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rue25 's review for:
All These Beautiful Strangers
by Elizabeth Klehfoth
This was an odd read for me because for the first quarter of this book I was really on board and was enjoying how the story was beginning to unfold but as the novel developed I felt it became more and more convoluted and cluttered and I just became more and more dissatisfied with ow it was plotted.
I think you can really tell that this was a debut novel from the author with just how much she packed into this book. The amount of storylines and subplots and the amount of the characters and POV’s. It definitely could’ve been tighter and really needed some streamlining in certain parts. I also felt like the novel didn't really know what it wanted to be was it a soapy family melodrama, was it a YA boarding school mystery. It was walking this balancing act and it ended up disservicing both sides of this story.
Another big critique I had was the way the flashback chapters worked, they unfortunately added to how convoluted the novel became and especially some of those middle flashback chapters really became very repetitive and it felt like they were not servicing the story in any meaningful way or pushing the plot forward at all.
The mystery element of the novel was the only part that really worked and it did deliver on its premise and I also liked how everything ended up tying together but unfortunately the ending was very anti climatic with it all feeling weirdly truncated.
Last but not least spoilers for those who care
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I am unclear what the ultimate relationship between Charlie and Greyson ended up being since it is said in the epilogue they live together but the main character meets him when she is 17 and he is 22 which is a very odd romance in my opinion and certainly did not sit well with me.
I think you can really tell that this was a debut novel from the author with just how much she packed into this book. The amount of storylines and subplots and the amount of the characters and POV’s. It definitely could’ve been tighter and really needed some streamlining in certain parts. I also felt like the novel didn't really know what it wanted to be was it a soapy family melodrama, was it a YA boarding school mystery. It was walking this balancing act and it ended up disservicing both sides of this story.
Another big critique I had was the way the flashback chapters worked, they unfortunately added to how convoluted the novel became and especially some of those middle flashback chapters really became very repetitive and it felt like they were not servicing the story in any meaningful way or pushing the plot forward at all.
The mystery element of the novel was the only part that really worked and it did deliver on its premise and I also liked how everything ended up tying together but unfortunately the ending was very anti climatic with it all feeling weirdly truncated.
Last but not least spoilers for those who care
.
.
.
.
I am unclear what the ultimate relationship between Charlie and Greyson ended up being since it is said in the epilogue they live together but the main character meets him when she is 17 and he is 22 which is a very odd romance in my opinion and certainly did not sit well with me.