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A review by the_llewbrary
Murder for the Modern Girl by Kendall Kulper
4.0
The cover had me hooked as soon as I saw it, and the premise was so enticing, I couldn't resist. Murder for the Modern Girl was a perfect length for a standalone that kept my attention and left me very pleased.
Ruby lives in 1920's Chicago, where high society flapper girls like her can have fun, sneak booze, and have fun twists with boys. But underneath all the bubbles and blitz, she can hear the dark thoughts of men, waiting to take advantage of those women who can't turn to the law for protection. Ruby is their protection. That is, until an unruly janitor with a penchant for changing faces and investigating where he has no right to goes looking for the mysterious person poisoning the city's dirtiest men. It truly was an invigorating read, and I gave it a 8/10.
--- SPOILERS AHEAD ---
As much as I enjoyed this book, there were two points that bothered me. One of them is definitely more trivial and a me thing, the other was about the book as a whole.
Firstly, as soon as they had the whole 'Vivian the journalist who likes women' thing, which was very briefly glossed over btw, I was definitely expecting some sort of romance between the pair. This definitely shows how much of the summary I read, but I feel like reading that takes away from the book sometimes. Anyways, I think they could've been queer.
The second thing was about the story. So, both of the main characters have powers. Sure. Peter was even trying to do scientific research on his. What bothered me was Ruby's power, and how it was explained away. Being able to know people's thoughts is a lot, but there was no way that her parents wouldn't have noticed when she was little. She said things often that she shouldn't know, and it would've made more people, in my opinion, suspicious. Especially her father. Deduction can only get you so far.
I did quite enjoy the resolution, though if a bit rushed. I enjoyed the feminism bits, and the shoot out at the end kept me on my toes. Peter and Ruby's relationship was well written, though I am more of a fan of enemies to lovers, it was cute. Overall, a great read, and one I would definitely recommend to someone just stepping into reading!
Ruby lives in 1920's Chicago, where high society flapper girls like her can have fun, sneak booze, and have fun twists with boys. But underneath all the bubbles and blitz, she can hear the dark thoughts of men, waiting to take advantage of those women who can't turn to the law for protection. Ruby is their protection. That is, until an unruly janitor with a penchant for changing faces and investigating where he has no right to goes looking for the mysterious person poisoning the city's dirtiest men. It truly was an invigorating read, and I gave it a 8/10.
--- SPOILERS AHEAD ---
As much as I enjoyed this book, there were two points that bothered me. One of them is definitely more trivial and a me thing, the other was about the book as a whole.
Firstly, as soon as they had the whole 'Vivian the journalist who likes women' thing, which was very briefly glossed over btw, I was definitely expecting some sort of romance between the pair. This definitely shows how much of the summary I read, but I feel like reading that takes away from the book sometimes. Anyways, I think they could've been queer.
The second thing was about the story. So, both of the main characters have powers. Sure. Peter was even trying to do scientific research on his. What bothered me was Ruby's power, and how it was explained away. Being able to know people's thoughts is a lot, but there was no way that her parents wouldn't have noticed when she was little. She said things often that she shouldn't know, and it would've made more people, in my opinion, suspicious. Especially her father. Deduction can only get you so far.
I did quite enjoy the resolution, though if a bit rushed. I enjoyed the feminism bits, and the shoot out at the end kept me on my toes. Peter and Ruby's relationship was well written, though I am more of a fan of enemies to lovers, it was cute. Overall, a great read, and one I would definitely recommend to someone just stepping into reading!