Little Syllables: The Blog
Review - A Most Agreeable Murder by Julia Seales
I received a free review copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
If you’re a fan of Jane Austen, but also love a good parody, A Most Agreeable Murder may be just the ticket for you. I found this book to be amusing and fun.
This book tells the story of Beatrice Steele, a plucky young woman who secretly loves reading about murder (a completely scandalous secret in Swampshire). Her family attends the Stabmort ball to attempt to woo the rich Mr. Croaksworth and save themselves from destitution. The heir to their estate, Mr. Grub, is also in attendance, attempting to seduce Beatrice. But when Mr. Croaksworth drops dead, Beatrice sets out to find the killer. She soon discovers that most everyone in attendance has secrets they might kill to keep.
Seales has created (sometimes quite obvious) parallels to Austen’s characters and plots—Mr. Grub is clearly a Mr. Collins, but worse. I spotted a Mr. Woodhouse, a Miss Bates, a Captain Wentworth, a Mr. Bennet, and more.
One thing I especially liked about this book was the way it bucks conventions of its time, including a diverse cast of characters, showing the most eligible bachelor to also be the most insufferable bore, and allowing its heroine to pursue her own interests. This book is also great at showing why following rules simply for the sake of tradition isn’t always the best route.
A Most Agreeable Murder is lighthearted and doesn’t take itself too seriously. Some of the comic exaggerations are a bit overwrought, but I felt this was a fairly solid book for readers familiar with the tropes and willing to see them turned on their heads.
Julia Seales’ A Most Agreeable Murder comes out June 27, 2023.
Review - Speak of the Devil by Rose Wilding
I received a free galley from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Speak of the Devil is a thriller that hooks you from the very first page. On New Year’s Eve, seven women find themselves in a room with a dead man—or part of him, at least. All of them have a motive for his murder, but each of them denies committing the crime.
This story follows these seven women, as well as the detective in charge of discovering the killer. The reader sees these women in the aftermath of the murder, as well as in flashbacks of their experiences with the victim. We discover motives right along with Nova, the detective, and the case becomes increasingly complex. It becomes clear that Jamie (our murder victim) was abusive throughout his life, so the stories of these women cover decades.
This is a story about a horrible, manipulative man, and the women he betrayed and destroyed. It’s also a story about how society disregards abuse victims and abusers often get more chances than they should.
This book kept me interested until the end, though the solution to the mystery felt rushed at the very end of the book. I liked the characters and thought they were well-written and complex. I also enjoyed how motives were unveiled one by one and flashbacks are interwoven with the days following the murder.
Trigger Warnings:
Sensitive readers should know this book contains sexual content, graphic violence, rape, mental illness, drug and alcohol abuse, forced outing, homophobia, and suicide.
Review - If We’re Being Honest by Cat Shook
I received a free copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
If We’re Being Honest is a week in the life of the large Williams family. It begins with Gerry’s funeral and a shocking revelation that his best friend reveals during the eulogy. What follows is a week with this family sorting through their feelings about Gerry, about each other, and about the future.
I Loved
I loved this book’s premise. I felt like the secrets and unspoken things were front and center for the Williams family. I also loved the title. This book is about secrets coming to light, and they’re revealed one at a time as the book progresses. This is a very ambitious book that tries to give each family member a voice, but that is where it may not be super successful.
Shook’s characters are diverse, but I felt there was not enough focus, so opportunities were missed to give a few characters a deeper look. I would have loved to see more from Ellen’s perspective as I felt she was one of the most interesting characters in the book, though she’s also very quiet and closed-off.
I Didn’t Love
My biggest problem with this book is that so many problems could have been solved with open communication. But perhaps that is the point. This bothered me the most in the Alice/Peter relationship. Yes, they’re in a complicated situation, but I felt too much time was spent on them when their problems could have easily been resolved in a single short conversation. The same is true of Jennifer and JJ.
Ultimately, I liked how this book shows the complexity of keeping secrets within family relationships, but also still being a good person. I think it’s worth a read.
Read It
If We’re Being Honest came out today!
Review - What Have We Done by Alex Finlay
I received a free galley of this book through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
What Have We Done is a thriller by Alex Finlay (side note: I’ve also read Every Last Fear and gave that one 5 stars). This new book follows a group of teens who met in a group home, went their separate ways, and grew up into very different people with a shared past. Now someone is after them all.
We have Jenna, a suburban stepmom with a secret; Donnie, a washed-up rockstar; Nico, a gambling addict turned television professional; Ben, a successful federal judge; and Arty, a wealthy tech head. And they’re all being targeted by the same assassin, who seems to be able to be in two places at once. Once they figure out that all of them were targeted, they begin to work together to figure out who is responsible.
