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A review by romanaromana
Prep School Confidential by Kara Taylor
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
2.5 stars.
(Here are some content warnings. Nothing in this review).
My rating feels a little harsh given that I generally had a nice time with Prep, but I can't ignore the fact that a large chunk of the mystery lowkey remains a mystery to me. I'm confused.
I think in her eagerness to keep things unpredictable, Kara Thomas overdid the red-herrings and over-complicated her mystery in this novel. Clues and possibilities are absolutely heaped on readers, with Anne finding out a lot from her snooping. But all of this information remains frenzied and disconnected for the majority of the book, which left me confused and struggling to remember and untangle it all when the truth was eventually revealed. I've ignored this same issue in previous crime reads, but I need to stop denying the truth: it's a pretty big deal if I don't understand what actually happened. It takes away almost all the satisfaction of having the case solved, to be honest.
Aside from the investigation, the supporting feature of Prep was romance, which I was also disappointed by. I was confused by it in a different way to the mystery, in that, I didn't completely understand why the romance was there in the first place. Anne's interest seemed to spring out of nowhere and I just didn't much care for it.
And. Well. It didn't help that there were two boys.
Yes, you read that correctly. Today I am openly criticising a love triangle. I'm ashamed of myself to be honest.
But look, romance with one of the boys was unnecessary, so two of them was really pushing it and just introduced a pointless conflict in Anne's life that distracted from the mystery at the worst possible moments. I would have preferred Thomas dedicate some energy instead to Anne's relationship with her parents, perhaps. Or maybe to fleshing out some of the mystery stuff that had me so baffled.
Good things, good things...
- I really liked Anne's character. She was confident and determined and consistent.
- Setting was fun! Can't really go wrong with an old boarding school.
- I actually cared about the victim much more than I expected given that we spend so little time with her. So that was nice.
I'm not sure I'll go out of my way to find the next in this series, but maybe I'll give it a go if it pops up somewhere. I still think Kara Thomas has more to offer than what I've encountered so far.
(Here are some content warnings. Nothing in this review).
My rating feels a little harsh given that I generally had a nice time with Prep, but I can't ignore the fact that a large chunk of the mystery lowkey remains a mystery to me. I'm confused.
I think in her eagerness to keep things unpredictable, Kara Thomas overdid the red-herrings and over-complicated her mystery in this novel. Clues and possibilities are absolutely heaped on readers, with Anne finding out a lot from her snooping. But all of this information remains frenzied and disconnected for the majority of the book, which left me confused and struggling to remember and untangle it all when the truth was eventually revealed. I've ignored this same issue in previous crime reads, but I need to stop denying the truth: it's a pretty big deal if I don't understand what actually happened. It takes away almost all the satisfaction of having the case solved, to be honest.
Aside from the investigation, the supporting feature of Prep was romance, which I was also disappointed by. I was confused by it in a different way to the mystery, in that, I didn't completely understand why the romance was there in the first place. Anne's interest seemed to spring out of nowhere and I just didn't much care for it.
And. Well. It didn't help that there were two boys.
Yes, you read that correctly. Today I am openly criticising a love triangle. I'm ashamed of myself to be honest.
But look, romance with one of the boys was unnecessary, so two of them was really pushing it and just introduced a pointless conflict in Anne's life that distracted from the mystery at the worst possible moments. I would have preferred Thomas dedicate some energy instead to Anne's relationship with her parents, perhaps. Or maybe to fleshing out some of the mystery stuff that had me so baffled.
Good things, good things...
- I really liked Anne's character. She was confident and determined and consistent.
- Setting was fun! Can't really go wrong with an old boarding school.
- I actually cared about the victim much more than I expected given that we spend so little time with her. So that was nice.
I'm not sure I'll go out of my way to find the next in this series, but maybe I'll give it a go if it pops up somewhere. I still think Kara Thomas has more to offer than what I've encountered so far.