A review by spidervan
Blood and Mascara by Colin Krainin

mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.75

While I enjoy mystery novels, I don't think I was the target audience for this book. I did enjoy that the chapters were short, the pace was fast, and the book was a quick read. However, this book was quite clearly written by a man and felt like it was targeted towards men, despite the romance subplot being more of a focus than the actual mystery itself. I could not get into the romance or find myself invested in the characters. The male character was misogynistic with no qualities that caused me to care about him as a flawed character and this was only emphasized for me by the fact that the female character felt very flat and like her main personality trait was being in love with the male character for no reason that I could understand. If you're looking for a quick mystery read with a romance element this might be for you, but I personally couldn't get into it.