You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
carlyjoann 's review for:
Where the Library Hides
by Isabel Ibañez
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I went into this book excited after loving the first and ended it feeling disappointed.
The plot meandered around for more than half the book. There were lurches forward that would have action but then everything would be slow again and then lurch forward, and so on. The end felt rushed and parts of the plot were just glossed over.
There were a lot of characters that carried over from the first one into this one. To be honest none of them got enough page time to make me care much about them outside of Inez and Whit. They both pissed me off a lot throughout but they had cute moments here and there.
There were a couple of plot twists and I really did not like them. They made the whole story more convoluted. This book could have been so much better without them in my opinion.
I wish I had more positive things to say but I am just very disappointed in what this was because I had so many hopes for what it could have been.
I have lots of spoilery thoughts but they will ruin the twists and end, beware!
I truly don’t understand how I am supposed to feel about Inez’s parents after this book. She is so loyal to them and destroyed by the loss of them in the first book that she travels across the world to find out what happened to them, only for them to both be horrible people who use her for their own gain. How did they operate their businesses when they were with Inez in Argentina? How did her mother keep up a whole other family while going to Argentina? How did she also spend all her time with this other family in London? How did her mother hide a pregnancy when they were only gone half a year each year?? How were her parents pretending to be together so long when they hated each other back in Egypt? Was it just suddenly like, oh well time for a white flag cause we gotta go back to our lives in Argentina. JUST WHAT?!? I was so confused. The reveal of her father made me so so angry. I wanted to quit reading but finished anyway since it was near the end. Clearly Inez is delusional for thinking that her parents ever even cared about her in the slightest because they definitely did not.
Also Whit stealing ALL of Inez’s money and just hoping his dad doesn’t gamble it away? Sure, Porter was going to handle it but we drop this huge wedge between Inez and Whit and then have it be handled by Porter off page with a tiny mention at the end?? It just seemed like unnecessary drama for the couple to deal with among the other plot issues. I feel that Inez trusting Isadora could have been enough for wedge without this extra side plot.
This book made almost zero sense when looking at the first, timelines don’t match up, and lore makes no sense. I am just so let down.
The plot meandered around for more than half the book. There were lurches forward that would have action but then everything would be slow again and then lurch forward, and so on. The end felt rushed and parts of the plot were just glossed over.
There were a lot of characters that carried over from the first one into this one. To be honest none of them got enough page time to make me care much about them outside of Inez and Whit. They both pissed me off a lot throughout but they had cute moments here and there.
There were a couple of plot twists and I really did not like them. They made the whole story more convoluted. This book could have been so much better without them in my opinion.
I wish I had more positive things to say but I am just very disappointed in what this was because I had so many hopes for what it could have been.
I have lots of spoilery thoughts but they will ruin the twists and end, beware!
Also Whit stealing ALL of Inez’s money and just hoping his dad doesn’t gamble it away? Sure, Porter was going to handle it but we drop this huge wedge between Inez and Whit and then have it be handled by Porter off page with a tiny mention at the end?? It just seemed like unnecessary drama for the couple to deal with among the other plot issues. I feel that Inez trusting Isadora could have been enough for wedge without this extra side plot.
This book made almost zero sense when looking at the first, timelines don’t match up, and lore makes no sense. I am just so let down.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Misogyny, Grief, Gaslighting, Alcohol