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Bonded in Death by J.D. Robb
3.0
<b>Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review. </b>
Not much to say about this one, it's a solid 3 star "In Death" book, but the 60th book laid all of the flaws of the series out there in my opinion.
This "In Death" focuses on Summerset and a group of people he worked with during the Urban Wars. They were apparently part of a secret organization called "The Twelve." When one of them is found dead, Eve is racing against time to stop someone who wants to see the remaining group and those they loved, killed.
So here's the thing. Does anyone even understand the Urban Wars at this point? I am very confused about what was going on, because this book made it seem like secret spy rings were all over the place. Doing what exactly? Why? I could have sworn earlier books talked about when crime got so bad in the cities, police forces were out there arresting tons of people and the fallout was certain things like "antique guns" being banned. It also made it seem like this was a result of gangs. But now it seems like larger governments were at work? I don't know all. It just got muddled and didn't make any sense. We know that Summerset was a medic during the Urban Wars, but now he's like a freaking Bond agent? And we get more detail about his dead wife and I just felt like plot hole city came to play and I just let it go.
We have some callbacks to prior books, especially with one character and there's a whole scene between Eve and Peabody that just didn't ring true.
Nadine. I just want her shuttled off of the series. Her stopping by to talk about her relationship (again) was annoying. So is her protégé. I just don't know why Eve would continue to use Nadine for information. She doesn't need her. At one point she gives Eve something she already knew. It just seems a way to have Nadine write Hollywood Oscar worthy material. At some point I want someone anywhere to bring up their connection and ban Nadine from coming to Cop Central. Let's at least pretend conflicts of interest matter in the future.
The house renovation thankfully was short and we did not have to explore it too much.
I am very confused on ages. I just realized Jamie is somehow going to the Academy, but he was how old in he first book that introduced readers to him. He is 19 now in the series, and he was I think 16 or Eve pegged him as such as in Death. I just cannot anymore. It's only been three years since Ceremony in Death?
Oh, Eve told Roarke he should not be assaulting potential suspects since it's a bad look for the other cops. I maybe laughed a little too long. I love how there's no call back to the prior book where Roarke fist fought a dude in front of NYPD and international law enforcement and no one blinked an eye.
The ending didn't do a lot for me. I think we were supposed to be all girl power, but I just wanted it over. It was very repetitive.
Not much to say about this one, it's a solid 3 star "In Death" book, but the 60th book laid all of the flaws of the series out there in my opinion.
This "In Death" focuses on Summerset and a group of people he worked with during the Urban Wars. They were apparently part of a secret organization called "The Twelve." When one of them is found dead, Eve is racing against time to stop someone who wants to see the remaining group and those they loved, killed.
So here's the thing. Does anyone even understand the Urban Wars at this point? I am very confused about what was going on, because this book made it seem like secret spy rings were all over the place. Doing what exactly? Why? I could have sworn earlier books talked about when crime got so bad in the cities, police forces were out there arresting tons of people and the fallout was certain things like "antique guns" being banned. It also made it seem like this was a result of gangs. But now it seems like larger governments were at work? I don't know all. It just got muddled and didn't make any sense. We know that Summerset was a medic during the Urban Wars, but now he's like a freaking Bond agent? And we get more detail about his dead wife and I just felt like plot hole city came to play and I just let it go.
We have some callbacks to prior books, especially with one character and there's a whole scene between Eve and Peabody that just didn't ring true.
Nadine. I just want her shuttled off of the series. Her stopping by to talk about her relationship (again) was annoying. So is her protégé. I just don't know why Eve would continue to use Nadine for information. She doesn't need her. At one point she gives Eve something she already knew. It just seems a way to have Nadine write Hollywood Oscar worthy material. At some point I want someone anywhere to bring up their connection and ban Nadine from coming to Cop Central. Let's at least pretend conflicts of interest matter in the future.
The house renovation thankfully was short and we did not have to explore it too much.
