The Christmas Murder Game

A very good book to read for Christmas. It was clever. The story was pretty well crafted I thought, not so predictable as to be ridiculous. The only things I didn't like were two annoying things the author kept inserting needlessly: the endless talk about corsets, and hitting us over and over and over the head about biphobia etc. The story worked well incorporating same sex romances - it was diminished by the author making these “no one understands people who are bi/lesbian!” comments. Let the story speak for itself!

A hard one to rate, and I'm still wondering how many stars to give it! It was OK, but I found it a little overblown at times. I think my favourite parts were the descriptions of the staying in the country house enjoying the food and drink! Loved the idea of the sonnets, which I thought were well written, and the idea of solving clues, but I thought that more attention could have been paid to character development. Sara was particularly annoying, as there didn't seem to be much motivation for her being so awful (I am not one of those readers who avoid unlikeable characters, but I do want them to be nuanced). Sometimes it was a little hard to keep track of who was who.

Not what I thought it would be, but I respect it for what it chose to do, insofar as it tackled heavier themes than I thought. Honestly my bad for gambling with the ‘not reading synopsis' game, it was definitely more on the gothic than cozy end. 
With murder being in the title, I expected there to be death, but not this level of meditating on the trauma of loss, fresh and old, the grieving process, mother/daughter relationships, toxic or absent family situations, and how they can shape people. 

Seemingly random detail, but I do appreciate the dress/corset design descriptions. Also the strong bisexual and queer rep. 

 I'm not very good puzzles, but it didn't really feel like reader participation was required, everything got laid out soon after the introduction of each clue, not including the word puzzles directed at the reader that I didn't really care to figure out as they weren't necessary to the plot. 

I'll admit the culprits were pretty obvious, it was the slow unveiling of the why rather than the who, while exploring family dynamics, that kept me reading. After twelve days of searching for answers, the ending did feel comparatively rushed, but I'm glad for the character roster that did survive and the promise of romance. 🥰 ⚠️Incest