Ash

Couldnt get past the narrator

Reviewed: 07-20-24

I tried to return it, audible said I couldn't. The story could be great, I honestly don't know, but the narrator was insufferable.

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It goes on... & on, & on, & on, & on... & on

Reviewed: 07-22-20

What didn't you like about the book?
If it was a real person telling this story in an autobiography, it'd probably be a chapter or two. Somehow it stretched into a whole novel. Mainly through overwriting. And then overwriting some more.
It's like reading a Stephen King novel. Except without any plot. Or interesting characters. Or real conflict. Because you know 99% of the result of the conflict from chapter 3, so at that point you really don't care what made it happen.
But I diligently waited for the shoe to drop. I finished the book with it still hanging around somewhere. Maybe. If the shoe ever existed.
What would've made you like the book more?
If the synopsis wasn't so misleading, maybe? A plot would've been nice. Maybe some dimensions to the characters. Less background building - any of that.
The synopsis was promising, but misleading about how massive the betrayal was. When you stack it up against a murder, you're thinking the betrayal is on that scale.
But it's not. And you're spoon fed what it is from the first small reveal all the way up to the let me s-p-e-l-l it out for you reveil. And then it's spelled out again. Oh, and two more times.
Just in case you missed it.
How was the narrator?
He was okay. He wasn't the most amazing narrator I've ever heard, but far from the worst. Although - combined with the story - his voice was insanely easy to tune out. Like fall asleep to and not even try to fight it tune out.
Would you read another book by this author?
I think this is the first book I've ever come across where I can definitively say no, I will actively avoid this author.

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Meh

Reviewed: 07-13-20

Would you recommend this book?
Probably not, but I wouldn't necessarily discourage it, either. Its pacing was good, the characters were decent, the story was rooted in a plausible situation, and there's a bit of darkness to it. If that's your beat, all the power to you.

What did you like about the book?
There were several points of view that offered interesting insights into the characters. The mother was probably my favorite to see unfold. The detective POV seemed unnecessary though.
The gradndaughter made a good foil for their relationship and, as her relationships changed, it added to the believability of some aspects.
It was dark enough, I guess. And by the end you hated all the right people for all the right reasons, I think. There was some good villain background building as well, though not enough to make it compelling.

What didn't you like about the book?
There was nothing glaringly wrong with it. It just didn't have anything spectacularly right with it, either.
Although when Jo references certain American things, they're referenced in a very English way. Eventhough Ruby never moved to England prior and Jo was assumed to be a semi-adjusted American.
The ending wasn't terrible, it wrapped up nearly. But it didn't feel satisfying or whole. There are also some major character inconsistencies that pop up confusingly at the end that didn't make sense to me.
Unfortunately, Jo and Ruby were my least favorite characters so I had little sympathy (or empathy) for them and cared pretty little about whatever happened to them.

How were the narrators?
The narrators were good, not spectacular, but they melted into the background well.
However, I always find it odd when you have multiple narrators and each narrator narrates the voices of the characters that already have a narrator of their own. IE; Joe narrates both sides of the conversation with her mom, her mom narrates the convos with the nanny, and the nanny narrates convos with both other characters eventhough they have their own narrators.
Makes it a weird listen when you know their voice of each character and each character attempts to impersonate the others.
I assume this is probably not a consideration when writing it, but listening makes it odd.

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1 person found this helpful

OMG when will it get GOOD? (No Spoilers)

Reviewed: 06-30-20

That was my thought all the way to the last second of the book. There were several points where I just stopped listening for hours and would come back to "Our previous fight..." and I was like "Wait. What fight?" that's how exciting the conflicts were.
Initially I thought the beginning was slow. Then I thought it was sagging middle syndrome. It wasn't. It was just sagging whole book syndrome.
The narrator:
I don't know why everyone lost it over the narrator. The character wasn't loveable and I think he came across really Snow-like. His "singing," however, was horrible to listen to.
Mine probably would've been too, so I can't fault him too much for that.
But the story, right? Because that's why we listen.
Snow (the MC you have to blindly follow for hours of your life):
Snow is unloveable, he's irredeemable, and predominantly self centered. Which you expect that going in. But good villans (aka well-written villans) are at least redeemable, great villans you'll start rooting for.
By that standard, he was neither well-written, nor great. And since the entire book is about him, the entire book sucked.
The Plot:
Ugh, what a mess. The premise was good and promising. I was hoping to jump in at a turning point in his life to justify his later actions. But. again, he's not a well-constructed villan, so that didn't work. But, still, the plot could be redeemed, right?
No.
For starters, I feel like she had a rough character outline from previous books and tried to make it fit. It didn't. Additionally, because of Snow being who he is, none of the conflicts actually mattered. Or made sense. And I couldn't have cared less after the Hunger Games bits.
But the Hunger Games:
In a word? Sucked. They were predominantly without conflict, and everything leading up to them was better than the games or anything that came after them.
Are there any redeemable parts?
The ending bought the whole thing to as satisfactory an ending as possible with the mess that was made before it. It tied back in nicely with some other pieces that were laid. Particularly if you're a fan of old poetry.
On that note, the sly reference to The Cremation Of Sam McGee was great. That's really it.

