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A review by c1aud55n
Escaping from Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco
2.0
there were SO many things that bothered me about this book.
i REALLY loved audrey in the first two books especially SJTR and it’s really hard for me to REALLY love the protagonist of a series but b*tch really did a whole 180 on her personality.
i love how in HPD audrey mentions MULTIPLE TIMES she could recognize thomas’s handwriting as well as her own but when mephistopheles sends her that note on the first night she immediately assumed it was thomas’s even though the note hadn’t been signed. and that deal she striked up with mephistopheles was SO stupid. “oh you know what? i’ve known you for what two days at this point? but i’m down to lie TO THE MAN I WANT TO MARRY to get ONE letter that i truly have no business knowing about anyway” she completely patronized liza by going behind her back to get that ONE letter from houdini- TO HIS MOTHER?? and i know she didn’t know it was to his mother but still, messing with liza’s personal affairs? that was SO not ok of audrey. and then liza doesn’t even bat an eye when she finds out the letter WAS INDEED to his mother and not some secret lover in america. and once she’d gotten the letter she could’ve left so easily??
anyway- love triangles are SO over done at this point. honestly i don’t even mind them when they’re done WELL. but i really hoped one WOULDN’T happen. woopty doo guess what happened? audrey rose and thomas had an amazing relationship blossoming in the first two books and they even talked of getting married earlier in the third book AND LITERALLY HAVING CHILDREN, yet she can’t decide who she loves more? thomas, who she’s known for months at this point, who she can- idk actually trust? who’s been with her through her worst times while she hallucinated during HPD after seeing her mothers rotting corpse shocked with electricity and was (quite literally) by her side while she watched her brother commit suicide? OR a mysterious stranger she knows QUITE LITERALLY nothing about- does she know his name? no. has she seen his face? no. HAS SHE KNOWN HIM FOR MORE THAN ONE WEEK? NO! HAS HE PURPOSELY ORCHESTRATED VERY DRAMATIC SCENES TO VERY PURPOSEFULLY PUT A RIFT BETWEEN HER AND THOMAS? YES. YES!! in the first two books i got the impression that audrey and thomas were equals but in this book audrey proves that she doesn’t by CONTINUALLY lying to him when they’d VERY specifically discussed not doing that. and mephistopheles was like the WORSE version of thomas? i hated him from the beginning and the fact that he tricked audrey rose into believing that letter from houdini was to a secret lover and not his mom is disgusting (and i know he tried “justifying” it by saying their love would end in heartbreak wether he had interfered or not which is SO stupid ) and then knowing that he willingly held that fact from her she still wouldn’t answer thomas when he asked if she loved mephistopheles??
and one of my biggest problems with the plot was that in the first book ( and i believe it was also SLIGHTLY mentioned in HPD ) liza and her had a talk where they discussed they both preffered a fun adventure dAsHeD with romance which is exactly what i felt the first two books were and that’s what made me love them so much. but NO in this book it felt like i was reading a bunch of teenage drama while people were getting murdered in the background and in the first book it felt as if the romance was formed IN SPITE of the crimes while in EFH the MURDERS OF INNOCENT PEOPLE felt like a secondary plot.
also, that ending was so haphazard if seemed as if the only thing kerri maniscalco has been able to accomplish while writing this book (other than single-handedly making THE MOST infuriating love triangle i’ve ever had the displeasure of reading about) is to make an amazingly suspenseful ending- and than the epilogue completely killed the suspense.
i REALLY loved audrey in the first two books especially SJTR and it’s really hard for me to REALLY love the protagonist of a series but b*tch really did a whole 180 on her personality.
i love how in HPD audrey mentions MULTIPLE TIMES she could recognize thomas’s handwriting as well as her own but when mephistopheles sends her that note on the first night she immediately assumed it was thomas’s even though the note hadn’t been signed. and that deal she striked up with mephistopheles was SO stupid. “oh you know what? i’ve known you for what two days at this point? but i’m down to lie TO THE MAN I WANT TO MARRY to get ONE letter that i truly have no business knowing about anyway” she completely patronized liza by going behind her back to get that ONE letter from houdini- TO HIS MOTHER?? and i know she didn’t know it was to his mother but still, messing with liza’s personal affairs? that was SO not ok of audrey. and then liza doesn’t even bat an eye when she finds out the letter WAS INDEED to his mother and not some secret lover in america. and once she’d gotten the letter she could’ve left so easily??
anyway- love triangles are SO over done at this point. honestly i don’t even mind them when they’re done WELL. but i really hoped one WOULDN’T happen. woopty doo guess what happened? audrey rose and thomas had an amazing relationship blossoming in the first two books and they even talked of getting married earlier in the third book AND LITERALLY HAVING CHILDREN, yet she can’t decide who she loves more? thomas, who she’s known for months at this point, who she can- idk actually trust? who’s been with her through her worst times while she hallucinated during HPD after seeing her mothers rotting corpse shocked with electricity and was (quite literally) by her side while she watched her brother commit suicide? OR a mysterious stranger she knows QUITE LITERALLY nothing about- does she know his name? no. has she seen his face? no. HAS SHE KNOWN HIM FOR MORE THAN ONE WEEK? NO! HAS HE PURPOSELY ORCHESTRATED VERY DRAMATIC SCENES TO VERY PURPOSEFULLY PUT A RIFT BETWEEN HER AND THOMAS? YES. YES!! in the first two books i got the impression that audrey and thomas were equals but in this book audrey proves that she doesn’t by CONTINUALLY lying to him when they’d VERY specifically discussed not doing that. and mephistopheles was like the WORSE version of thomas? i hated him from the beginning and the fact that he tricked audrey rose into believing that letter from houdini was to a secret lover and not his mom is disgusting (and i know he tried “justifying” it by saying their love would end in heartbreak wether he had interfered or not which is SO stupid ) and then knowing that he willingly held that fact from her she still wouldn’t answer thomas when he asked if she loved mephistopheles??
and one of my biggest problems with the plot was that in the first book ( and i believe it was also SLIGHTLY mentioned in HPD ) liza and her had a talk where they discussed they both preffered a fun adventure dAsHeD with romance which is exactly what i felt the first two books were and that’s what made me love them so much. but NO in this book it felt like i was reading a bunch of teenage drama while people were getting murdered in the background and in the first book it felt as if the romance was formed IN SPITE of the crimes while in EFH the MURDERS OF INNOCENT PEOPLE felt like a secondary plot.
also, that ending was so haphazard if seemed as if the only thing kerri maniscalco has been able to accomplish while writing this book (other than single-handedly making THE MOST infuriating love triangle i’ve ever had the displeasure of reading about) is to make an amazingly suspenseful ending- and than the epilogue completely killed the suspense.