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oashackelford's reviews
350 reviews
Pippa's podcast about catching the murderers in her town has gone viral, but she herself has turned away from detective work, that is until her friend Connor comes to her house looking for help because his older brother has gone missing. She turned away from detective work because of how obsessive and reckless it made her, but when the police tell her that the missing kid is a low-risk case she realizes someone has to do something or Connor's older brother Jamie could be missing forever.
I loved this one even more than the last one! Something that I think Holly Jackson does really well is she starts laying out clues for character shifts long before the character does anything that might shock us. For example, one of Pippa's friends starts behaving meanly towards her, which normally would shock us and we would be wondering where it came from, except that this author really though her writing through so that nothing the characters do seems out of character for them, unless it is supposed to of course. I love reading her mysteries because you can kind of work out who the killer might be right alongside Pippa. I said this in my review of "A Good Girl's Guide to Murder," but I this book series gives me serious Agatha Christie vibes, and that is the highest honor I can give a mystery novel.
I loved this one even more than the last one! Something that I think Holly Jackson does really well is she starts laying out clues for character shifts long before the character does anything that might shock us. For example, one of Pippa's friends starts behaving meanly towards her, which normally would shock us and we would be wondering where it came from, except that this author really though her writing through so that nothing the characters do seems out of character for them, unless it is supposed to of course. I love reading her mysteries because you can kind of work out who the killer might be right alongside Pippa. I said this in my review of "A Good Girl's Guide to Murder," but I this book series gives me serious Agatha Christie vibes, and that is the highest honor I can give a mystery novel.
Jill Newman is a scholarship kid going to an elite school on the east coast. Everything she is supposed to be doing should be pointing her towards college, so why is she a part of the players? The players are an exclusive club at school that tortures it's members but making them humiliate themselves in order to gain access to the files, a set of records that has the answers to all the tests at school as well as elite study guides for the SATs and connections to help students get into Ivy league schools. Five years ago when Jill was trying to join the Players her best friend died, but now Jill isn't so sure that the story adds up. Can she go against the players, and the school's wishes and find out what really happened to her friend that night?
This book was only okay for me. The plot was interesting enough for me to keep reading because I wanted to find out what happened, but the book moved really slowly and wasn't enough of a mystery to really call it a mystery. The book mostly just recounts Jill's relationship with her best friend in her memories, and how she is feeling in her current relationships in the present. A lot of the book is how messed up the players are, not about solving the mystery, and when they do solve the mystery it is the smallest part of the book and the twist is clear a mile off. If you like shows like gossip girl about intrigue and elite private groups getting into trouble because they are rich and they can, then this book would probably be perfect for you. If you prefer investigative mystery novels, then I would keep looking. The plot also moved too slowly for my taste. It was okay, but not one I will read again, unless of course I forgot what the plot was, because it was a little forgettable.
This book was only okay for me. The plot was interesting enough for me to keep reading because I wanted to find out what happened, but the book moved really slowly and wasn't enough of a mystery to really call it a mystery. The book mostly just recounts Jill's relationship with her best friend in her memories, and how she is feeling in her current relationships in the present. A lot of the book is how messed up the players are, not about solving the mystery, and when they do solve the mystery it is the smallest part of the book and the twist is clear a mile off. If you like shows like gossip girl about intrigue and elite private groups getting into trouble because they are rich and they can, then this book would probably be perfect for you. If you prefer investigative mystery novels, then I would keep looking. The plot also moved too slowly for my taste. It was okay, but not one I will read again, unless of course I forgot what the plot was, because it was a little forgettable.
Abigail Rook and Jackaby are in a race to take down the dire king, but they still don't know who he is. What they do know is that he has a machine that can take out the veil and he plans on ruling the Earth and the Anwyn as the king of Chaos. They continue investigating what they do know as well as beginning to make an army to help them if they can't get to the dire king before the war breaks out.
I really loved this final entry in this series. A small part of me does wish that the author had gone with a monster of the week type format, but I will say that the concluding book including elements and characters from all the other books was pretty satisfying. I thought that the ending was also very satisfying. It gave all the characters what they needed and wrapped up a lot of loose ends for the reader without telling you everything that happens, which allows you as the reader to form some of your own conclusions as well.
