emmm626's reviews
465 reviews

cute, but all pining and no spice, so ultimately disappointed

I loved this!! the characters were so much fun and I liked them a lot better than the love hypothesis and the novellas. however, some of the tropes and plot points were really similar to her past works. I thought the gre stuff was a little forced, but the spice and pining and tension and friendship were so great. can defffffinitely see myself rereading!

respectfully this was horrible and damaged me emotionally

can we say flop era???? sorry but this was pure hell. i’m all for a slow solve but this was slower than molasses running uphill in january. so slow that there seemed to be very little “gotcha” type twists. so much time between reveals that you’ve forgotten the little details. I loved the guest list so i’m disappointed that this one was a drag.

updating this to be 2 stars because respectfully i'm tired of pretending I didn't hate it

3.5⭐️ spoilers
I liked it enough that I read it in one sitting, but I expected more of a romance and less morality type drama. def expected more spice. perhaps i’ve just been in a fantasy groove, but I typically don’t gravitate toward books that touch so closely on real life. however, the little details and parallels throughout this book were really well done. while i haaaaated the pregnancy trope right at the end, but I suppose it ties in with that realism. i’ll probably still give more CH books a shot and hope I like them better.

DNF @ 39% (audiobook)
Just really couldn't get into this. I found Lo to be very whiny and unlikable. The initial break-in storyline was a good hook, but it seems like all it really did was make her anxious before leaving for the cruise. Perhaps there's a connection later on, but the change of setting would have roped me in better if there was some earlier continuity. The plot just seems to be moving so slowly and nothing really seems to be happening. I wish I was enjoying this more but really just dread listening to it. I think that these locked-door Agatha Christie style mysteries just aren't all my jam. Will be googling the end because I want to know what happens but don't want to suffer through the last 61% of the book. (Edit: googled the ending and didn't even understand it because there were so many freaking characters and I had no idea who was who. Just gonna have to move on lol)

boooooooooo. some of the twists were good, some I sorta saw coming. I also now have a personal vendetta against any thriller that suddenly gets supernatural. not a fan.

3.5⭐️
I really wish Goodreads did half stars, because I feel like this is a solid 3.5 for me. It's better than 3, but not quite 4. Overall, I liked the characters and the plot/conflicts. Everything felt relatively cohesive. However, the "we're so different, it could never work" dialogue/thoughts got a bit old. I think it played into the character development quite a bit, but I still found it slightly irritating. Same with the MMC's mental health journey: it was refreshing to see a male character depicted as having anxiety/panic attacks, and I felt like the descriptions of his feelings were accurate. There was a lot of wallowing and negative self-talk in his inner monologue at first, but that got better as his character developed. I just wish there had been some more emphasis on the professional help side of it beyond just a passing mention of his doctor's strategies. It felt unrealistic to me that he moved past so many of his anxieties and compulsions simply by choosing to or "for" someone else. I don't love the idea that the characters felt they had to change for each other, but that was kind of covered within their thoughts. I would have appreciated it described more as mutual personal growth and quality of life improvement or something rather than something that was required to be with the other person. Now that I'm off my soapbox, the spice and banter were good, as it usually is with Tessa Bailey. The mouth on this man!!!! The plot seemed to wrap up really quickly and I would have appreciated some more mutual groveling, but overall I devoured this and will definitely read the sequel. Despite being a raging alcoholic, Natalie seems like she'll make for a fun read.

despite this taking me the better part of a month to read, I really did enjoy it. however, it felt approximately 200 pages too long, got hard to follow at times, and did in fact make my brain hurt a little. that said, the world building was intricate and the characters were dynamic in a way that made them feel real. the magic system did confuse me a bit at times, and it felt a little inconsistent. all the characters had so many sides to them, even the villains made you empathize with their feelings and justify their actions. I could give this 5 stars because of how well-done it was, but just have to dock one for the pacing. things did move, but it felt like they could have moved just a little faster and with more clarity.

I enjoyed this, it was easy enough to listen to. I don’t know if I felt disconnected from it because I was listening, or because of the book itself. I found little details to be repetitive. How many times do we need to be reminded that Rose is a vet? That Daisy volunteers at the old folks’ home? It just felt like so many bits of information were repeated. That’s not to say they weren’t important to the twist in the story, but the twist was underwhelming and in my opinion, the end of the story fell a tad flat until another little surprise added some last-minute interest. Overall it was good, but not my favorite classic whodunit a la “And Then There Were None.” For me, it lacked some of the complexity and careful weaving of details that I appreciated in “The Guest List.” I think it could have done with a little more subtlety.