Reviews - El Motel Sun Down

9.07k reviews for:

El Motel Sun Down

Simone St. James

3.98 AVERAGE

geopiercet's review against another edition

4.5

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

slgreen's review against another edition

4.0

Mystery wrapped in a ghost story.

sleepybunnyreading's review against another edition

2.0

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Expected a heavy ghost story but the murder mystery part of the plot drove it mostly. The plot was also very predictable and expected no twists or turns which made it boring at points. Characters didn't have that much depth or background which made some of them unlikable/ uninteresting. Overall it had a lot of potential but ended up falling flat for a number of reasons sadly

petitedeath's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

I was recommended this book and it didnt quite hit the mark for me personally. This book is really targeted at true crime girls and i may be a girl, but im not a true crim fanatic. That said, the story was interesting. The twists were good and the ending satisfying and for that it gets a 4.25.

The story is good, like I said, but the characters we all pretty flat and one dementional. Caricatures more than characters. The writing has more of a YA vibe and I was looking for something more serious in tone and while its a serious story it felt more like it was narrated by a child. It also has an element that is a pet peeve of mine in books...it very clearly feels like a self insert. Sometimes you can just tell when an author is writing themselves in a book because some elements are too heavy handed and they keep stating things as if to show it off. In this book its that the MC is a young bookish girl(in both characters) who is true crime obsessed and she gets to live out her little true crime dream. So she has to make sure to mention all the time that she's not like other girls, that she spends too much time on true crime and that she's not a party girl. Its really obvious when authors do this and its kind of obnoxious. I also dont care for the true crime fans. I like true crime, but being a fan is weird. This kind of writing always gives fanfic vibes. And for that reason I docked some points. For me personally it was just missing good in depth characters, natural dialogue and details to make you feel there.