booksandbraids's reviews
1859 reviews

Initially I was so distracted by the fact that this Jenna person is almost identical to Elizabeth Holmes who was convicted of fraud in connection with her blood-testing company, Theranos. She too had a romantic relationship with older Sunny Balwani. Eventually I got over it, but for the first 25% of the book all I could think was “well this is lame and unoriginal”. Luckily I got over it and I found myself shocked that the book was over as quick as it was! The story just flew by. I will say the same thing I say every time I read a book by this author- I am so thankful we read one of his books in book club and discovered him. Robert Dugoni never disappoints. 

I actually sort of hated this book. Maybe I would have liked it more had it not been so long since I had read the first book in the series. Unlike most romance book series where there is only minimal connection between books in the series, this one extremely heavily dependent on what took place in the first book and I remembered none of it. 

Overall I just didn’t love their relationship. I cannot pinpoint anything specifically wrong with it, it just did not pull me in. 

The ending was decent though. Enough to make me now consider continuing with the third book in the series. After all, I did love the first book. 

This was a really good book! I love Robert Dugoni. I am so thankful that I discovered him through a book club book. While I did not like this book as much as the Tracy Crosswhite books, it was very good. And I was excited to see Del and Faz mentioned! 

i read the sparknotes. I attempted the book. it was horrible. i got through like a chapter or two. The sparknotes were bad enough.

This book was very good. It was the perfect combination of a ghost story and a murder mystery. 

My only issue with the book is the whole Heather situation. It seemed overly convenient that the girl currently living in her aunt’s old apartment is looking for a roommate just for the sake of company and also is super into true crime and they instantly became BFFs… When the book started that I was convinced I would hate the entire book unless there was some twist to help justify that stupid over convenience. Luckily the rest of the book was so good it was able to overcome that major shortcoming. 

Also, this book was definitely a book of the modern age because were almost too many strong independent problem solving female characters.

Soooo I started this book because it was for a book club. That and the fact that it was being turned into a musical! I tried to read it. It was a book written by a local woman about the local history of Athens where I was living. But it was such a busy time (preparing to move, family visiting to do some last minute things in Georgia before moving/helping us pack…) that I just couldn’t bring myself to sit down with this book to read it. It wasn’t enough to capture my attention. 

I did see the musical though. I am a HUGE musical person. To put it into perspective, I saw 8 shows within the 2 month span just before moving out of Georgia (a couple of Broadway tour productions at the Fox theatre in Atlanta… a couple of Athens community theatre shows… a town and town community theatre show… a Broadway tour production at the very theatre where Linnentown was performed, and a University of Georgia theatre show… in addition to Linnentown) so I do have a background to compare this production against. For being such a local production it was presented on a very large scale. It was performed in the venue that actually supports a Broadway season tour- much larger than you would expect for a local thing. And the sets were good enough to look professional. Buttttt the story was not meant to be a musical. While extremely interesting and a story worth telling and sharing and making known, it was too slow and not right for a musical at all. And the music was (I hate to say it) not good. And the acting (I really hate to say it) was also not good. But there were some very good singers! Overall it went on for too long. Probably because it was not well suited for musical… I think it would have made an amazing documentary. With interviews and images and them showing what the area looks like now. I think that would have been the proper medium to get the story out there.

I absolutely love Sara Goodman Confino. Her books never disappoint. Her characters are always the best. I’m so glad I stumbled across her first book when I did and randomly decided to give it a chance just because it was there. I love how this book brought in some characters from a previous book as well- a subtle connection that is fun surprise if you have read her previous books but not at all necessary to know to enjoy the story. 

My commentary from while reading:

I really love Elle Kennedy and her characters and writing and romances... but I am getting tired of having every single MMC be a playboy manwhore. On principle, I do not like manwhore MMCs. I find them trashy. I find the fact that they have all been with half the female student body disgusting. Sure, they change their ways for the FMC- the one person who they have ever felt the desire to settle down for- but I still find them trashy and gross. 

If I ignored his history and just focused on the current, this book was good enough. But I am never able to truly love a MMC as trashy as Dean. Sorry, Dean.