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Nothing short of totally forgettable (no spoilers)

Reviewed: 06-11-20

At least bad books leave a mark for more than a week or two. This one? The most memorable thing I'll take away is the pronunciation of bibimbap. Which I'm pretty sure I'll forget before I finish typing the review.
There was nothing glaringly wrong - or fantastic - about it. The story, not the pronunciation.
Though I do have some issues with tropes, redherrings that were poorly placed, and a lack of clues that lead the twist to being a twist.
What I assume I was supposed to be surprised by left me feeling like, "Oh, that kinda makes sense. BUT I didn't have any info that linked that to the story. So I guess we'll keep going then?" The ending where - I think - it's supposed to also be a twist I had suspected from the first couple chapters. And how you - and the MC - come to this "twisty" conclusion is unrealistic at best and makes absolutely no logical sense how she gets the papers. That's not a spoiler, you'll see what I mean.
I'm torn between thinking the author must've assumed their readers were spectacularly stupid, or that they had written a thin plot they thought was a twisted up masterpiece. In either case, it didn't do it for me.
The narrator took some time for me to get used to, but she was okay once I got into her rhythm. Again, not spectacular, but not terrible either.

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Imogen saves everything (no spoilers)

Reviewed: 06-10-20

I'll start with the positives. First, Imogen Church, as always, is phenomenal. Ruth Ware has a writing style that I love to listen to. But that's about it.
I will give it to Ruth that her characters are realistic, but from a reader's perspective they seem so, so, SO stupid. They don't see the - very - obvious things you as a reader pick up on from chapter one. And, to boot, their emotions never seem to be properly placed. They'll be upset over something piddly to the point of throwing a fit but then not have the level of emotion you'd expect over more serious things.
But I can overlook that with the whole "everyone's reaction is different" excuse - whatever.
What I CAN'T overlook is the severely overused tropes being the crux of the plot. And the twists not actually being suprising. Which I've come to expect from her writing. If I had to describe her, I would say she's the Stephen King of psychological thrillers in the worst possible ways.
The writing is solid, the ideas are good, but the tropes and the endings are just unbearable. And in this genre, you KINDA need to stick the ending to stick the book, otherwise the whole thing unravels. And that's exactly what happened here for me.

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Some ups, but mostly downs (no spoilers)

Reviewed: 05-31-20

The first 5 seconds told me everything I needed to know about the book - from the mostly show, don't bother to tell writing to the painfully dense and uninteresting descriptions, all the way to the mostly terrible narration.
If I had listened to the sample, I never would've bought it. If you enjoy the 30 second or whatever clip of it, you'll likely be okay. The story was good, the writing just didn't do it for me. The narrators weren't my favorite - particularly Lilly, who pronounced words like "wa-hut" and "w-hair." Which is unfortunate because she was probably the best character.
Under normal circumstances, I would've dropped the book then. But I'm trying to do the Goodreads challenge, which meant slogging through because I couldn't afford the extra time - or credit - to grab another.
There were a few occasions that I put it down and *literally* groaned when I realized I had to pick it up again.
The only saving grace is the story *would have* been good with a better technique.

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Predictable - no spoilers

Reviewed: 05-13-20

The narrator was amazing, the book was so-so. Nothing was glaringly wrong with it, but nothing spectacular about it, either. I have a few minor issues with the lack of believability of certain actions, but nothing that brought the whole thing down for me. I figured where it was headed before it happened though.

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It's okay

Reviewed: 03-25-20

It was an okay book with an okay narrator. The constant "I said," "he said," "she said" was distracting. Most of them weren't needed to follow the conversation and were thrown in at odd times. But the ending didn't feel satisfying to me. I think because there wasn't a whole answer that was given, just vauge reasons based on an already flawed POV.

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I don't get the reviews (no spoilers)

Reviewed: 03-24-20

The description of the book, as others have pointed out, does list the wrong name. It also seemed like the lying game was a severely misplaced title and thrown into the book as an early idea that she couldn't seperate from, though she probably should've. Aside from that, I don't get the issues others had. Fom where I'm sitting, the main character wasn't stupid and didn't act needlessly dangerously. And the issues with the plot being over a grudge are inaccurate. Plus it seemed like a totally reasonable grudge - if you want to call it that - to hold.
With that said, there wasn't a twist, it wasn't a "slow burn," and there certainly weren't any tense moments that amounted to anything worthwhile. If you want a thriller, as far as I'm concerned, this isn't it. But it was entertaining to listen to because Imogen, as always, was phenomenal.

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