I am very confused on ages. I just realized Jamie is somehow going to the Academy, but he was how old in he first book that introduced readers to him. He is 19 now in the series, and he was I think 16 or Eve pegged him as such as in Death. I just cannot anymore. It's only been three years since Ceremony in Death?
Oh, Eve told Roarke he should not be assaulting potential suspects since it's a bad look for the other cops. I maybe laughed a little too long. I love how there's no call back to the prior book where Roarke fist fought a dude in front of NYPD and international law enforcement and no one blinked an eye.
The ending didn't do a lot for me. I think we were supposed to be all girl power, but I just wanted it over. It was very repetitive.
The Stepsisters by Susan Mallery
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
I got nothing you guys. What a mess of a book. I can't even call it in the realms of romance and the best place for it would be to say, it's badly written women's fiction. I think if Mallery had focused on the sisters relationships with each other and how they evolved over time that would have worked. But it can't be a Susan Mallery book without messy men and the women who love them.
I loathed the love interest for Sage. I am sorry, but if a man tells me he used to masturbate to me when he was 16, I would never see you as a viable anything.
I loathed Daisy's husband who was the worst. However, he was written so inconsistently that I think Mallery pulled that third act stunt out of her butt frankly.
Cassidy's love interest was the only well rounded one and honestly we only get to "see" so to speak, twice in the book.
Everything else was just a mess. The flow, plot, etc. Heck we even get some child abuse in this one.
I loathed the love interest for Sage. I am sorry, but if a man tells me he used to masturbate to me when he was 16, I would never see you as a viable anything.
I loathed Daisy's husband who was the worst. However, he was written so inconsistently that I think Mallery pulled that third act stunt out of her butt frankly.
Cassidy's love interest was the only well rounded one and honestly we only get to "see" so to speak, twice in the book.
Everything else was just a mess. The flow, plot, etc. Heck we even get some child abuse in this one.
The Mistletoe Mystery by Nita Prose
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Cute little short story following Molly. Its obvious what is going on, but still mostly enjoyable to get there.
I honestly think this was an okay novella, but not really needed.
"The Mistletoe Mystery" follows Molly the Maid and Juan Manuel, together now for 5 years. Molly misses her Gram, but especially around the holidays. Juan Manuel though has made the holidays special by making sure they continue traditions, and also create new ones. Juan Manuel though, has been acting strangely this holiday season, he's not where he should be, seems to have different people he's talking to, and Molly is afraid she chose a frog and not a prince.
Pros:
-This was a fast read, it's only 112 pages. That said, it probably should not have cost as much as it did honestly (FYI this is $9.99, it's a novella, come on).
-We have more of a plot in this one than the second book. It's really easy to see where things are going though to the point this could have been wrapped up in less than 20 pages.
-I do enjoy holiday romances, so it's interesting to see Prose write it as such with no dark murders going around. I am wondering if she's going to move into that genre fully in the future.
-The characters we have gotten to know re-appear which is nice.
Cons:
-As I said already, there is no way this should have cost $9.99. I didn't even know it cost that much when I selected it. My fault for not paying attention.
-Plot. Super simplistic. Did not need to be drawn out. Also, there's no "mystery" here at all. Just in Molly's mind. I am also tired of hearing about Gram. It's to the point the woman sounds like a nightmare. Or Molly is. I don't know.
-Flow. This dragged. I mean we all knew what was going on and why, but holy cow it took too long to get there.
-Molly. I don't know all, it does not sound like Molly and Juan Manuel are poor as much as it is Molly is cheap as hell. I really wish someone had brought that up. Also, I wish someone have given me old magazines as a Secret Santa gift. That's all I got on that.
-Ending. I assume whatever book she does, this is going to be after these events, so we have to know by then these two are 5 years together.
I honestly think this was an okay novella, but not really needed.
