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kelseylovesbooks's review against another edition
4.0
A perfectly spooky read, set in a historic house in the English countryside. I'm a sucker for historic houses (fun fact, I used to be a wedding planner at one!), so right from the start I loved this book. There is something so eerie about a massive abandoned house, full of items from centuries past, and that set the stage for me to be a little creeped out as the story built.
The book's description reveals that the trio living in the once-grand mansion are a bit on the mysterious side, and soon enough a heinous crime will be committed. I was constantly trying to guess what would come next and to figure out what each character's motives were. This one kept me quickly turning pages to try to solve the mystery of what crime was to come. Recommend if you like suspense in a spooky setting!
The book's description reveals that the trio living in the once-grand mansion are a bit on the mysterious side, and soon enough a heinous crime will be committed. I was constantly trying to guess what would come next and to figure out what each character's motives were. This one kept me quickly turning pages to try to solve the mystery of what crime was to come. Recommend if you like suspense in a spooky setting!
tjgreads's review against another edition
3.0
BITTER ORANGE, by Claire Fuller, reminded me a lot of Sarah Waters’ THE LITTLE STRANGER, but maybe it’s because I just read it and it’s fresh in my mind. Similar creepy, atmospheric English estate house, odd, unloveable trilogy of characters, and an awkward unreliable narrator. I did appreciate the main character’s point of view as an overweight, sort of repressed, invisible kind of spinster-y person. Blatantly uninteresting and kind of a nut. So many novels are written so that we’re meant to root for the narrator, but this one didn’t even try.
I won’t spoil too much because my book club friends are reading this soon, but I have QUESTIONS. Too many storylines left unresolved for me to be satisfied, a bit too slow to crescendo, liked but didn’t love it. Three stars.
I won’t spoil too much because my book club friends are reading this soon, but I have QUESTIONS. Too many storylines left unresolved for me to be satisfied, a bit too slow to crescendo, liked but didn’t love it. Three stars.
_kkayleen's review against another edition
3.0
this book was very much fine. i was somewhat invested in cara, that sweet little psycho & would’ve liked to experience more of the turmoil between cara & peter as it held the vast majority of action in this book. it felt like there was a LOT of loose ends that were never tied up & questions i had without answers throughout the novel.
book_chat_girl's review against another edition
4.0
Atmospheric, almost like a fable or fairy tale in its sense of privacy and intimacy and separation from the world. I was drawn to the characters and to the place, I never trusted Cara - an unreliable friend whose stories were not to be believed. The overgrown lushness of the estate, the coming of age of middle-aged Fran, the temptations she saw in Peter and salvation she refused from Victor. And then about two-thirds of the way in, something was revealed that shifted what I had believed, and i appreciated the story even more.
sophiemrebehn's review against another edition
2.0
vielleicht muss ich es noch einmal auf englisch lesen, damit es mich hittet, denn eigentlich hat dieses buch viel worüber es sich lohnt nachzudenken..aber gefangen hat es mich leider nicht. vielleicht lag es an der deutschen übersetzung, aber ich bin nicht so ein fan von dem schreibstil und dem aufbau gewesen. ich mochte die hauptcharaktere auch nicht wirklich. es geht an einigen stellen um fatphobia, was für mich sehr unangenehm zu lesen war und ich weiß nicht genau, ob dies die wahrnehmung der charaktere ist oder die eigenen fatphobischen gedanken der autorin, die nur durch die charaktere wiedergespiegelt wurden.
lattesloveandlies's review against another edition
4.0
Not what I was expecting but I still didn't want to stop reading. VERY slow burn and not particularly scary for a thriller. The scene setting is beautiful, so incredibly detailed. The story takes a real hard turn in the past third. Tons of animal imagery that I'm still trying to work out. This may not become your favorite but still worth the time I think.
effier_'s review against another edition
2.0
I was bored from about page 45 till the end but I hate not finishing a book. Really quite predictable and nothing happened for the whole middle of it. Even the ‘big reveal’ at the end was a slog to get through
dawndigsbooks's review against another edition
3.0
If this book would’ve been paced faster, it could’ve been 4 stars. I struggled getting into the plot, it picked up about halfway through, but still underwhelmed me in the end.
wandering_reads's review against another edition
4.0
I started this in the morning and finished it by midday. I had to know what happened, and like any of these psychological mind-twists, the action doesn't come until the end ... and the truth. Ah, the truth!
Frances ends up in a run-down country house on a mission to survey the garden's architecture. She is also sharing the house with charismatic couple Peter and Cara. When she finds a 'Judas hole' in her attic bathroom and realizes that she can spy on them in their own bathroom, sometimes the temptation proves too great: she must look. She must know.
Not everything is peachy with Peter and Cara, but Frances is surprised that they actually want to get to know here. Over lush meals and picnics and swims in the lake, too much champagne and digging about in the proverbial skeletons in the closet, Frances reckons that she is becoming someone different, someone ... exciting.
After several misunderstandings and realizing that she has been completely taken in by Cara's spellbinding stories, Frances is left picking up the pieces of not only her own choices, but the choices she is left with by others.
What kept it from being a total five stars was some part the characters and the other part the way the narrative was structured. It goes back and forth in time as Frances remembers things, but at times this broke the flow almost like a hot day makes concentration impossible.
Frances ends up in a run-down country house on a mission to survey the garden's architecture. She is also sharing the house with charismatic couple Peter and Cara. When she finds a 'Judas hole' in her attic bathroom and realizes that she can spy on them in their own bathroom, sometimes the temptation proves too great: she must look. She must know.
Not everything is peachy with Peter and Cara, but Frances is surprised that they actually want to get to know here. Over lush meals and picnics and swims in the lake, too much champagne and digging about in the proverbial skeletons in the closet, Frances reckons that she is becoming someone different, someone ... exciting.
After several misunderstandings and realizing that she has been completely taken in by Cara's spellbinding stories, Frances is left picking up the pieces of not only her own choices, but the choices she is left with by others.
What kept it from being a total five stars was some part the characters and the other part the way the narrative was structured. It goes back and forth in time as Frances remembers things, but at times this broke the flow almost like a hot day makes concentration impossible.
vioboy91's review against another edition
5.0
Really enjoyed this book, I’m not really into murder mysteries but the murder didn’t really happen until the last two chapters of the book. Everything else was setting the stage and building up for the final event. The author did a great job at developing the storyline and characters, Really drew you into them. It was also fun read because there was a story inside of a story. I would really recommend this book