Tag: mystery

Reviews

Into the Water Review

by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment on Into the Water Review

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

In the last days before her death, Nel Abbott called her sister. Jules didn’t pick up the phone, ignoring her plea for help. Now Nel is dead. They say she jumped. And Jules has been dragged back to the one place she hoped she had escaped for good, to care for the teenage girl her sister left behind.

As a character I didn’t particularly like Jules or feel any kind of connection to her so I wasn’t that invested in the story as whole because of that. Throughout the book she never surprised me or did something that would encourage me to be on her side. Sure she had something horrific happen to her when she was a child and the other children and her sister were horrible to her but none of that had anything to do with Nel’s death and the deaths of all the other women at the pool. It did give us some context as to Nel’s character and I can see why Jules would believe that her sister was so callous all these years.

Lena just got on my nerves for the majority of the story as well. I can appreciate that she just lost her mum and is in mourning at the moment but her attitude and brattiness was annoying. She was very selfish in keeping that secret about Katie and I was 100% on Louise’s side for telling her that! She would of eased their minds months and months ago about why Katie killed herself had she just told the family about the relationship.

I feel like Louise bless her was the most realistic out of all the characters in this book. Her grief over her daughter’s death and her unwillingness to give up and figure out the cause of it all felt so real and raw. I can’t imagine what she would be going through but she knew that Nel and Lena had something to do with it and ultimately they did.

I liked the structure of the book, having the multiple perspectives really gave us a lot of context and upped the mystery factor as to who was behind Nel’s death. The pacing was just a little off though, there wasn’t enough reveals or twists for me, it was just one big build up to the standoff with the Townsend’s. It was original, unlike anything I’ve read so far and ultimately was just an ok for me!

⭐️3/5 stars Very eerie, dark and wet!

Reviews

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment on The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

*Spoilers Ahead*

At a party thrown by her parents, Evelyn Hardcastle will be killed – again. She’s been murdered hundreds of times, and each day, Aiden Bishop is too late to save her. The only way to break this cycle is to identify Evelyn’s killer. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes in the body of a different guest. And someone is desperate to stop him ever escaping Blackheath…

This book was really hard for me to get into for some reason. I picked it up and put it down I think half a dozen times and I had never even gone past 20 pages. I finally decided to push through and it wasn’t until around the 100 page mark exactly that I started to become invested in Aiden and what was actually happening at Blackheath.

I was a bit indifferent to Aiden’s character a the start of the book. We definitely learn more about his as the book progresses and we figure out his motivations for why he is at Blackheath. We get no real sense of who he is though because he is continuously influenced by his hosts. Had we maybe got to see some flashbacks to before he entered and what he was feeling at that time and then come back to the present maybe I would of gained more of an insight into how much he’s changed.

I never really trusted Anna. Just the way she was always around right when Aiden needed her and how the plague doctor kept telling him that she is going to betray him. And then when we find out who she really is I can’t see why Aiden would be adamant that she has changed. I just feel like we aren’t shown enough of her character to make that distinction, but then again we didn’t know her before either. The same can be said for Daniel, I knew he was too good to be true right from when he exposes himself to himself. He was just that little too sure of himself and the decisions that Aiden was going to make even though he hasn’t made them yet.

Multiple timelines and POVs can get a tad confusing for me and it’s hard to keep track of all the characters and who is a host and who isn’t. I have to say as he switches from each host and the days start ticking down the level of urgency felt throughout the plot kept rising. I had no idea at any point in time what was actually going to happen, I had my suspicions but at every twist I was definitely surprised!

⭐️3/5 stars Unique, confusing and intricate!!

Reviews

For Your Own Good Review

by amyleighreads3 Comments on For Your Own Good Review

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

Teddy Crutcher has won Teacher of the Year at the esteemed Belmont Academy, home to the best and brightest. He says his wife couldn’t be more proud—though no one has seen her in a while. Teddy really can’t be bothered with the death of a school parent that’s looking more and more like murder or the student digging a little too deep into Teddy’s personal life. His main focus is on pushing these kids to their full academic potential. All he wants is for his colleagues—and the endlessly meddlesome parents—to stay out of his way. It’s really too bad that sometimes excellence can come at such a high cost.

Teddy’s character was interesting for sure. It was kind of nice to get that insight into his brain and they way that he thinks. He is quite a petty person and he goes the extra mile for slights that any normal person would probably overlook. His aspiration to be the principal wasn’t really mentioned throughout the majority of the plotline so it was definitely a surprise to see that that was his end goal. I don’t quite understand why he didn’t mention to anyone that he was separated from his wife either. I think that is a very easy lie to uncover so what would be the point?

I didn’t develop any connection with Zach. Sure he added dimension to the storyline and was able to ultimately figure out what Teddy was up to even though he didn’t have any proof. I would of liked to get Courtney’s perspective though, her thoughts on her mother before she was killed and then whilst she was in jail. I feel like so much more happens to Courtney than Zach and I think if we could of had both point of views I would of been way more invested and interested!