"The Mistletoe Mystery" follows Molly the Maid and Juan Manuel, together now for 5 years. Molly misses her Gram, but especially around the holidays. Juan Manuel though has made the holidays special by making sure they continue traditions, and also create new ones. Juan Manuel though, has been acting strangely this holiday season, he's not where he should be, seems to have different people he's talking to, and Molly is afraid she chose a frog and not a prince.
Pros:
-This was a fast read, it's only 112 pages. That said, it probably should not have cost as much as it did honestly (FYI this is $9.99, it's a novella, come on).
-We have more of a plot in this one than the second book. It's really easy to see where things are going though to the point this could have been wrapped up in less than 20 pages.
-I do enjoy holiday romances, so it's interesting to see Prose write it as such with no dark murders going around. I am wondering if she's going to move into that genre fully in the future.
-The characters we have gotten to know re-appear which is nice.
Cons:
-As I said already, there is no way this should have cost $9.99. I didn't even know it cost that much when I selected it. My fault for not paying attention.
-Plot. Super simplistic. Did not need to be drawn out. Also, there's no "mystery" here at all. Just in Molly's mind. I am also tired of hearing about Gram. It's to the point the woman sounds like a nightmare. Or Molly is. I don't know.
-Flow. This dragged. I mean we all knew what was going on and why, but holy cow it took too long to get there.
-Molly. I don't know all, it does not sound like Molly and Juan Manuel are poor as much as it is Molly is cheap as hell. I really wish someone had brought that up. Also, I wish someone have given me old magazines as a Secret Santa gift. That's all I got on that.
-Ending. I assume whatever book she does, this is going to be after these events, so we have to know by then these two are 5 years together.
Meegan by Rebekah Weatherspoon
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Bummed because this one really did not work for me. We read about Meegan in the other "Loose Ends" books and one of the Beards & Bondage books, but honestly she was not that interesting to make a standalone book about if this was anything to go by. Fake relationship and dating a billionaire are some of the most famous romance tropes out there. But, Weatherspoon didn't really do much with it and I have to say again, I am just a little tired of reading about fictional billionaires.
"Meegan" follows the title character Meegan. She's a kindergarten teacher who feels bereft after all of her relationships have turned into pairings. In some cases, she's still invited to participate, but she just wants to find someone who loves her and who will be into her lifestyle. Her friend Xeni recommends her to her friend, Olin (FYI, it still didn't make any sense how these two met and become good friends) who is in need of a fake girlfriend. Meegan finds herself thinking about Olin romantically, and Olin definitely likes her, but Meegan has to see if he's going to be okay with her lifestyle and what she needs to be truly happy in bed.
The catching feelings phase of Meegan and Olin didn't even make sense. I didn't get why they liked each other. And with all of the reasons why Meegan was not doing too much with regards to sex because of all of her heartbreak from her prior relationships with her partners....I just went what is happening here. It also did not help we had so many characters from other books show up and some of the relationships (Shep and Claudia) were not written in character for them at all. I just thought the last scene was written without any thought of how they all got there. I also had a huge issue that Olin did not seem (or was not written) being into this new lifestyle change. He wanted to be with Meegan. It's mentioned he's autistic, so I am shocked no one talked about how that may be considered before he just jumps into "dom" training. It just didn't feel real at all. It seemed a lot of talking and people telling Meegan how lucky she was. I was glad to put this one down.
"Meegan" follows the title character Meegan. She's a kindergarten teacher who feels bereft after all of her relationships have turned into pairings. In some cases, she's still invited to participate, but she just wants to find someone who loves her and who will be into her lifestyle. Her friend Xeni recommends her to her friend, Olin (FYI, it still didn't make any sense how these two met and become good friends) who is in need of a fake girlfriend. Meegan finds herself thinking about Olin romantically, and Olin definitely likes her, but Meegan has to see if he's going to be okay with her lifestyle and what she needs to be truly happy in bed.
