fungivibes's reviews
1650 reviews

Private Rites by Julia Armfield

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  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Beautifully atmospheric and dream-like. The plot is quite thin and the ending isn't really earned or foreshadowed. The character work on the other hand is amazing, very real and flawed. Very much a character study of three sisters and how they relate to each other in the wake of their abusive father's death.                                          
Diavola by Jennifer Marie Thorne

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fast-paced

2.75

Listened to this as an audiobook and the narrator Andi Arndt was great, she really nailed the tone and sounded exactly how I imagined Anna to. 
The descriptions of the Italian landscape was lush and immersive. The characters all felt well rounded and fleshed out. The first half of the novel is a tense Gothic story filled with mysteries and family drama. However once everything moves back to America the plot loses all steam and direction. The plot is really muddy and indistinct and things seem to happen just to happen.
Like what was the point in the family killing Chase and then just forgetting about it or Anna sleeping with and killing her ex.
There is no real cohesion of thought and I really have no idea what the author was trying to say.