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rubybereading's Reviews (95)
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"2stars" is kind of generous, but I didn't completely hate it, so less than 2 didn't seem fair.
...Idk. The ending kind of saved it, but I just really didn't enjoy this. It was too long, for one, and very monotonous throughout a good chunk of the middle. Just past the halfway mark, realized that I did not care at all who the murderer was. I didn't like any of the characters, and I was extremely bored. This book was very boring. Its only saving grace is that it was an absolutely NOT predictable at all, and the ending twists were very creative. That saved it from being a complete dud for me. Still, I wasn't entertained at all. Despite all of that, I do want to give the author a second chance. I can tell she's a good writer. This one just wasn't for me.
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.25
This book was a lot and a whole lot of nothing at the same damn time! It was a very quick read, but somehow also too long. It’s weird. And it was HELLA predictable, but also kind of riveting too! I’m perplexed! Lol! This is my first Freida McFadden book, so I didn’t go in with any preconceived notions, so I also wasn’t disappointed. It was SUPER basic though. This would be a good starter thriller for someone who has never read thrillers or rarely watch thriller movies. It’s simple enough but keeps your attention too. One of the only real gripes I had was how Olivia was written. She didn’t have a 16 year old’s “voice”, you know?? Like, what 16y.o. girl calls a 16 y.o. boy “devastatingly handsome”, or says shit like, “the temperature has dropped precipitously overnight”, or “my parents are surely sleep…as evidenced by the lack of light”?? Like, what?? Then when she wanted the young characters to sound young, she kept having them talk about how they used to be “tight”. Lol! You can tell a late-middle-aged woman wrote this. No offense! I’m no spring chicken my damn self. But still. Also, it took way too long to go into detail about why Liam was off in the head. That dragged on forever. Still, I didn’t mind the book. I’d definitely read more from her. It’s a solid 3.25 stars, even with its flaws, simplicity, and predictability. I’m not mad at it!
This book was a lot and a whole lot of nothing at the same damn time! It was a very quick read, but somehow also too long. It’s weird. And it was HELLA predictable, but also kind of riveting too! I’m perplexed! Lol! This is my first Freida McFadden book, so I didn’t go in with any preconceived notions, so I also wasn’t disappointed. It was SUPER basic though. This would be a good starter thriller for someone who has never read thrillers or rarely watch thriller movies. It’s simple enough but keeps your attention too. One of the only real gripes I had was how Olivia was written. She didn’t have a 16 year old’s “voice”, you know?? Like, what 16y.o. girl calls a 16 y.o. boy “devastatingly handsome”, or says shit like, “the temperature has dropped precipitously overnight”, or “my parents are surely sleep…as evidenced by the lack of light”?? Like, what?? Then when she wanted the young characters to sound young, she kept having them talk about how they used to be “tight”. Lol! You can tell a late-middle-aged woman wrote this. No offense! I’m no spring chicken my damn self. But still. Also, it took way too long to go into detail about why Liam was off in the head. That dragged on forever. Still, I didn’t mind the book. I’d definitely read more from her. It’s a solid 3.25 stars, even with its flaws, simplicity, and predictability. I’m not mad at it!
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I hated it. It wasn't funny. It was way too long. The plot was all over the place. The writer was trying WAY too hard, and just ended up with a cringy and corny badly convoluted story that I only finished because I forced myself to. The only grace I can give is that it was via audiobook and I'm not a huge fan of audiobooks, so that may have swayed my opinions. I doubt it though. I also have a physical copy that I bought by accident and, when I tried that instead, I still cringed at his writing style. I finished it as an audiobook and was just hate-listening by the end of it just to see how bad it got. Smh! I want to say so much more, but I don't want to be offensive due to race based commentary (even though I'm Black and was highly offended by a few things in the book-things I'm assuming I was supposed to relate to??.)
I only bought this book because it was on a few lists of suggested Black authors, and now I hate everybody who made every list this was on. I'm salty. I want my 11+ hours back. I'm just glad the audiobook was free and the physical copy was only like $5. I still want my $5 back, hoe! Ugh!
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Um...I'm conflicted. I almost gave this a full 5* (I mean, technically I did, but that's because 4 wouldn't have been fair, and goodreads doesn't do partials). But anyway, I loved this book. I loved the banter between Lucy and some of the other characters. Her inner thoughts and the dialogue was funny. I loved the dark humor & dry humor. I liked the twists. And I LOVED Grandma! I had no complaints about the book...until the big reveal. And I'm disappointed. Unless there's a sequel that reconciles it for me, I'm bothered. Lol. Because I feel like they're going to get away with it! Again! I don't want to say too much more and spoil it (because that could be about literally ANYBODY). And that's also another thing I liked about it. It kept us on our toes. didn't even attempt to predict it, because it was written that well. But, yeah, the ending still disappointed me.
A STRONG 4.75 though!
DNF'd (for now) at page 92. It's not a bad book. So far seems like it'll be at least a 3.5-4 star for me. However, I ended up starting 2 other books with book clubs on the fable app-Listen For The Lie & Faebound-and those 2 have kept my attention longer and have kept me wanting to go ahead and finish them. I WILL come back to this one before the end of the month or next month at the latest, because I actually was enjoying it so far, even though the real action hadn't started yet.