Just like in his previous books, Finlay offers an intriguing mystery and a twisty tale. This one kept me turning pages, and I read it quickly. The author has interwoven memories into the present storyline very well. The reader uncovers things gradually, along with the characters. The characterization was very well done—each of the targets is unique, but believable.
Despite these things, in the end, I found myself unsatisfied with the book as a whole. I felt that the plot was trying to be too intricate. It was difficult to parse out which details were important for the mystery and which weren’t. Perhaps that was intentional on the author’s part, but I found it distracting. Too many red herrings along the way made the actual solution to the mystery underwhelming. And a tacked-on ending felt unnecessary.
Overall, I thought this was a good mystery, but not a great one. If you’re in the mood for a quick read, a thriller with an intricate plot and a good variety of characters, this book could fit the bill. Sensitive readers should know this novel contains violence, mentions of sexual assault, child abuse, and drug references.
What Have We Done is available now!
Review - Nocturne by Alyssa Wees
I received a free galley of this book through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Nocturne is a lyrical fantasy about an orphaned ballerina in Depression-era Chicago. This story is reminiscent of Beauty and the Beast or Phantom of the Opera.
Grace has risen through the ranks of her ballet company, seemingly through her own talent and determination. When her best friend, Emilia, is set to retire from her position as prima, Grace is selected to take her place, and a specific role is set for her by a mysterious benefactor.
Soon Grace realizes that things are not as simple as they seem, and she becomes obsessed with discovering the identity of her patron, Master La Rosa. Once the show run ends, Grace is taken to live with La Rosa—an exchange that seems to have been made between her Mistress and her patron to secure the future of the ballet company. Grace is cut off from all she has known, isolated from her friends, and spends all her time either alone, dancing with La Rosa, or driving with La Rosa’s assistant Mr. Russo.
The first half of this novel is slow and took me quite a while to get into. Grace has a tragic backstory, filled with the deaths of those she loved most. But she has also been given so much as she was taken in by the Mistress and allowed to train in ballet. Once she joins La Rosa, she must decide if she is to give herself wholly to him or not (though it’s never made clear what will happen if she refuses). The relationship between Grace and La Rosa was supposed to be a romance, but it felt more like abusive grooming to me, especially at first.
Eventually, a plot is uncovered that makes Grace question everything once again. Ultimately, the book ends with Grace having redeemed herself and resumed her rightful position. But the reader is left wondering if she ever really had any choice.
I found the author’s description to be beautiful, but sometimes overdone. There were details within the story that I kept expecting to find were important later on. Some were, but others weren’t. I felt Wees’s strength lies more in describing settings than it does in building complex characters and relationships.
I gave this book 3 stars because I felt that the premise was a good one, though it could have been executed more cleanly. The plot was slow to progress through the first half, then seemed scattered through the second half. Grace is the most well-developed character, though I found myself feeling sorry for her more than I was rooting for her. I would have loved to see more of Lorenzo, Emilia, Beatrice, and a more fully developed relationship between Grace and the Mistress.
Nocturne by Alyssa Wees is available now!
Review - The Witch of Tin Mountain
I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Set in Arkansas and spanning a century, The Witch of Tin Mountain is historical fiction with a paranormal twist. The story follows generations of women from a single family—women with powers that many others do not understand. The dual timelines follow Dierdre (in the late 1800s) and Gracie (in the 1930s) as they navigate the emergence of their powers and grow from teenagers into adults.
Each of their lives are upended with the arrival of a mysterious preacher who causes a stir in the town of Tin Mountain. While these preachers perform miracles within the community, they are not what they seem.
Gentry haunts Dierdre, even as she flees Tin Mountain to escape him. He ultimately lures her into a trap, and she makes a deal she will later regret. Bellflower has come to Tin Mountain to collect on Dierdre’s debt. Gracie is forced to rely on herself and her ancestors as she works to thwart Bellflower’s designs.
This book is a tangle of love and loss, power and sacrifice.
Ultimately, I felt this book is about the power of women. I thought the author did a great job with characterization and the overarching storyline. Things get a bit muddy because the stories of the various characters have so many similarities—at times the coincidences felt too contrived.
Overall, I enjoyed this book, and I think fans of the genre will enjoy it as well. Sensitive readers should know there are references to witchcraft, sexual assault, murder, suicide, and abortion in this novel.
The Witch of Tin Mountain came out yesterday, February 1!
Review - Happyish by Jeanette Escudero
I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Happyish tells the story of Alex, a divorced mid-30’s marketing executive who is diagnosed with a brain tumor. This scary diagnosis leads her to make some impulsive decisions to see some of the world before she faces the risks associated with surgery.
Alex is a woman who has a hard time relying on others. She is fiercely independent while still being a people-pleaser. She strives to keep her emotions in check, be stable and reliable, and take care of those she loves. As she ventures into the unknown on a whirlwind adventure, we begin to understand why she is this way—due to trauma from her childhood. Alex’s adventure helps her uncover and work through some of these issues, while also coming to terms with the unknowns in her future.