The catching feelings phase of Meegan and Olin didn't even make sense. I didn't get why they liked each other. And with all of the reasons why Meegan was not doing too much with regards to sex because of all of her heartbreak from her prior relationships with her partners....I just went what is happening here. It also did not help we had so many characters from other books show up and some of the relationships (Shep and Claudia) were not written in character for them at all. I just thought the last scene was written without any thought of how they all got there. I also had a huge issue that Olin did not seem (or was not written) being into this new lifestyle change. He wanted to be with Meegan. It's mentioned he's autistic, so I am shocked no one talked about how that may be considered before he just jumps into "dom" training. It just didn't feel real at all. It seemed a lot of talking and people telling Meegan how lucky she was. I was glad to put this one down.
Sanctuary by Rebekah Weatherspoon
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
I did like the second book in the series, but think it would have been better if Weatherspoon had set up the fake relationship to real relationship timeline between Liz and Silas to be a bit more stretched out. I just didn't buy how fast things changed between them and everything that came with that. Also, the subplot with Scott really added nothing to the story, though it did make me end up disliking him. Last, the whole reason why Liz had to lay low did not get enough attention. How it all got resolved felt so wrong and just disjointed I didn't even get it. I honestly think this is more of a 3.5 star read, but I rounded up for Goodreads.
"Sanctuary" is the second book in the "Beards & Bondage" series. I really enjoyed the first one, and the authors other book, Rafe. "Sanctuary" starts with how profile attorney, Liz Lewis being attacked. She's about to be murdered, but gets the upper hand on the assailant and saves her life. She's scared about telling her friends and family what is going on, since it sounds like the person behind this may not stop. Her friend at work, Scott, suggests she goes and stays with his twin brother, Silas, to lay low for a while. Silas though isn't happy about Scott dumping Liz on him while he has to go about running his farm and other businesses. Liz is frustrated because she is scared and agreeing to go along as being Silas's fake girlfriend is a lot.
I really liked the character of Liz, but I had a hard time with the whole plot about why she needed to stay with Silas. And even then, why be his fake girlfriend? You realize why Scott and Silas come up with the lie later, but it's beyond a mess and it leads us into the Scott subplot which was a hot mess. Silas was interesting, but once again, I just didn't think that he and Liz had any chemistry. I was just confused what they even saw in each other. I think I needed them to have more interactions and then let's have sex. The sex scenes are written very well and I love the whole thing about how to talk about consent and make sure the other person knows your wants and needs. That said, I was kind of going....um okay? Cause once again, I just didn't see the chemistry.
The big reason why Liz had to flee felt farfetched after a while. I just went with it.
And then the epilogue and Liz's second phase? I wish we had even see her have any interest in the new lifestyle change. It just felt weird and like it was coming out of nowhere.
"Sanctuary" is the second book in the "Beards & Bondage" series. I really enjoyed the first one, and the authors other book, Rafe. "Sanctuary" starts with how profile attorney, Liz Lewis being attacked. She's about to be murdered, but gets the upper hand on the assailant and saves her life. She's scared about telling her friends and family what is going on, since it sounds like the person behind this may not stop. Her friend at work, Scott, suggests she goes and stays with his twin brother, Silas, to lay low for a while. Silas though isn't happy about Scott dumping Liz on him while he has to go about running his farm and other businesses. Liz is frustrated because she is scared and agreeing to go along as being Silas's fake girlfriend is a lot.
I really liked the character of Liz, but I had a hard time with the whole plot about why she needed to stay with Silas. And even then, why be his fake girlfriend? You realize why Scott and Silas come up with the lie later, but it's beyond a mess and it leads us into the Scott subplot which was a hot mess. Silas was interesting, but once again, I just didn't think that he and Liz had any chemistry. I was just confused what they even saw in each other. I think I needed them to have more interactions and then let's have sex. The sex scenes are written very well and I love the whole thing about how to talk about consent and make sure the other person knows your wants and needs. That said, I was kind of going....um okay? Cause once again, I just didn't see the chemistry.