Sonia bless her was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. She was over the top and was a little too invested in Belmont and the accolades being a part of the ‘family’ gave her but other than just getting on Teddy’s nerves she was harmless I feel. After his first failed attempt on her life I thought he would give up and she would be safe but the fact that she wasn’t overlooked in his plans really upped the stakes.

I really enjoyed the fact that Fallon makes an appearance and we find out more about what happened to her after Teddy receives her emails. I think what he did to her without any proof was horrible but after finding out what she did when she was at Belmont it made me feel less sorry for her. Which makes sense why she still isn’t over what happened and ends up back at Belmont hellbent on revenge.

Overall this was just ok for me. I appreciated the fact that no character was safe and we didn’t definitively know who was behind it until quite a fair way into the plot. I just wasn’t drawn in to the book as much as what I thought I would be. Even though it’s a relatively short novel it took me three days to finish it when I could of easily done it in one. This tells me I was able to put it down and the urge wasn’t there for me to pick it back up straight away and find out what happens. I think the ending was justified and I was ultimately satisfied!

⭐️3/5 stars Unlike anything I’ve ever read before!

Reviews

The Dead and the Dark Review

by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment on The Dead and the Dark Review

*A few Spoilers below*

Something is wrong in Snakebite, Oregon. Teenagers are disappearing, some turning up dead, the weather isn’t normal, and all fingers seem to point to TV’s most popular ghost hunters who have just returned to town. Logan Ortiz-Woodley, daughter of TV’s ParaSpectors, has never been to Snakebite before, but the moment she and her dads arrive, she starts to get the feeling that there’s more secrets buried here than they originally let on.

I definitely liked Logan’s character a lot more than the rest of the characters in this book. The only real issue I had was that she knew that her Dads had an explanation for what was going on in Snakebite and why they were there in the first place but she wouldn’t demand they tell her. Instead she was running around in circles with Ashley while more and more people were dying. If they would have just sat her down and explained and then her and Ashley could have worked together to find the dark and stop it.

I feel like Ashley is one of those girls who was always popular, had her whole life planned out for her and then Tristan’s disappearance just turned everything upside down. I really don’t like the way her and her friends treated Logan and her dads when they first got to town and even though she wasn’t as nasty as those around her she still condoned their behaviour. I appreciated the way Logan called her out for it, but I still feel like she didn’t really learn anything from it or called her friends out for their biases enough.

I really enjoyed the fact that we got more of an insight into Brandon’s life and an explanation as to why he was so distant with Logan. Throughout the course of the book I just didn’t really understand why he was so aloof and standoffish with her, like you chose to adopt her why would you treat her like that. Even though it made sense in the end, I just really feel like if they were honest with her it wouldn’t of escalated to the point it did and maybe some of those characters didn’t have to die.

The overall mystery surrounding what happened to Tristan and why it started when Brandon first came back to Snakebite was interesting and I was intrigued enough to finish the book pretty quickly but I just feel like the atmosphere wasn’t really there for me. Even though the stakes were pretty high there was just no sense of urgency for me.

⭐️3/5 stars wasn’t as gripping as what I was expecting!

Reviews

The Maidens Review

by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment on The Maidens Review

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

Edward Fosca is a murderer. Of this Mariana is certain. But Fosca is untouchable. A handsome and charismatic Greek Tragedy professor at Cambridge University, Fosca is adored by staff and students alike—particularly by the members of a secret society of female students known as The Maidens.

I felt sorry for Mariana for the majority of this book. When we learn about her life and how much death there has been in her family and how she has overcome it all only to be thrown into the midst of these tragic events would trigger anyone. I love how mostly calm and collected she is, instead of reacting she will stop and think about why she is feeling this way and what the other person has said to elicit these feeling, which as a therapist made sense. But then she sort of devolves throughout the course of the book and leans into her anger and is more prone to outbursts, like when she punched Edward in the face.

We are led to believe right from the start that Edward was the killer so naturally I didn’t believe it. I was thinking it was more along the lines of Fred being the killer simply because the way he was introduced was so random and then he was just always around. Sure he was interested in the murders and was attracted to Mariana but the whole prediction thing was a little strange. Then Morris seemed like the next likely out of the male characters to potentially be the killer, but then again it just seemed too obvious so I really had no idea.

I can definitely say I was surprised that Zoe would be able to pull it off. But then there were signs all throughout the book when Zoe would talk about Sebastien and I found it odd how almost accusatory she would speak to Mariana about it, especially when she would throw his death in her face and wish he was here instead of her. I remember thinking how weird for a niece to speak about her uncle who isn’t even her blood. I also found the fact that Zoe would just use Mariana’s first name and wouldn’t call her Aunt or Aunty, even though Mariana would call her niece often. I honestly didn’t even think they were related for the first half of the book, I just thought she was a random girl they adopted.

I liked how Alex Michaelides called back to his previous book and integrated those characters into this book. It honestly made me want to reread The Silent Patient and connect the dots once again. I liked this book, it was intriguing, mysterious and I loved the college setting. I was constantly on edge and surprised at every turn.

⭐️4/5 stars This was unpredictable, weird and pretty fast paced!