Suzi

It's been 5 years since I read the first book in this series and I really couldn't recall too much, but apart from some characters and relationships this is a stand alone story.

From the opening chapter I just could not put this one down. Absolutely gripped for the whole 450 pages and I've already bought book 3....and won't be waiting 5 years to read it!

DNF @ 47%

I just cannot. These people are awful.

The mother and siblings were great but hating the 2 main characters is too much to even push through.

The point where it became too much was the emails, and his rant email about not having sex. Just no. 🙄

I've been a long time fan of this series and have loved most books, but this one just didn't quite live up to previous instalments for me.

The story was interesting enough but it didn't feel quite as neat as others. There were a couple of plot points which seemed to sort of fizzle out and not get resolved.

Also, it's a British author writing about British characters in Britain....so why use the word MOM?! They're our Mum or Mam. It drove me insane by the end.

There's no denying this was ridiculously compelling, the chapters are super short and fast paced, and the mystery is so intriguing you just have to find out what happened.

The issues however are with the repetitive nature of the story- as Liv has a condition affecting her memory, each day she wakes up she goes through the same cycle of alarm, confusion, finding out the same things that she can't remember, etc. This totally makes sense in relation to her condition but reading it time after time is not so fun.

I listened to this one on audio and January LaVoy (as always) along with Imogen Church were amazing as the narrators.

Not my favourite from Sarah Morgan - something about some members of the family irritated me until they had their heartwarming/redeeming moment at the end. The main characters were a delight though, I wish I had a Cecelia grandma in my life.

The whole 'mystery' with the painting was perhaps the weakest part of this, it was clear from the second it was mentioned what the 'twist' was, and because of this it felt really dragged out and underwhelming when it was revealed.

I loved the first book in this series for how quirky the characters were and how cosy the mystery seemed.

Books 2 and 3 were definitely less cosy so I've just enjoyed them so much less. 😕

I think I'm okay just loving book 1 and leaving the series at that.

I've seen a lot of people saying they were disappointed by this one but I quite enjoyed it! I've yet to find a Christina Lauren I don't like. 😊

12 books into a series and each one is just as good as the last, in fact this was one of my favourites so far.

Will and Sara are married and on their honeymoon but of course it won't go to plan. Soon enough, there's a body and everyone at the remote, isolated lodge is a suspect.

The characters in these books are always nasty but the McAlpine family take it to another level, they are despicable humans and treat Mercy like sh*t. Every twist just made them worse, and there were plenty of twists.

One of my favourite things about Karin Slaughter's books is the weaving and layers of storylines, the books are quite long for thrillers but we need the time for all of the groundwork to be laid and lead up to the ending. It's always just so well done.

I listened to the audiobook and the narration by Kathleen Early was amazing, as always. 100% recommend the audio for these.

I can safely say the last ~40% was outstanding, everything from Vorgossos onwards was impossible to stop reading/listening to.

If the whole book had been that gripping this would have been an easy 5 stars, however I did struggle a bit with the first half of the book. The pace was much slower and sloggy, and I felt disconnected with the story after the large time jump after EoS.

I've read other reviews/posts saying the second half of the book is indicative of the rest of the series, so I'll definitely be continuing but I did unfortunately struggle with a lot of this one.

So good but so heartbreaking 💔

I loved A.J. Cook in Criminal Minds and her acting really made the narration stand out here.