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lefttoread's Reviews (532)
I first read Eeny Meeny back in 2017 but decided to give it another go this year to see if it was worth continuing with the series. I remembered little from my initial read, so I thought a second chance might change my perspective. While I still don't think it's a bad book, it hasn't convinced me to continue with the series.
One of the main issues I found was with the pacing—it felt a bit uneven and it made it hard for me to fully immerse myself in the story. Additionally, I wasn't particularly fond of the main character, which made it difficult to connect with the narrative on a deeper level.
However, I'm glad I revisited the book because now I know for sure that it's just not for me.
"There are countless moments in the average life when you have to decide whether to open yourself up or bury yourself deep. In love, at work, amongst your family, with friends, there are moments when you have to decide whether you are ready to reveal your true self."
One of the main issues I found was with the pacing—it felt a bit uneven and it made it hard for me to fully immerse myself in the story. Additionally, I wasn't particularly fond of the main character, which made it difficult to connect with the narrative on a deeper level.
However, I'm glad I revisited the book because now I know for sure that it's just not for me.
"There are countless moments in the average life when you have to decide whether to open yourself up or bury yourself deep. In love, at work, amongst your family, with friends, there are moments when you have to decide whether you are ready to reveal your true self."
Pretty Girls is the best standalone I've read from Karin Slaughter, I still prefer her series but this was a solid thriller!
A lot of people are hesitant when starting this book or any Slaughter book and rightly so, I've read enough to not be affected by much but Karin still manages to make my face clench together in disgust.
Pretty Girl follows three points of view, Claire, Lydia and their father. Every one of the father's points are diary/journal entries. The family are living with the fact that the third sister, Julia has been missing since she was 19 years old, over 20 years ago. Claire and Lydia have not been a part of each others lives for a good while but new cases and a death of a loved one brings them back together - not in the way you'd think. These characters start out being really unlikable, the sisters do not get on and there's a lot of bad history, but they were written so well. I found myself being fully interested the whole way through even when there wasn't a whole lot happening.
The plot was quite straight forward, there wasn't any major plot twist I guess and I wasn't left shocked by much, usually that would bother me but I was so engrossed in these characters that I just didn't care.
It was a great, well rounded story and I think I ended up really enjoying Claire and Lydia, separately and together by the end of it.
As I've said this book is VERY graphic, so if you don't like reading violence of any sort be really wary about picking up any Karin Slaughter book.
A lot of people are hesitant when starting this book or any Slaughter book and rightly so, I've read enough to not be affected by much but Karin still manages to make my face clench together in disgust.
Pretty Girl follows three points of view, Claire, Lydia and their father. Every one of the father's points are diary/journal entries. The family are living with the fact that the third sister, Julia has been missing since she was 19 years old, over 20 years ago. Claire and Lydia have not been a part of each others lives for a good while but new cases and a death of a loved one brings them back together - not in the way you'd think. These characters start out being really unlikable, the sisters do not get on and there's a lot of bad history, but they were written so well. I found myself being fully interested the whole way through even when there wasn't a whole lot happening.
The plot was quite straight forward, there wasn't any major plot twist I guess and I wasn't left shocked by much, usually that would bother me but I was so engrossed in these characters that I just didn't care.
It was a great, well rounded story and I think I ended up really enjoying Claire and Lydia, separately and together by the end of it.
As I've said this book is VERY graphic, so if you don't like reading violence of any sort be really wary about picking up any Karin Slaughter book.
"How short was the road from that decisions to this moment? The question ached like a bruise."
THE DRY is a great debut novel and I agree with most people that Jane Harper’s writing is clever and addictive. I found the book easy to read and it started out very fast paced. Unfortunately for me the story began to slow down after about 250 pages. The story itself did pick back up again towards the end and the characters never faulted, they all had strong personalities but then the conclusion happened and I found myself feeling disappointed.
"Death rarely changes how we feel about someone. Heightens it, more often than not."
THE DRY is a mystery thriller where the reader is left guessing ‘who done it’ until the very end. I was guessing throughout the whole story and I never guessed who the killer was, although I am happy that it was never made easy for the reader to guess the ending, I did end up feeling let down. When the killer was revealed I thought it felt anti-climatic. Throughout the full book there’s build up, there’s secrets from Falk’s childhood, it’s very tense and I felt the conclusion didn’t follow suit, it ended up actually being somewhat disconnected to all of the build up.
As I’ve said though, you cannot fault Jane Harper’s writing, I still wanted to read the book to the very end and I’m looking forward to reading the next in the series, FORCE OF NATURE.
THE DRY is a great debut novel and I agree with most people that Jane Harper’s writing is clever and addictive. I found the book easy to read and it started out very fast paced. Unfortunately for me the story began to slow down after about 250 pages. The story itself did pick back up again towards the end and the characters never faulted, they all had strong personalities but then the conclusion happened and I found myself feeling disappointed.
"Death rarely changes how we feel about someone. Heightens it, more often than not."
