purplepenning's reviews
1520 reviews

A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall

mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

Science-fantasy academia with a little bit of hope punk? I understand the comparisons to Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Fairies, but don't be drawn in by the House in the Cerulean Sea comparison (or A Marvelous Light, really). This is a quiet, scholarly-toned epistolary that lets small measures of mystery and taut adventure seep in around the margins before finally being awash with other worldly mystique.

It's a little slow for my tastes (and I wish I would have realized that it wasn't a standalone before I started it) but I'm glad I stuck with it. The writing is excellent and the characters finally won me over (despite my annoyance at the excessive self-deprecation in the majority of the letters!).

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We Are All So Good at Smiling by Amber McBride

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emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Oof. I'm going to need a beat to process this one. My initial response is: 👏👏👏 I'm so glad this book exists and I can see how it might work especially well for teenagers. But it's doing just a few too many things at once for my tastes.

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An Impossible Impostor by Deanna Raybourn

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4.0

Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack

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funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

3.5

Finley Donovan meets Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone in an entertaining murder mystery that takes place on a mystery author's book tour in Italy. A slew of characters and a slightly unlikeable narrator give it a slow start, but the action and intrigue pick up midway as the characters settle into place and the author leads the reader through the clues. The insider glimpses of the publishing world are also a fun bonus!

Rough Pages by Lev AC Rosen

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hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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The Bell in the Fog by Lev AC Rosen

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mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

Such a great balance of classic gumshoe mystery, well-researched midcentury history, and skillful character development. Detective Andy Mills is finding his way, his community, and his calling — and I'm finding an arc of book 3 because these are some of the most satisfying mysteries I've read in a long time.

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How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

3.5

Really wanted to love it, but my interest kept wandering, which made it difficult to keep a large cast of characters in two different timelines straight. Great premise, but maybe a tighter edit would've been more to my tastes. I was unexpectedly bored and annoyed by the 1960s bright young things timeline — teen drama often affects me that way. And the present-day story managed to be both packed with clues and yet lacking a sense of urgency to drive it. I did enjoy that it felt like a fair, classical mystery, though — I had half of it figured out before the reveal.

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