The big reason why Liz had to flee felt farfetched after a while. I just went with it.
And then the epilogue and Liz's second phase? I wish we had even see her have any interest in the new lifestyle change. It just felt weird and like it was coming out of nowhere.
Wedding Dashers by Heather McBreen
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.
Definitely not an author I will read again. I gave this 3 stars for the trigger warnings at the front and some other things I won't get into because spoilers. That said, I was dancing towards a 1 and 2 star review for a while. The hero (Jack) is not fully developed until the 60 percent mark. The heroine (Ada) is aggravating as hell throughout this story. Probably because she keeps acting as if she's new to the world and her whole won't tell her family what is going on, but will take money from a stranger thing started to get old. It didn't help she kept lusting after Jack and I was screaming to myself, red flag, every other minute about the guy. I just thought that McBreen took an easy out to "explain" Jack and I was unimpressed.
"Wedding Dashers" follows 28 year old Ada who is on her way to Ireland for her younger sister, Allison's wedding. Ada is feeling stuck because her long-time boyfriend asked for a 3 month break, and she's currently jobless after her business went under. She's back leaving at home with her mom and stepdad and she is worried that her sister is jumping into her marriage too fast. After getting bumped from a flight, and dealing with an expired hotel voucher, Ada meets a man named Jack who is also trying to get to a wedding [you see where this is going right?]. Shenanigan's abound.
So the underlying plot (get thee to a wedding) should have been fun, but it wasn't. The stupidest stuff kept happening and it wasn't cute. It was annoying and you had Ada going look at how hot Jack is every five seconds.
Ada, eh. She's not the best romance heroine I have read. I just got tired of her obsessing over her sister and demanding that Jack spill his soul to her.
Jack was gross. Seriously. There's a lot of scenes in the first 25 percent that I was just baffled at McBreen including. I wondered if she wanted readers to even like Jack. Cause I did not. His comments were sexist, gross, etc. and the whole this is why he is the way he is made me want to yell. Somewhere a NY Times journalist is working on an article about why single women need to have more sex with terrible men. I don't need to read the same scenario in a romance book. There's a reason why I don't read "alpha" AKA asshole romances.
No one else has any personality in this thing until the 80 percent mark. I thought Allison was spoiled and awful from the way that she was written, and then we get a ton of scenes in the end that "reveal" her and I was like um okay. Same with the groom to be. It just felt like there was zero development of the hero and it was laughably bad regarding anyone else.
The setting of the book moves from London, Scotland, Ireland, Seattle, Italy, and then back to Seattle. I got zero sense of the settings really until the action moved to Ireland. And only a little bit there.
The ending was just okay. I think that the multiple endings just made me go eh. I just wasn't feeling it by the time I hit 50 percent and then I wanted to just finish this book and be done with it.
Definitely not an author I will read again. I gave this 3 stars for the trigger warnings at the front and some other things I won't get into because spoilers. That said, I was dancing towards a 1 and 2 star review for a while. The hero (Jack) is not fully developed until the 60 percent mark. The heroine (Ada) is aggravating as hell throughout this story. Probably because she keeps acting as if she's new to the world and her whole won't tell her family what is going on, but will take money from a stranger thing started to get old. It didn't help she kept lusting after Jack and I was screaming to myself, red flag, every other minute about the guy. I just thought that McBreen took an easy out to "explain" Jack and I was unimpressed.
"Wedding Dashers" follows 28 year old Ada who is on her way to Ireland for her younger sister, Allison's wedding. Ada is feeling stuck because her long-time boyfriend asked for a 3 month break, and she's currently jobless after her business went under. She's back leaving at home with her mom and stepdad and she is worried that her sister is jumping into her marriage too fast. After getting bumped from a flight, and dealing with an expired hotel voucher, Ada meets a man named Jack who is also trying to get to a wedding [you see where this is going right?]. Shenanigan's abound.
