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A review by bookhoardingdragon42
The Antique Store Detective by Clare Chase
3.0
Thank you to NetGalley and Clare Chase for the eARC!
I did like this book. It was a fun read. It’s got very cozy vibes, and I liked the characters. Basically, Bella (fmc) moves back to her hometown Hope Eaton, where she runs an antique store. While staying as a guest at an old couples’ house (I don’t even know what the relationship was between Bella and the couple. Family friends? Just a couple renting a room? I have no idea), she discovers the dead body of a local professor. Suspecting foul play, she teams up with a ridiculous amount of people to solve the mystery.
This book was a bit difficult for me to get through. I’m really big on correct grammar and punctuation, especially in books. There were 19 instances (that I commented on) where the grammar was weird, the punctuation was weird, or whatever was being said made absolutely no sense. Granted, some of it may be because of US/UK differences in writing, but I think a lot of it was just incorrect. There were a few instances where a word did NOT belong in the sentence. It made no sense at all. It was really annoying to read, I’m not going to lie.
One thing I didn’t like was the sudden romance between Bella (the fmc) and her coworker’s brother? Where did that come from??? There had only been one interaction with him in the book (and no other previous mentions, other than the fact that he was related to her coworker) before, and I quote, “An unexpected warm spark lit somewhere deep inside her.” Like, no it didn’t.
I also saw the murderer coming from a mile away. I remember being 80% through the book, and Bella had ruled out like, 5 different people and had no idea who the killer was. There was also a character (Bella’s godfather) that seemed kind of useless to me? Like, why was he there? He was pretty much useless in solving the mystery. Literally the only thing he did was encourage Bella to dig deeper into it.
This is turning into a mini rant, so I’m going to end it here: I did like the book, but it’s probably not one I would pick up again for fun. I would probably recommend this to someone who’s just getting into reading, either in general or in the mystery genre. I probably wouldn’t buy it for myself, but it was a pretty good book, so ⭐️⭐️⭐️
I did like this book. It was a fun read. It’s got very cozy vibes, and I liked the characters. Basically, Bella (fmc) moves back to her hometown Hope Eaton, where she runs an antique store. While staying as a guest at an old couples’ house (I don’t even know what the relationship was between Bella and the couple. Family friends? Just a couple renting a room? I have no idea), she discovers the dead body of a local professor. Suspecting foul play, she teams up with a ridiculous amount of people to solve the mystery.
This book was a bit difficult for me to get through. I’m really big on correct grammar and punctuation, especially in books. There were 19 instances (that I commented on) where the grammar was weird, the punctuation was weird, or whatever was being said made absolutely no sense. Granted, some of it may be because of US/UK differences in writing, but I think a lot of it was just incorrect. There were a few instances where a word did NOT belong in the sentence. It made no sense at all. It was really annoying to read, I’m not going to lie.
One thing I didn’t like was the sudden romance between Bella (the fmc) and her coworker’s brother? Where did that come from??? There had only been one interaction with him in the book (and no other previous mentions, other than the fact that he was related to her coworker) before, and I quote, “An unexpected warm spark lit somewhere deep inside her.” Like, no it didn’t.
I also saw the murderer coming from a mile away. I remember being 80% through the book, and Bella had ruled out like, 5 different people and had no idea who the killer was. There was also a character (Bella’s godfather) that seemed kind of useless to me? Like, why was he there? He was pretty much useless in solving the mystery. Literally the only thing he did was encourage Bella to dig deeper into it.
This is turning into a mini rant, so I’m going to end it here: I did like the book, but it’s probably not one I would pick up again for fun. I would probably recommend this to someone who’s just getting into reading, either in general or in the mystery genre. I probably wouldn’t buy it for myself, but it was a pretty good book, so ⭐️⭐️⭐️