Amy

I listened to the audiobook. You could likely add a star if you read it, because I really, really couldn't stand the narrator. His ‘yelling' was the most annoying sound I think I've ever heard and he seemed to have two voices besides what I am assuming is HIS voice - used for Ellery and the narration - and one is a strange Mid-Atlantic crossed with a Texas drawl (or something) that is used for a grand total of two (related) characters and a lower attempt at deep and husky that he uses for everyone else from the ‘sexy' love interest to the femme fatale wannabe to the mistaken-for-gay camp straight. (Side note: I had to pause more than once in the middle of conversations and didn't get to come back for a day or more. One such instance made me wonder what I had forgotten because I thought Ellery was talking to the low voiced brooding (well, sort of) love interest. It wasn't. It was the camp straight and the narrator was using exactly the same voice.)

The mystery itself is predictable but okay. There were supposed to be several twists - like our second murder victim and the final reveal. None of it really surprised me because I kind of suspected what was really going on with the murder super early on. That being said, it was serviceable and was not a bad mystery.

What was awful was Ellery. I honestly can't stand the guy. I can't point to anything and say ‘that!' (except for one thing that I will talk about later) but he was just the sort to rub me the wrong way through the entire book. I was actually going to drop an update on here (that I never got around to) asking if the characters in cozy mysteries are always so unlikable. Especially the sleuths.

Now, the problem that I CAN point to with Ellery is thus: (bear with me) We have Ellery and we have Jack. Jack is well liked by thirsty women. Jack is also, per Ellery, very attractive. Ellery has something of a crush on him from before the start of the book. Jack wears a wedding ring and Ellery ponders why - because there was something there between them when they first met. (Ellery's gaydar, if you pardon the term.) So, Ellery is speculating if Jack has a wife, or if he's closeted, or if he's unaware that he's closeted and just super oblivious.

Okay, this is gross enough, but guys, it gets worse.

Ellery finds out from local gossip (singular person whose whole point is to be gossip) that Jack was married - is currently a widower - and was married to his high school sweetheart. Gossip says that the deceased is female (though I don't remember how gossip knew that). So, Ellery is heartbroken that Jack is straight. But there was something there. But he's straight. But... Nope, he's straight.

Until Jack says, literally (and it makes sense like this, but even more sense taken in context) “There's nothing wrong with girls. Nothing wrong with boys, either.” Well, Ellery has this mental block like ‘does not compute' then he proceeds to obsess over what that could possibly mean.



What ever could he mean. I mean, sure, Ellery's from NYC but, oh, surely, he's never met anyone bisexual. I mean, we just don't exist. Not even in NYC.

blows raspberry

Anyway, not interested in the next book in the series because, per Goodreads synopsis, Ellery's ex shows up, argues with Ellery and promptly disappears, prompting Ellery to be Jack's main suspect. When he bent over freaking backwards in this book to avoid making Ellery a suspect much less the main one.

DNF - PG 100

Why?

Because this book is awful, terrible with no redeeming qualities and I am not going to subject myself to this trash anymore.

Bu first, I want to give a disclaimer, here:

I did not choose this book for myself. I would never have chosen this book for myself. So, you're probably all going ‘then why did you read it?' Well, that's simple. I subscribed to a service called ‘justtherightbook' from this little indie bookstore and this was the fourth book they sent me.

I really don't know why they sent it to me because after the first one, (The Starling House) I left feedback stating that I do not like contemporary fantasy, (which this proudly proclaims itself as being on the dust jacket) and after the second book they sent me, (Jumpnauts) I told them I had already attempted to read it, but it was a DNF because of the creepy guy (which this book has a male author that is creepy towards the female main characters). So, I'm left scratching my head as to how they thought this book was appropriate.

So, bare in mind that just looking at the book, I had a pretty good theory that it would not be a book of me. I know my reading preferences. The synopsis of the book did not grab me. I had never expected it would be this horrible, though.

Anyway, I gave it a go and...

When the story first stars, I thought it felt like an amateurish ‘The Watchmaker of Filigree Street'. It starts off very quietly and somewhat subdued, though the writing wasn't of a high enough quality to really back-up that feeling.