So the underlying plot (get thee to a wedding) should have been fun, but it wasn't. The stupidest stuff kept happening and it wasn't cute. It was annoying and you had Ada going look at how hot Jack is every five seconds.
Ada, eh. She's not the best romance heroine I have read. I just got tired of her obsessing over her sister and demanding that Jack spill his soul to her.
Jack was gross. Seriously. There's a lot of scenes in the first 25 percent that I was just baffled at McBreen including. I wondered if she wanted readers to even like Jack. Cause I did not. His comments were sexist, gross, etc. and the whole this is why he is the way he is made me want to yell. Somewhere a NY Times journalist is working on an article about why single women need to have more sex with terrible men. I don't need to read the same scenario in a romance book. There's a reason why I don't read "alpha" AKA asshole romances.
No one else has any personality in this thing until the 80 percent mark. I thought Allison was spoiled and awful from the way that she was written, and then we get a ton of scenes in the end that "reveal" her and I was like um okay. Same with the groom to be. It just felt like there was zero development of the hero and it was laughably bad regarding anyone else.
The setting of the book moves from London, Scotland, Ireland, Seattle, Italy, and then back to Seattle. I got zero sense of the settings really until the action moved to Ireland. And only a little bit there.
The ending was just okay. I think that the multiple endings just made me go eh. I just wasn't feeling it by the time I hit 50 percent and then I wanted to just finish this book and be done with it.
The Housemaid's Wedding by Freida McFadden
2.0
I think this wasn't great just because it shows how off the third book in the series was. The third book just kind of shows that the characters weren’t acting like themselves at all and kept doing dumb things. Short story though and we see/hear from Millie’s mother who is all kinds of awful. Didn’t really add anything to the series, but it's quick to get through.
Full review: "The Housemaid's Wedding" takes place right before Millie marries Enzo. We hear about their wedding in book #3, so McFadden decided to show readers it. Millie is the Millie of old, not putting up with crap, and helping women escape their abusive husbands or boyfriends. She and Enzo decide to marry when she becomes pregnant. They love each other, but want to make it official. Complicating things are Millie's parents are supposed to show up at the wedding and there's a man threatening to kill Millie because she helped his wife escape him.
The main reason why the set up was a non-starter from me is that if you read book #3 first (which most of us did because this came out after it) we already know how those things shake out. It's like watching Black Widow after Avengers Endgame. We know that Natasha is dead, why am I watching anything from years earlier? So that's the whole issue I have here. There's no high stakes to this.
The only goodish thing I can say is that we get Enzo's POV. I didn't care for his character in book #3 and even Millie felt like a pale mimic at that point. So if you want to see old Millie and Enzo, this book is for you.
Full review: "The Housemaid's Wedding" takes place right before Millie marries Enzo. We hear about their wedding in book #3, so McFadden decided to show readers it. Millie is the Millie of old, not putting up with crap, and helping women escape their abusive husbands or boyfriends. She and Enzo decide to marry when she becomes pregnant. They love each other, but want to make it official. Complicating things are Millie's parents are supposed to show up at the wedding and there's a man threatening to kill Millie because she helped his wife escape him.
The main reason why the set up was a non-starter from me is that if you read book #3 first (which most of us did because this came out after it) we already know how those things shake out. It's like watching Black Widow after Avengers Endgame. We know that Natasha is dead, why am I watching anything from years earlier? So that's the whole issue I have here. There's no high stakes to this.
The only goodish thing I can say is that we get Enzo's POV. I didn't care for his character in book #3 and even Millie felt like a pale mimic at that point. So if you want to see old Millie and Enzo, this book is for you.
Only Santas in the Building by Alexis Daria
5.0
A very cute Christmas romance. I did like this story the best at all of the stories maybe just because reading about a man that knows what to do with his hands, you know just does it for me. I almost knocked off a star for that whole stuffing and candy cane pun cause my god what are we doing.
