The Haunting of Quilter's Square

by Hillary Doan Sperry

Movie stars, lost treasure, and hand quilted secrets are pieced together in a scandal you’ll never see coming.

Genres: Mystery

203 pages, Paperback

Published July 1, 2023

Reviews

[Tera · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this. Unfortunately there are lots of mistakes. Two characters are conversing, but the author interjects a different character in the paragraph that isn’t in the scene. Lots of grammar issues and even some jumbled words like it was typed on a phone and auto correct picked a wrong word or the writer fat fingered a word here and there. The editing needs lots of work. I hope the author continues to write and build her story telling skills.

[Megan Evans · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book, but there were so many grammatical errors and so many random thoughts that it made this book difficult to read and understand. The premise was good, but the execution of the book left much to be desired.

[Gloria · Rating 2 out of 5]

This might have been a 3 or 4 star book if the author had hired an actual editor. Heck, even a simple spelling and grammer check in Word would have caught most of the errors, and there were so very many errors. Although, the errors in the story line, that's where an editor comes in.

[Sue · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ditto what Megan said. Poorly edited and somewhat difficult to follow. The end picked up a bit, but did lack details and was confusing as to where some of the characters were at critical points in time, as they were all on a moving train.

[Sandy Heisey · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author is poor and the editor is even worse.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. I love this author she writes the best quilting books!!

[Kathie · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were so many issues with the book that made for a long tiring read. Some details never explained like a poisoning murder not investigated by police on a train?
Plot all conveniently wrapped up at end after leaving so many unresolved theories hanging, long after murderer is revealed. Also the main character running from one end of the train to the other repeatedly throughout the entire book was annoying.
Typos?
Certainly no Murder on the Orient Express!

[Anne · Rating 1 out of 5]

As others have said, the lack of editing made this book difficult to read or enjoy. I sincerely hope Hillary Doan Sperry reads the reviews of her books and takes the suggestion to hire a good editor to heart. I couldn't in good conscience give this more than 1 star because of the numerous errors it contained due to the lack of proofreading and editing. I'm sorry but no book should go to print in this condition.

[Brittany · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was written by Hillary Doan Sperry who is the daughter of Jenny Doan (founder and face of Missouri Star) and it was published by Copper Crow Publishing which is co-owned by Hillary Doan Sperry. That means this book is essentially self published. The writing itself is poorly done. It’s choppy and repetitive and reads like a middle school fan fiction. I could overlook that if the story was decent, but unfortunately the editing is non-existent and the combination made the book unreadable. There are serious issues with the grammar, spelling, and even formatting issues and/or typos. The second sentence in the book has a comma where it doesn’t need one and that really sets up the tone for the whole book. Then we get on to major issues.

On page 2 we have this passage: “Working with big name actors and their egos had been a unique challenge, but the crews behind the scenes were dedicated and hard working. In the end, and the movie had worked the art of quilting into the action of smuggling information and soldiers in a way that both entertained and informed.” That’s not a typo on my end, that’s how it’s written in the book.

On page 4 there’s this bit: “He greeted Jenny pleasantly as she held her hand out to Cherry. your work.”" That is how the paragraph ends. Again, this isn't a typo on my end. The “. your work.”“ is how the paragraph above this one ends and for some reason, it’s also at the end of this paragraph.

There's multiple commas where they don't belong or no commas where they do belong on almost every page. I made it about 7 pages in and gave up when it became very clear this weren't one off mistakes.

It’s obvious no professional editing was done on this book. Either no one read this book prior to publishing or whoever read it didn't care about the quality of the finished product they were releasing. It seems the lack of editing is a common complaint looking at the reviews of the author's other books.

This book was included in Missouri Star's Countdown to Christmas box which is how I received it. I would not have purchased it and would not recommend it.

[Michele Redman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun, quick read; action packed adventure with a crazy-quilt (sic) cast of characters. 1. I learned a lot more about trains, secret compartments and engines. 2. Jenny was wise to (finally) appreciate Ron for the every day steadfastness, and to "see him"; it made me realize how lucky I am for my husband and I think of ways to appreciate him more. 3. Jenny runs a fantastic organization, with the help of so many people, I admire her business acumen, her talented family, and I like that one of the kids went into writing. I'll read more of the Hillary stories. I noticed the mistakes in grammar, punctuation, continuity that several others focused on; I didn't let that take away from the fast, light, exciting & constant action or the good character developments. I read it for what it is, bubble gum for the mind...between games of NCAA basketball (UCONN fan) and while finishing Clint Hill - 5 President's, Zadie Smith - White Teeth, 2 belle hooks.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I got this in a quilting advent box and it has been sitting on shelf for awhile. For a reading challenge this month I had to read my lowest rated book on TBR. I did read the reviews ahead and so went in prepared for the grammar. I wasn't too worried about that as long as I could still understand what it meant to say I didn't think it would bother me and I could read it with no issues. It did read like an unedited ARC but if that isn't a huge pet peeve of yours its not that bad. For me my low rating was I just didn't connect with the characters or the plot. I didn't really care what happened. But it is a cozy mystery which is what I would expect so another person may connect with the characters better then I did and enjoy it.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable read, but it really would have benefited from an additional pass by an editor or small team of beta readers to fix the weirdly jarring extra words and similar things. Most were easy enough to figure out but a few were just puzzling as to what the sentence was meant to be. There were a few confusing bits in the story too that could have been smoothed out for a final draft.

Editing aside, I liked the characters and it was a fun weekend vacation sort of book. I really felt for Ron and hope he gets a lovely peaceful weekend with his wife after this adventure. Book is three stars, execution drops it to two.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had a good story line .However I felt it was hard to follow in some of the scenes in the book. I think maybe there was so much going on that it became difficult to follow at times.

I may reread it too see if I can keep up with what’s going on. Jenny gets curious when she sees the ghost of the star of the movie who has died during production of the movie. She gets herself involved in the mystery of who did the killing and then the message the star left for her family concerning a message and treasure.

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

First book from this author & it was okay. Didn’t really start getting good till a little past half way through. Was a little confusing at first & when I was reading I felt like I couldn’t really see the image of the story in my head until later in the book. I liked how the story was told over the course of three days, it was different taking place on a train. I felt like it was hard to paint a picture of what I was reading. It really got good towards the end when they revealed who the killer was & why.

[Laura Burch · Rating 1 out of 5]

I see the author still hasn't bothered to hire an editor for her books. This is the third book I've tried to read by her, and like the others, it's full of typos, poor grammar, and confusing storylines. This one was included in the countdown to Christmas box last year. MSQC - please do not include anymore of these books in the countdown boxes in the future - it's a total waste. I love your products, but the books are complete garbage. People have been providing the same feedback on the author since her first book, and she clearly doesn't care.

[Marjorie O'Rourke · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not know there was a mystery series written with the owner of Missouri Start Quilt Company as the main character. I read the book since I was not familiar with the series. It was an okay book as it is a typical cozy murder mystery.

[Sherry · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were way too many grammatical and accuracy errors for me to enjoy this book. And it wasn't super believable either, as Jenny talked to so many people she didn't really know that happened to share crucial information with her. This book had potential but didn't live up to it, unfortunately.

[Erin Schwab · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute cozy mystery with a quilting twist. There were a couple editing errors in the book.

[Chelsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

As in other reviews, the editing is so poor that it's difficult to read.

[Pamela · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did it again. A book I don't think would make it to the Hallmark Channel. Pass on it.