Then hit's the absolute sexism. And the male author describing their female main character in relation to her breasts. (Because in 2024 we can't be done with that.) And the fact that the main character's female best friend puts herself down via body shaming and food shaming by woe-is-me-ing about eating bacon, pancakes and a coke at midnight because ‘look at my aunts' fat shaming.

Then we much more graphic violence than I was prepared for.

The final last straw was getting to spend time in the head of a serial killer, a woman that tortured her parents to death and derives pleasure from killing animals.

On less important notes, as these issues can be polished with work and experience. And a solid editor.

The dialogue is clunky and amateurishly written. (But, to be fair, everything about this book is kind of clunky and amateurish.)

‘They stared at him silently, neither of them moving. Cassie met his dark eyes and saw a plea there, but she couldn't bring herself to respond.
“You don't trust me,” he concluded.
“You think?” Izzy said.
“We've just met you,” Cassie elaborated.

There's a lot of synopsizing of events. There's a lot of travel already that just made my eyes glaze over. There's a lot of weird reactions from Cassie. She's a liar, a bad friend and very self-centered. She also doesn't react to things in rational, normal ways. (Though I could easily see this as being a case of ‘but women aren't rational beings' trash.)

Anyway, life's too short and I already spent too long on this book. (To be fair, two chapters was too much time spent on this book.)

DNF - PG 137Why?Disclaimer: I don't actually like the common urban fantasy. (I call it thus because I consider the likes of Percy Jackson and Harry Potter series as ‘urban fantasy' - though they are not the common type.) I keep trying, because in theory I love the worlds of urban fantasy. In practice, I hate the characters.And, honestly, my sole reason for stopping this book is our main character, Rachel Morgan.Wow, she is just...quite possibly the worst main character I've had the displeasure of reading about in a very long time.When we first meet her, she's on a stakeout and, instead of doing the reasonable thing and dressing to blend into the area, she ‘accidentally' dresses like a hooker. Which she is mistaken for more than once - even though she bemoans that she's flat-chested, though she uses what she's got to distract. ... So, we're off to a bang up start. Oh, let's not forget: she's better than this. That is Rachel's mantra: I am better than this. I'd say don't forget that, but don't worry; if it ever does slip your mind, she's more than happy to remind you.At this point, before the end of the first chapter, I was ready to DNF this book. I had two reasons why I didn't. I'm trying to not kneejerk DNF a book when I haven't given it a chance. (I feel uncomfortable looking at my DNF's an seeing things like ‘DNF at page 20.' I'm trying to stop that.)The second reason is I had a cleaning job where no one was home and this was one of the two audiobooks I had downloaded to my phone. (The other was [b:Witchmark 36187110 Witchmark (The Kingston Cycle, #1) C.L. Polk https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1505338133l/36187110.SY75.jpg 57809962] and I'm really not sure which one is worse.)Okay, so, a four hour job nets me:Ivy, a coworker of Rachel's, is a ‘non-practicing' vampire. (Also, not dead , yet.) This non-practicing vampire is a term that is bandied about quite a lot and sounds just as stupid the dozenth time as it does the first.Also, Ivy? She's Oriental. ... No, seriously. This is a book first published in 2004 - and Ivy is described as having ‘Oriental' features. blinks Okay...Rachel says about Ivy that ‘She [Rachel] is confident enough in her sexuality to admit that Ivy looks good.' ... But no homo, bro, right?Then we have the absolute panic Rachel exhibits when Ivy starts to be a little seductive. Then there's the whole Ivy can't control herself and nearly has sex with Rachel and/or rips open her neck and gives Rachel a book for how to date vampires so Rachel can know what she's not supposed to do. Meanwhile Rachel is deep in the throws of the strongest ‘straight man' mentality I've ever seen from a woman. (Horror, gasp There's no way I'm having feelings for my same gender friend. I'm straight, I tell you. STRAIGHT! she howls to the night sky)How about plot?...Uhm...I mean, there's like three attempts on Rachel's life just to liven things up, otherwise the plot goes exactly nowhere.

DNF - PG 62

Why?

I was struggling with this book from the start. Something like page two is when the love interest is introduced and every time Jane is around him, any decent personality she might have dries up. She's very much of the ‘I don't want a man' type that immediately swoons when a handsome man looks at her. (I was holding out some hope that Redvers would turn out to be the victim or, failing that, the culprit, but instead I read the synopsis of later books and find out that they get engaged.)