THE DRY is a mystery thriller where the reader is left guessing ‘who done it’ until the very end. I was guessing throughout the whole story and I never guessed who the killer was, although I am happy that it was never made easy for the reader to guess the ending, I did end up feeling let down. When the killer was revealed I thought it felt anti-climatic. Throughout the full book there’s build up, there’s secrets from Falk’s childhood, it’s very tense and I felt the conclusion didn’t follow suit, it ended up actually being somewhat disconnected to all of the build up.
As I’ve said though, you cannot fault Jane Harper’s writing, I still wanted to read the book to the very end and I’m looking forward to reading the next in the series, FORCE OF NATURE.
This only gets a 3 because I enjoyed how it ended. The TV series is definitely better, I really didn't like how the characters where portrayed in these books, other than Damon and Bonnie everybody else was so different from the TV series and honestly the TV show made sooo many improvements
I just didn’t like this as much as I’d hoped I would.
It’s a gorgeous story of love and strength in relationships but I just couldn’t connect. I loved the mother, the father and Andrius but I couldn’t connect with Lina and her brother which is probably the main reason I didn’t like this book as much as others.
The story also took a while to get into, I think I was at 200 pages before I felt like I wanted to keep going. I was ready to give up before hand as I was losing all hope for the storyline.
I think there could have been more depth to this book but I understand why people love it that’s why I gave this a 3 stars!
It’s a gorgeous story of love and strength in relationships but I just couldn’t connect. I loved the mother, the father and Andrius but I couldn’t connect with Lina and her brother which is probably the main reason I didn’t like this book as much as others.
The story also took a while to get into, I think I was at 200 pages before I felt like I wanted to keep going. I was ready to give up before hand as I was losing all hope for the storyline.
I think there could have been more depth to this book but I understand why people love it that’s why I gave this a 3 stars!
I'm not sure if it's because I listened to the audiobook or not but I just didn't enjoy this one and I didn't like Lincoln Ryme.. There was some good gruesome scenes but the book consisted of a lot of extra information I didn't care for and there was a lot about Ryme himself which I didn't like as I think if the character is in a series the character should be built up slowly throughout the books.
"Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead."
For such a short book, I struggled to get through it! I didn't enjoy the writing and I was bored all the way through.
"Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall."
The story is full of unlikable characters, which I don't mind there being a few in a novel, if they're written well and they add to the plot then fair enough but these characters felt so detached that I found them boring and I could not enjoy the story, even if there is many unlikable characters there has got to be at least one likeable one to make me want to carry on, other wise, what's the point?
The full book had no depth or meaning to it, not from what I was reading anyway and I wouldn't care to read it again. I am still going to give the movie a go though, maybe that will be more entertaining?
For such a short book, I struggled to get through it! I didn't enjoy the writing and I was bored all the way through.
"Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall."
The story is full of unlikable characters, which I don't mind there being a few in a novel, if they're written well and they add to the plot then fair enough but these characters felt so detached that I found them boring and I could not enjoy the story, even if there is many unlikable characters there has got to be at least one likeable one to make me want to carry on, other wise, what's the point?
The full book had no depth or meaning to it, not from what I was reading anyway and I wouldn't care to read it again. I am still going to give the movie a go though, maybe that will be more entertaining?
In this book we follow main character Rowan, she has been arrested for the murder of a child, she has wrote to a solicitor to claim her innocence. Rowan had taken a new job as a live in nanny / babysitter. The money was good, the house was huge but there was a warning in the job advert about the house being haunted as other nannies / babysitters have left due to this. Rowan didn't mind and took the job anyway.
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I was LOVING this book, the suspense, the thrills, I was creeped out by this story and the audiobook for this one is SO GOOD.
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I had such a fun time throughout, I was passionate about each character whether I loved or hated them, Ruth Ware did an amazing job writing these characters.
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Unfortunately.. THAT ENDING. I was PISSED. It ruined everything, I was left feeling disappointed at the reveal of what actually happened to the child and everything that had went on through this book seemed pointless because of the conclusion.
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Also there was a massive plot hole in this story. I went from a 4 to a 5 star rating until the last 10 pages then it went down to a 2 or 3 star rating, then I slept on it and the next day I was still thinking about the book and that was when I stumbled across the plot hole, hence the 1 star rating.
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I was LOVING this book, the suspense, the thrills, I was creeped out by this story and the audiobook for this one is SO GOOD.
.
I had such a fun time throughout, I was passionate about each character whether I loved or hated them, Ruth Ware did an amazing job writing these characters.
.
Unfortunately.. THAT ENDING. I was PISSED. It ruined everything, I was left feeling disappointed at the reveal of what actually happened to the child and everything that had went on through this book seemed pointless because of the conclusion.
.
Also there was a massive plot hole in this story. I went from a 4 to a 5 star rating until the last 10 pages then it went down to a 2 or 3 star rating, then I slept on it and the next day I was still thinking about the book and that was when I stumbled across the plot hole, hence the 1 star rating.