Alex travels to find herself and to reconnect with her family and friends.
She also finds new friends along the way.
This book starts a bit slow, then feels rushed later on. The first third of the book is setting the scene, giving Alex’s background, establishing her reasons for making certain decisions later in the book. But I felt that the final portion of the book was quite rushed. We spend most of the book looking ahead (or avoiding looking ahead) to Alex’s brain surgery. Then it happens quickly, characters pop in and out during recovery, then there is an epilogue tying things up.
I enjoyed this book and I thought it raised some great characters and a promising premise, but it wasn’t as deep and detailed as I had hoped. I wanted to get to know David more. I wanted to understand Alex’s mom more. I wanted to meet Alex’s ex-husband and get some resolution there. I wanted to see more of her recovery and how it changed her attitude.
Instead, I was left wanting and couldn’t give this one more than three stars.
Happyish by Jeanette Escudero came out last week. Read it and let me know what you think!
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Review - The Heights by Louise Candlish
I received a free advanced copy through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Louise Candlish is not a new author for me. I read and enjoyed The Other Passenger last year (click here for my review). The Heights was a quick read for me. It kept me turning the pages!
The Heights is a story about obsession and revenge. It’s also a story about stories and the power the storyteller has to control the narrative. The novel is built around the premise that Ellen Saint is taking part in a memoir-writing class and the story we read is written by her. As the story progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that she is not the most reliable narrator. She is paranoid, obsessive, and over-protective.
Then we see things from Vic’s perspective. Vic is the father of Ellen’s teenage son, Lucas. Getting a new perspective helps the reader see Ellen differently, though it is unclear who the narrator is in this third-person POV. Vic is shown as a conflicted man. At this point in the book, it’s difficult to know who is trustworthy—if anyone. And I think this was intentionally done to throw the reader off balance.
Candlish does an excellent job of balancing characterization with the limitations of the POV she has chosen. Those limitations help increase the mystery as the reader is left wondering who to believe and whose side to take.
The Heights by Louise Candlish is available now.
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Review - We Live Next Door by Laura Wolfe
I received a free review copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
We Live Next Door is a thriller that pleasantly surprised me. It tells the story of Jessica, a wife and mother, who has moved back into her childhood home. Now one of the (most hated) neighbors has died, and Jessica is suspicious, even though nobody else really seems to be. Jessica becomes borderline paranoid as she works to solve the mystery, and at times, seems slightly unhinged. But it turns out that she’s seeing some problems that everyone else is missing.
The plot of this novel was really well done. The characters were believable and the relationships complex. Jessica is mostly likeable, though sometimes a bit naïve. I had big issues with her husband Mark. I won’t give anything away by telling how that situation resolves, but just know that it does.
This book involves a lot of relationships and relationship issues. It’s about how we know our neighbors (and friends, and parents, and spouse) a little too well, or maybe not as well as we think we do. It also deals with domestic violence, infidelity, drug use, and of course, murder. Even though it is a murder mystery, I felt that this book was ultimately about motherhood, looking beyond outward appearances, and following your dreams.
We Live Next Door by Laura Wolfe comes out November 5.
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Review - The Field of Wrongdoing by Lili St. Germain
I received a free ARC from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
The Field of Wrongdoing was a tough read for me. This mystery/thriller is gritty, violent, and shocking. It is definitely not for readers sensitive to sexual violence, murder, kidnapping, gore, child abuse, drug use, or language. I found the description of the book to be misleading as well.
I do think the premise of this book is a good one. The characters are generally well-written. The mystery is intriguing. I have no problems with the writing beyond the graphic content. This book follows Leo and his girlfriend Cassie, starting with a gruesome discovery outside Leo’s home (note: not in a field and not discovered by Cassie, as the book description indicates). This event changes their lives in awful ways and neither of them are ever the same afterward.
Later on, Leo is involved in a car accident, the circumstances of which send him to prison for 8 years. The story picks back up when he is released and returns home. Another teenage girl goes missing soon afterward, and the police try to pin her disappearance on Leo. Cassie eventually discovers the truth about these crimes.
I won’t give too much away, but all the crimes in the story are linked. There is also a subplot about Leo’s siblings and mother, which is also disturbing and violent. Pretty much all of the characters in this book are terrible people who make awful choices. A few side characters are okay, like Amanda and Chris, but they have very little to do with the story as a whole. There is not much redemption for anyone and there is a lot of sex, violence, and death. Yes, the ultimate “bad guys” get what’s coming to them, but other peripheral characters get no answers.
I decided ultimately to give this book three stars because I think it was well-written and well-plotted. I couldn’t give it more stars because I hated most of the characters and I don’t enjoy reading the sort of graphic content found in this book.
The Field of Wrongdoing is available now.