This was awful, but I was willing to struggle past it. I even made it past her being disgusted that a man was eating (not disgustingly, I might add) in front of her, but there was one decision that I just pulled the plug for.

So, Jane is the first person to find the victim, in their room. (Through a contrivance, I must say.) While Jane is in there, she sees the room key. She pockets it with only the vague thought that she'd give it to the victim's loved one so they could get back in the room. The murder victim's room as it was obvious at just a glance that the person had been murdered.

Issue, but not insurmountable.

It was too late to give the key to [redacted] as I had planned. And now that I was a suspect, it would look suspicious if I tried to give it to [redacted]. I quickly decided the best course of action was to hide the thing - but secreting it anywhere in my room was not the wisest plan, especially if the police decided to give my rooms another go.I stared at my door for a moment, and then turned to the hallway. A potted palm sat inconspicuously halfway down the corridor. I considered it and decided it would make an excellent hiding spot for the pilfered key. I checked the corridors again - several times, in fact - and once I was sure I wouldn't be seen, I hid the key under a thin layer of dirt in a corner of the ceramic pot.

...

This is ostensibly an adult woman. Supposed to be our sleuth. If she's already making decisions like this...I just can't anymore.

I mean, it was bad enough that she mindlessly picked up the key to begin with. But now she's hiding in it a potted plant outside her room. Are we sure she's not the killer? And, of course, there's no way that that decision could come back to bite her.

DNF - PG 34

Why?

Look, I had been interested in the title several times but then read the synopsis and immediately knew it was not the book for me. Then the absolute waste of my money that is Just the Right Book decided that this was ‘just the right book' for me and ....

Okay. First of all, not really a fan of contemporary, earth bound sci-fi or fantasy. Which this is. Combining sci-fi and fantasy can be a mixed bag. This does.

The line breaks are serious annoying. I just opened this book up to a random page in the middle (190 and 191 in my paperback copy) and there are five line breaks on those two pages - only one of which has the ‘***' that indicates a point of view shift.

There are usually multiple line breaks every page. Chapter one is five pages long and it has seven line breaks including one that is for a POV shift. Chapter two has this scene as the entirety of the story between line breaks:

‘But if this wasn't the right student, either?Soon the kitchen filled with the gentle aroma of the simmering soup. Astrid dropped the heat to low, so it would be ready when Miss Satomi returned.And then Astrid waited. For now, that was all that she could do.‘

...

I kid you not. This section deserves its own line break before and after.

The shortest line break I came across in the part I actually read was all of three lines for a total of fourteen words. This book needs to be reformatted in the worst way.

Shizuka Satomi is immediately unsympathetic and, ostensibly, our main character. (That likely gets everything she ever wanted and the romance to boot.) Because she is selling the souls of young musicians to the devil. No. Literally. It's an interesting concept. I don't see how that can be made sympathetic and someone you actually root for to succeed.

But the real reason I quit reading this book is because I went searching to see if anyone else agreed with me that Shizuka was unsympathetic and was instead treated to new information.

The one friend that Katrina can call on to live with when she runs from her parents? Just casually rapes her, says it's for rent. [According to: https://www.reddit.com/r/romancelandia/comments/u9uovr/light_from_uncommon_stars_please_dont/]

There are many, many places that give Content/Trigger Warnings on this book that look like this:

This book contains references to and depictions of sexual assault and rape, verbal and physical abuse, suicidal ideation, drug use, and violence. It explores themes surrounding LGBTQ+ identities and features verbal abuse and slurs directed toward trans women and lesbians. It also depicts prejudice toward immigrants and people of color, particularly those of Asian descent.

And this:

Transphobia; parental and familial abuse, including mental, physical, and sexual; rape and sexual assault; depiction of consensual and non-consensual sex work; racism; mentions of self-harm and suicide.

I don't want to read this. I don't have a grand reason - and I don't need to, other than the fact that I don't enjoy reading books with this kind of content. You might say that this is important stuff to have in a book, but I've heard that Katrina's whole story is torture porn. I don't know.

I do know that I'm not enjoying the book, I don't like the content that has been tagged as needing a warning, and I don't need to have a reason for DNFing a book beyond I am not enjoying it.

I am not enjoying it.