Thought this was probably my favorite out of the bunch, probably because some of the other ones didn't really lean in on Christmas outside of some throways. Daria does a great job with including 12 days of Christmas in here, but with a spin on things.
We follow Evie Cruz who is still trying to get herself together after the loss of her grandmother and her uncle tossing her out. She's living in a new place that doesn't feel like home, and crushing on her upstairs neighbor, Theo.
I liked Evie getting an ornament left on her doorknob everyday while she is trying to complete a deadline and wants to get back into the groove of things.
Loved the ending though it did seem like things were moving too fast, but eh romance.
Thought this was probably my favorite out of the bunch, probably because some of the other ones didn't really lean in on Christmas outside of some throways. Daria does a great job with including 12 days of Christmas in here, but with a spin on things.
We follow Evie Cruz who is still trying to get herself together after the loss of her grandmother and her uncle tossing her out. She's living in a new place that doesn't feel like home, and crushing on her upstairs neighbor, Theo.
I liked Evie getting an ornament left on her doorknob everyday while she is trying to complete a deadline and wants to get back into the groove of things.
Loved the ending though it did seem like things were moving too fast, but eh romance.
Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur
4.0
I thought it was a sweet holiday romance between Everleigh and firefighter Griffin. I did think that the short story was a nice send up to a woman who is independent, but misses her friends and family who have gone in a different direction. The mishaps she gets in and the ongoing horror of her next door neighbors was hilarious. I think things lost momentum a bit towards the end of the story though.
Never Lie by Freida McFadden
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
There's just so many coincidences to the point that the whole book just becomes a hot mess. Full review to come.
Full review: Holy cow this was terrible. Nothing made sense. It was too dumb to be believed. And I gobbled this mess up on a Sunday while watching the "You" series and just baffled that Joe from that series continues to not be caught. So maybe I am saying, I read a book about some baffling/terrible people who the police can't catch and then watched "You" and said, okay maybe this can happen? I don't know. I think the issue is that McFadden relies too heavily on unreliable narrators. That's her whole thing. So, you go in reading that pretty much anyone you meet is probably a liar. I think what gets me the most in this one, unlike her "Housemaid" series, you can't cheer for anyone. The whole book has you just about over everyone you meet.
And the plot, such as it is is so damn dumb (when the reveals come) that I went, but why would [redacted] do this when they could just do this then? Or, okay so we just end on a dark note and I am supposed to what? Applaud?
I never paid for any of McFadden's books. I think if I had, I would be more upset about this. But as a follower said, someone else out there has a great thriller that we are not reading because McFadden pushes out a book every 6 months or so and it's not good, but we all read it, review it. My 2025 resolution is to try to read an author I have never read before every month. So at least 12 new authors. Anything to hide the shame of still reading this author and her books (I don't even like).
Full review: Holy cow this was terrible. Nothing made sense. It was too dumb to be believed. And I gobbled this mess up on a Sunday while watching the "You" series and just baffled that Joe from that series continues to not be caught. So maybe I am saying, I read a book about some baffling/terrible people who the police can't catch and then watched "You" and said, okay maybe this can happen? I don't know. I think the issue is that McFadden relies too heavily on unreliable narrators. That's her whole thing. So, you go in reading that pretty much anyone you meet is probably a liar. I think what gets me the most in this one, unlike her "Housemaid" series, you can't cheer for anyone. The whole book has you just about over everyone you meet.
And the plot, such as it is is so damn dumb (when the reveals come) that I went, but why would [redacted] do this when they could just do this then? Or, okay so we just end on a dark note and I am supposed to what? Applaud?
I never paid for any of McFadden's books. I think if I had, I would be more upset about this. But as a follower said, someone else out there has a great thriller that we are not reading because McFadden pushes out a book every 6 months or so and it's not good, but we all read it, review it. My 2025 resolution is to try to read an author I have never read before every month. So at least 12 new authors. Anything to hide the shame of still reading this author and her books (I don't even like).