Reviews

The Other Half by Charlotte Vassell initially drew me in because of the cover, and as much as I hate to say it, it honestly might end up being my favorite part of the entire book. 🙈 I did like what the author was going for here, and I always love a book that revolves around rich people's bad behavior and quirks, but it still missed the mark for me. I was surprised by the whodunnit, and I am definitely in the minority here, so if you think it sounds good, I would still recommend picking this up and trying it out for yourself. I was quite fond of Detective Caius Beauchamp but not anyone else, and all of the humor was apparently lost on me as I didn't laugh once.

I will say that I think partially where I went wrong was the audiobook, and while I really enjoyed Imogen Wilde's narration, I was not a big fan of Michael Muyunda who voiced Beauchamp. I personally thought he was somewhat hard to understand, even when I had the speed slowed way down, and I hated having to keep speeding it up and slowing it down between viewpoints. For this reason, I would recommend reading the book over listening to the audio. Some parts dragged a little at times as well, which I don't always love in a 350-ish page novel, but it still held my interest, and I did want to keep going until the end. I would love for Vassell to focus more on the detective piece if she does move forward with this as a series.

Thank you to the publishers for my advanced listening and reader copies of this book. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

gatun's review against another edition

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5.0

What a delightful murder mystery! Maybe delightful isn't the polite word to use when discussing murder, but The Other Half was definitely delightful. The characters were great, not all good people, but they do live on the page in more than two dimensions. The book begins with a death and Satan's birthday party. Both do not occur in the same place or exactly the same time.

The main characters, Nell and Alex, are both from wealth but not the nobility. They occupy a specific social circle that intersects with upper classes but tries not to socialize with the lower classes. They have been friends for years. Rupert is also a main character. He is minor nobility. His character slowly fills in from Chapter Two. The relationship between these three is complex and complicated and should have as asterisk indicating that it reaches new levels of both.

The story, starting with the murdered individual in Chapter One, dips in and out of several storylines but always meandering back to the murder. It is well written. It is also full of surprises. At certain points, it is difficult to read. I am sure there will be trigger warnings when it is published. It is really a good book. I am planning on buying a copy as a Christmas gift.

I received a advance review copy from Netgalley. After reading it, I have written a honest review.

#Netgalley #TheOtherHalf #CharolotteVassell

kcd97's review against another edition

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slow-paced

2.0

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