I really loved this final entry in this series. A small part of me does wish that the author had gone with a monster of the week type format, but I will say that the concluding book including elements and characters from all the other books was pretty satisfying. I thought that the ending was also very satisfying. It gave all the characters what they needed and wrapped up a lot of loose ends for the reader without telling you everything that happens, which allows you as the reader to form some of your own conclusions as well.
After having solved the Ellingham murders Stevie is left feeling like maybe it was a fluke that she solved anything at all. She is working at a grocery store and contemplating her future when she gets an email from a man who has just bought a camp that used to be camp wonder falls, and is the infamous site of the Box in the Woods murders. Stevie jumps at the chance to solve the murders and hopefully prove that her ability to solve mysteries wasn't a fluke after all.
I really liked this book in that I thought that it had better pacing than the first three books that came before it, and I loved that the mystery was actually wrapped up in one book this time, but I don't know if I felt like it wrapped well.
No spoilers here, I will be very vague.
In the first three books in this series I thought that the author did a really good job at providing the reader with all the clues necessary to potentially solve the mystery themselves, which is something that I love. This book was a little more predictable and I felt like the ending was robbed a little bit because Stevie gets a clue that literally spells out what happened at the time of the murder instead of being more vague and possibly having a few meanings, and also that clue and it's contents are kept from the reader until Stevie is explaining who the murderer is. So it goes from feeling like you are starting to put the clues together, to being done with the clues really fast. I didn't love that. I love trying to put the clues together myself and then still being wrong when the twist comes, but ultimately the twist still makes sense. The explanation for why the murders were committed also seemed a little thin. It almost feels like the author had a deadline to finish the book so she wrote the ending really fast without worrying about it making too much sense. For the record I think it could easily be fixed by adding a little more foreshadowing in the flashback sequences. Anyways, I did still enjoy the book and would still recommend it to anyone who likes mysteries.
I really liked this book in that I thought that it had better pacing than the first three books that came before it, and I loved that the mystery was actually wrapped up in one book this time, but I don't know if I felt like it wrapped well.
No spoilers here, I will be very vague.
In the first three books in this series I thought that the author did a really good job at providing the reader with all the clues necessary to potentially solve the mystery themselves, which is something that I love. This book was a little more predictable and I felt like the ending was robbed a little bit because Stevie gets a clue that literally spells out what happened at the time of the murder instead of being more vague and possibly having a few meanings, and also that clue and it's contents are kept from the reader until Stevie is explaining who the murderer is. So it goes from feeling like you are starting to put the clues together, to being done with the clues really fast. I didn't love that. I love trying to put the clues together myself and then still being wrong when the twist comes, but ultimately the twist still makes sense. The explanation for why the murders were committed also seemed a little thin. It almost feels like the author had a deadline to finish the book so she wrote the ending really fast without worrying about it making too much sense. For the record I think it could easily be fixed by adding a little more foreshadowing in the flashback sequences. Anyways, I did still enjoy the book and would still recommend it to anyone who likes mysteries.
I didn't love this book. I thought that the twist was good but this seemed too angsty for me and I don't think that I would read it again. I don't even want to recap it because I just didn't think it was that good and I don't think i'll read it again.
Honestly, this one was worse than the first one, and again not something I am going to pick up again.
The assassination of Brangwain Spurge is about an elf who goes into Goblin Territory with a gift of peace from his people, and the goblin who is assigned to protect him and show him the country. Unfortunately, he is incredibly rude and he makes a lot of enemies putting his goblin guide's life on the line quite a bit.
This is one of the most unique books I have read in a long time. The story is told from the perspective of a Goblin scholar and his efforts to keep Brangwain Spurge alive, but from time to time you see pictures from Spurge's perspective showing things contradictory to what the goblin is saying and it is hard to know who is actually giving us an accurate picture until you get closer to the end of the book. I liked this book so much because I have never read anything like it.
