Megan

What a cute book and great way to introduce young kids to the idea of role-playing games and isolated, closed-circle mysteries. I honestly couldn't keep the characters straight though, so I don't know if a kid would be able to. The reveals were pretty fun though and the story was interesting. The pacing seemed slightly off in the second half of the book but that could just be my preference with how the story was structured.

Any book that helps me keep my bees alive is a winner. I was struggling for a bit to want to pick this up, mostly because I had read a lot of nonfiction this year, but once the author starting talking animal behavior I was hooked. It's like a huge chunk of it was written specifically for me. Fungi are fascinating though and I think this book taught me a lot and scared the crap out of me as well.

Everything about this book worked for me. The writing was beautiful. The characters were complex. The world was interesting. It just worked.

I knew it! This one feels like I earned it.

I picked this up in December because of the title, and I really wish I hadn't because I wanted something Christmasy. Murder, yes, but Christmas murder. This was not that. It wasn't bad, I actually enjoyed the writing style. I felt the message was a tad heavy-handed but not the worst by far. Overall it was okay but kind of forgettable in the grand scheme of what I read in December because of what types of books I was reading... meaning fully set at, on, and around, about Christmas books.

Cute story for young readers, elementary school I'd say. I've never really enjoyed books with episodic chapters though, so I don't think this would've been a win for me even at that age.

Very thorough on the itty bitty species, but I would've liked more variety.

I saw that ending coming in the first ten pages, but I can't understand the relationship dynamic at all. I knew I was right but it seemed so weird given how the main character was waiting for the bf to invite her to an event... Anyway, this mystery was good! Probably my favorite. The relationship is gettting slightly annoying and distracting, but overall it's a good Christmas time. None of the Christmas stuff feels repetitive either, which is awesome.

I'd like a movie now, thank you.

I really enjoy these characters and think the mysteries in the series are good. This one made me realize a minor formula, but it wasn't bad. I enjoyed the newest character addition too.

This genuinely made me uncomfortable. If you're wondering if you NEED to read it and aren't someone who has to consume every side story that isn't essential, don't read it. You really don't need to. It's just uncomfortable.

I struggled to finish this, but it made me question things so that's nice.

I really enjoyed this series introduction! It was exactly what I was looking for this Christmas to have a good time, solve a mystery, and not get too serious. I immediately wanted to pick up the next book.

I fell for the hype, and the hype came through. This is my favorite memoir that I've read. I really like Jennette McCurdy's writing and would read more from her in a heartbeat.

This book was extremely thorough and well researched. I appreciated the breadth of topics covered and felt uplifted that I had a split basis in everything covered. I wanted to read this partially for book club and partially for grad school.

Any time an author can keep me interested in both perspectives in a dual perspective story, I feel they deserve 4 stars. While this was heavy-handed and really spoon feeds you, I enjoyed the writing style a lot and mainly remember it for that. I want to check out more from this author.

The very very slight storyline formula change up was okay, and the children having to step into each other's shoes was good. Talk about morbid and gruesome too. But this book was just not very good overall.

And goodness the audiobook is so bad. Children and narrator were too quiet and the adults were so loud it could blow out your eardrum. The adult voices were incredibly annoying too. Can't wait to return to the Tim Curry narration soon.

I enjoyed this for a large part of it, but the 3rd act conflict was so dumb. I genuinely couldn't believe someone would get mad about THAT. Kinda ruined the end. It was cute though!

This was exceedingly boring. I just wanted some mindless holiday cheer to get me through the work day, and it couldn't even manage that.

Man that main character was insufferable. The amount of “everything is my fault,” from the first page to the last, really ruined what was otherwise a fairly fun (for horror) time. The explanation of things near the end, the cause of the tragedy, was kind of thin for me, but whatever. I still had fun. But my god that main character...

Given how desperately people seem to love this story, I don't think it's really my vibe. The TV head folks genuinely confused me. I seriously don't get the hype.

This has a slow start that really makes you form deep connections to the characters that will pay off throughout this incredible series.

Oh man, this one was boring. It desperately needed an editor to trim it down. Could've been 300-400 pages easily. The beginning and end were good though.

This is one of my favorite novellas from The Expanse series. I found the tight little character study really interesting! It's not a necessary read but it's a fun time.

Yes, this book is a lot of filler, but it really didn't bother me. I enjoyed the continued world-building and character development for Spensa and M-bot.