Ande Pliego
ARC Review
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Release Date: February 11 2025
This is the type of book where you get exactly what you hope for with the cover.
A handful of authors are given an ominous invite to a “writer’s retreat” and the plot takes off. It is a fun Clue murder mystery-like novel that I thoroughly enjoyed. It is clear the author also had fun writing this. Between the different formats, fonts, images, and more, this book was genuinely fun even though it was a spooky thriller murder mystery. That is hard to pull off.
What I loved:
-This is a fun murder mystery, very much a page-turner of a novel.
-The cover is beautiful.
-The plot is interesting and the characters have depth to them.
-There’s no extreme gore or anything in this book, at least not in my opinion. This is genuinely a fun read and it’s beautifully done.
-Because the book is about a writers’ retreat, there is meta talk about the art of writing, and my nerdy self heavily enjoyed this.
What I didn’t love:
-The writing style was not my favorite. Very much a personal preference, but it made it harder to consume the book the way I wanted to. I found myself re-reading passages to make sure I got every last detail, versus being able to inhale. This isn’t a bad thing.
-Lots of mentions of vomit and nausea, lots and lots.
-The ending did feel slightly rushed and chaotic? I believe that was the intent – to give the reader what they had been craving for the book, but I felt satisfied throughout the book with the clues given.
-Multiple perspectives from unreliable narraters and very vague quotes and bits scattered to increase confusion and curiosity. It was fun initially, but I think it was potentially used too much and impacted my ability to get lost in the book.
I would totally recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun whodunit murder mystery. Also, how could you not want to own this beauty?
I am writing this review voluntarily and did receive a free copy.
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