This is one of the most unique books I have read in a long time. The story is told from the perspective of a Goblin scholar and his efforts to keep Brangwain Spurge alive, but from time to time you see pictures from Spurge's perspective showing things contradictory to what the goblin is saying and it is hard to know who is actually giving us an accurate picture until you get closer to the end of the book. I liked this book so much because I have never read anything like it.
I know a lot of people on here are saying that this book is too cliché and that it is too easy to predict where it is going, but I still thought it was thought provoking and well written.
The book is centered on Nora, a woman whose life has been a disappointment to herself and others and she is full of regret so she decides to end her life. Instead of outright dying however, she finds herself in a library made up of all the versions of her life from every parallel universe. The librarian tells her that she can keep trying out lives until she finds one that she likes enough to stay in.
The book is about coming to terms with your regrets and realizing that you can only live life for yourself and not others and that the only way to experience life, and all of its up and downs, is just to live it. That sometimes you will be sad, but you won't always be sad. Sometimes you will be happy, but you won't always be happy. That living your life means accepting both of these truths and trying to find the balance.
I know the book is a little predictable, no author is going to advocate killing yourself as being the right answer, but I still think this book is worth reading. I really liked Nora's journey to discovering what she wanted out of life, and I liked that this book made me look at my own life to think about the decisions that I am grateful that I made, and more willing to accept the decisions I was less happy about but that still got me to where I am right now.
Also, this book made me think about the movie Stranger than Fiction a lot. I feel like if you liked that movie you would probably enjoy this book.
The book is centered on Nora, a woman whose life has been a disappointment to herself and others and she is full of regret so she decides to end her life. Instead of outright dying however, she finds herself in a library made up of all the versions of her life from every parallel universe. The librarian tells her that she can keep trying out lives until she finds one that she likes enough to stay in.
The book is about coming to terms with your regrets and realizing that you can only live life for yourself and not others and that the only way to experience life, and all of its up and downs, is just to live it. That sometimes you will be sad, but you won't always be sad. Sometimes you will be happy, but you won't always be happy. That living your life means accepting both of these truths and trying to find the balance.
I know the book is a little predictable, no author is going to advocate killing yourself as being the right answer, but I still think this book is worth reading. I really liked Nora's journey to discovering what she wanted out of life, and I liked that this book made me look at my own life to think about the decisions that I am grateful that I made, and more willing to accept the decisions I was less happy about but that still got me to where I am right now.
Also, this book made me think about the movie Stranger than Fiction a lot. I feel like if you liked that movie you would probably enjoy this book.
Marjorie is a seventh grader who lost her mom a year ago and is doing everything in her power not to let their family sink into poverty. She does not believe in ghosts, except for her dad who is technically still alive, but only seems to silently move from room to room in their house.
Wendell is a ghost living in ghost land that desperately wants to feel alive again. This book is a beautiful look at what it means to be alive and how loss affects us.
I really enjoyed this book. It is a really quick read but I think that sometimes, as busy people, we forget how precious life can be, and we forget the things that we do every day are the things that a ghost might miss doing the most. This was a really beautiful book and the sequel was even more beautiful.
Wendell is a ghost living in ghost land that desperately wants to feel alive again. This book is a beautiful look at what it means to be alive and how loss affects us.
I really enjoyed this book. It is a really quick read but I think that sometimes, as busy people, we forget how precious life can be, and we forget the things that we do every day are the things that a ghost might miss doing the most. This was a really beautiful book and the sequel was even more beautiful.
I thought this book was thrilling. Although I do not condone messing with a crime scene, because in real life I don't think she would have been in trouble for murdering a serial killer, no matter how upstanding or improbable it seemed. That bit of the book did seem really far fetched, the idea that she would have lured him there to kill him and that it would have ruined her future, but it was a little cathartic that she was able to pin the blame on a rapist and get away with it because I feel like in real life they never usually get prosecuted.
It is a really good read, even if it lacks the realism that made the first two books feel really high stakes.
It is a really good read, even if it lacks the realism that made the first two books feel really high stakes.