Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Wow, this was intense!
Right from the start you were thrown into the story and got to know the main characters. I really liked how the story was told in dual timelines as well. I didn't even mind that there weren't properly marked chapters but only little dividers when the timelines switched.
The story itself is absolutely horrific and I don't want to imagine something like this happening in real life. Nonetheless, I really couldn't put the book down and read it within a few days during Summerween. I will definitely pick up the other books in the series soon!
But please be aware of all the trigger warnings since it got pretty graphic when explaining all the things that happened in the garden.
Usually I don’t really read legal thrillers so it didn’t really surprise me that for about 50 - 75% it was a little too slow for me. It did pick up however towards the end and I got a little more invested.
Overall, though this was “just” are 3 - 3,5 star book for me I’d say.
This is a story dealing something like postpartum depression. At the beginning I did really feel for Olivia and Shannon as characters but after a while I thought the story just didn’t really pick up pace and got a little boring and repetitive.
As someone who hasn’t had a child, I am not sure if I might have felt differently having been in a situation like this. I think it is very important to make talking about postpartum depression but I was personally not too happy with how it was portrayed and how the characters dealt with it.
Exactly what I needed right now - very fast-paced and a little creepy and mysterious at times. I did like how this was wrapped up with an ending that leaves you guess a little.
However, there are a few things I wasn‘t too happy with in regards to personal connections between a few characters. But overall I‘ll still give this 4,5 stars.
I was debating if I want to give this 3 or 3,5 stars. I did quite enjoy the writing but - especially towards the end there were quite a few plot holes in my opinion.
Don’t get me wrong - the reveal was pretty surprising but also very unexpected because there where no hints or storylines that fit that reveal. I don’t want to go into spoilers - so I‘ll leave it at that.
Nonetheless, for the most part this is a slow burning mystery first, thriller second and the writing is pretty enjoyable :)
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
This just really wasn't for me! I was expecting things to get weird but I just wasn't invested at all because it just got way too confusing for me instead of getting me involved.
To be honest, I was just minutes away from dnf-ing this book (which I usually don't do) because I just really couldn't enjoy it and I am pretty sure that this book is one of the main reason for my massive reader' block I am currently facing.
A lot of other people seem to enjoy it though, so I guess this book just wasn't for me!
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I really liked the audiobook for this one! There is the podcast part which is delivered very well through the audio and I would definitely recommend the audiobook!
Story-wise, I thought it was a little slow in the beginning since it felt a little too much like a legal thriller instead of what I was expecting - hence I'd probably lean more towards a 4,5-star rating. But having the two stories run parallel to each other definitely made it more interesting! I just would have wished for the stories to connect more than they did in the end. I could go into detail about this, but I want to avoid spoilers so I'll leave it at that.
Please be aware of the trigger warnings though - towards the end it does get pretty graphic and was quite hard to stomach at times.