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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
UGH I ALMOST GOT MY ANSWERS. but wow I really liked this! Not sure if I love the Cat chapters but they were definitely intriguing. Can’t wait for the sequel.
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
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:
Yes
Holy shit that was not the ending I was expecting...and yet...what the hell was I expecting. Poe's influence is definitely clear in this book and the horror is perfectly executed. I am stoked to read the next book.
This book is nuts but I wish it tied up all the loose ends I was looking for
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
So I knew next to nothing about this book besides it being absolutely unhinged according to Gina who recommended it. She also recommended it because its main framing device is a retelling of "The Cask of Amontillado" which happens to be one of my favorite Poe short stories. I was not prepared though for the sheer amount of Poe stories represented in this one book. The drama in the town is already very serious but Tress finds it serious enough to brick up her ex-best friend underneath a soon to be destroyed house. There are black cats, a mysterious sickness, and so many more references that I don't think I even caught them all. This book isn't afraid to show some suffering and it really makes me wonder what could possibly happen in book 2...
Warning: There's dog killing in this book.
I've said before that Mindy's contemporary books are almost always a hit for me. This one was no different! (Which makes me the black sheep in a good way for once, because the reviews for this book are pretty bad.) Mindy loves to write brutal stories, and you know I love brutal. This one is said to be a retelling of Poe's The Cask of Amontillado, which I can't speak of because I haven't read it.
It has a very similar feel to A Long Stretch of Bad Days, in the fact that it's a small town and surnames hold power. The hierarchy of the town and its rich/founding families is alien to me, because I've never lived in a place like that. Her characters also bear a similar feel as well. Tress was ruthless and prickly like many of her past female MCs have been.
I enjoyed the mystery aspect of this book, and how the story was told! We got little snippets in the form of flashbacks, slowly putting the puzzle pieces together to form a coherent image. I was DYING to know what happened the night the Montors disappeared!
The dual POV was interesting, because each of the girls has a very different perspective of what happened. I feel like the entire fallout was mostly miscommunication and misunderstanding, and small things add up to big things until it just gets WAY out of hand. The cat chapters (in the perspective of the panther) were weird AF, and probably unnecessary, but I actually kind of loved it! In the audio, there's a separate (male) narrator for him. The narrator was PERFECT for him, and the way those chapters were written made it sound perfectly panther-like.
The only complaint I have is that sometimes I got the girls mixed up, or forgot whose perspective I was listening to. Mainly toward the end, when the chapters are short and everything gets muddled. I also would have liked to connect to the characters more than I did.
However, THAT ENDING?! Shit. Escalates. I actually went and downloaded the ebook from my library so I could read over the last few chapters again, because I thought I'd missed something. I hadn't. It was just wild! This whole book was wild, and strange. (In a good way, for me.)
Spoiler
I NEEEED to know what Felicity was talking about when she said 'he knows.' Was Ribbit involved in the accident?! WHY IS TRESS IN DANGER?!Side note: WHY did they change that beautiful cover *cries* I despise the new covers so so much. They're hideous.
This review was originally posted on Novel Heartbeat. To see a breakdown of my assessment, please visit the full review here.
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Loveable characters:
Complicated
I have never read the Cask of Amontillado but I know the gist of it. I didn't know this was a retelling when I initially picked it up. I really enjoyed this!
I was hoping that the ending would've been different but if you already know how the Cask ends, you'll know how this ends too. I'm so mad about it tho! Like they were so close to rebuilding their broken friendship and Tress was so close to finding out the truth with Felicity remembering but then Felicity passed out for a hot minute and Tress thinks she's dead and then everything is ruined!! And Tress' cousin KNOWS but hasn't told anyone what happened to Tress' parents! Why doesn't he tell the truth!?! I really wanted a happy ending, I was hoping for it with how Tress was changing her mind like maybe the author will flip the script and give us a happy-ish ending, but nope true to the og it is only misunderstandings, sadness, and heartbreak .
I will have to read more from this author since I did like this a lot.
EDIT: THERE'S A FREAKING SEQUEL?! I NEED TO READ IT ASAP. I need answers!!
I will have to read more from this author since I did like this a lot.
EDIT: THERE'S A FREAKING SEQUEL?! I NEED TO READ IT ASAP. I need answers!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Vomit, Car accident