A review by fay_libris
Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.0

Writing this review took me 4 months. Thinking back about this book I get angry and annoyed. I was debating a long time if I should write a lot or nothing at all.
I am done thinking about this, so here is my half-finished review. 

*************
This book... this was so underwhelming and even frustrating in the end. This book made me not want to pick up another book for 3 months because I was so annoyed with this.

I liked some parts of this story, probably around half of the book, but I should have payed more attention to the things that already rubbed me the wrong way in the beginning.

I was interested in the 4 young leads and their stories and struggles. I overall enjoyed most of their chapters. Seeing their reasons and connections to the tea house and the murder was overall enjoyable. Even if the question of who of them could be the killer was very obvious.

Vera... I enjoyed some parts of her character. Her background was kinda interesting and her food sounded mouth-watering, but...
Her connection to the murder? Frustrating. Annoying. Infuriating. She behaves so damn inappropriate and unbelievably selfish.
Near the end, her schemes come crashing down on her and we are supposed to feel bad for her. But you know what? No. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. 

I hated how the ending came about. How every bad/stupid thing Vera has done is conveniently forgotten about because she can cook. Instead of her having to really confront what she did and learning through it to become better, she just mopes, makes herself get sick and all is completely forgotten, because poor old lady.
Instead and learning and growing it just falls flat. She learns nothing and the other characters just accept everything that has happened.

I also didn't expect NFTs and Crypto to be such big parts of this story. But that just on the side.

When I think back on this book I get so annoyed and frustrated. I just personally really didn't like it and think that it wasn't well executed. 

I hate rating books low and I am aware that this is just my own opinion and viewpoint, so I am giving this 2 stars for now. 
It's still the lowest I have ever rated a book.