one or two areas serves to highlight my extraordinary brilliance in everything else.”
'At least you admit to being a moron at something.'
'I admit to being a moron at lots of things. Being a moron in one or two areas serves to highlight my extraordinary brilliance in everything else.”
It's more of a 3.5 rounded down to 3.
I don't read many straight up whodunnits, which is weird, because I watch them almost exclusively at this point. But somehow murder mystery novels got a worse reputation than the rest of genre fiction, and I fell right into the literary trap of looking down on them for being pulp fiction.
Until one day I realized what I was doing, and I put a stop to it. For me, the line between literary fiction and genre fiction is awfully arbitrary. If something is enjoyable to read, then it's valuable.
Enough of that, time to get to the review.
Every Breath follows Rachel Watts, a girl who has recently moved from the Australian countryside into Melbourne because of her parents' financial troubles. There she meets James Mycroft, a strange but intelligent boy with an obsession for solving mysteries. When a local homeless man is murdered, Mycroft and Watts fear the police won't do that case justice, so they take it upon themselves to find the killer.
The book is a modern adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. I don't know if it is inspired by a specific Holmes novel (as many Sherlock Holmes adaptations as I've seen, I've never read the books and I'm not all that familiar with them...) or just by the concept in general, so if you're a hardcore Holmes fan you might find yourself disappointed. I don't know.
But I do know that I was not disappointed.
Rachel (who often goes by Watts) and Mycroft navigated the difficulties of being underaged, unofficial investigators fairly well. The issue of school was dealt with, as were the characters' parents (Mycroft lived with his self-involved aunt, Rachel's parents were working all the time), as were the police (there was a detective on the case, Detective Pickup, with whom they interacted several times. But his main attention was on other cases).
The case was interesting, the twists were surprises to me, it kept my attention. Although it was pretty standard whodunnit fare, and there was a bit of melodrama (some stuff seemed over the top).
But the biggest problem I had, honestly, was with Mycroft. I didn't hate him as a character, but a lot of the things he did rubbed me the wrong way. He was extremely volatile, for one. He was never violent, but his anger made him do a lot of stupid things. Of course I understand that he's seen a lot of tragedy in his life, and it is understandable that he would be angry, but that doesn't excuse his behavior. The worst part, though, was that Rachel felt obligated to watch out for him. She brought him food, took care of him when he got drunk, and blamed herself when he got himself into trouble. That's not her responsibility! Their friendship is more than a little lopsided, since all Mycroft ever did was get Rachel in trouble (both with her parents and their school... oh, and the police too). I don't think that's grounds for a healthy relationship. I would have given the book 4 stars if it weren't for this fact.
Overall, though, I really enjoyed Every Breath, and I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
I don't read many straight up whodunnits, which is weird, because I watch them almost exclusively at this point. But somehow murder mystery novels got a worse reputation than the rest of genre fiction, and I fell right into the literary trap of looking down on them for being pulp fiction.
Until one day I realized what I was doing, and I put a stop to it. For me, the line between literary fiction and genre fiction is awfully arbitrary. If something is enjoyable to read, then it's valuable.
Enough of that, time to get to the review.
Every Breath follows Rachel Watts, a girl who has recently moved from the Australian countryside into Melbourne because of her parents' financial troubles. There she meets James Mycroft, a strange but intelligent boy with an obsession for solving mysteries. When a local homeless man is murdered, Mycroft and Watts fear the police won't do that case justice, so they take it upon themselves to find the killer.
The book is a modern adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. I don't know if it is inspired by a specific Holmes novel (as many Sherlock Holmes adaptations as I've seen, I've never read the books and I'm not all that familiar with them...) or just by the concept in general, so if you're a hardcore Holmes fan you might find yourself disappointed. I don't know.
But I do know that I was not disappointed.
Rachel (who often goes by Watts) and Mycroft navigated the difficulties of being underaged, unofficial investigators fairly well. The issue of school was dealt with, as were the characters' parents (Mycroft lived with his self-involved aunt, Rachel's parents were working all the time), as were the police (there was a detective on the case, Detective Pickup, with whom they interacted several times. But his main attention was on other cases).
The case was interesting, the twists were surprises to me, it kept my attention. Although it was pretty standard whodunnit fare, and there was a bit of melodrama (some stuff seemed over the top).
But the biggest problem I had, honestly, was with Mycroft. I didn't hate him as a character, but a lot of the things he did rubbed me the wrong way. He was extremely volatile, for one. He was never violent, but his anger made him do a lot of stupid things. Of course I understand that he's seen a lot of tragedy in his life, and it is understandable that he would be angry, but that doesn't excuse his behavior. The worst part, though, was that Rachel felt obligated to watch out for him. She brought him food, took care of him when he got drunk, and blamed herself when he got himself into trouble. That's not her responsibility! Their friendship is more than a little lopsided, since all Mycroft ever did was get Rachel in trouble (both with her parents and their school... oh, and the police too). I don't think that's grounds for a healthy relationship. I would have given the book 4 stars if it weren't for this fact.
Overall, though, I really enjoyed Every Breath, and I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of the series.