Diane > Recent Status Updates

I rarely DNF a book once I’ve started but I find I can’t take reading about the child abuse in this one.

So much jumping around! The present, 6 months ago, 10 years ago, all jumbled together. My pet peeve!

It’s not a good sign when you feel like the book is dragging on and you are never gonna get through it. I paused and read a whole other book in a day while slogging through this one.

Some examples: Barman instead of bartender. Her friend thinks she’s mad (which to me would mean angry but to a Brit might mean crazy or insane.) Many subtleties. I’m assuming the author is British?

I’ve had some difficulty with locations in this book. I read a lot of British authors and some turns of phrases kept me wondering at first if the story was taking place in the UK or the US. I’ve never heard of leaving milk “on the side” instead of on the counter, for example.

ubject: Reclassified as suspicious death – status: active investigation

You’re just you’re your mother.

Did ANYONE proof this book?

But Paige could still that subtle pressure.

Missing the word feel I think?

“I think need space.”

I’m 3% in and already found two errors which doesn’t speak well for editing.

Diving teams had been in and out of the water all and these two were preparing for one last sweep.

Seems like “all day” or “all afternoon “ or some such word is missing.

It gave the impression she was oddly younger, like a girl wearing her mother’s house.

Surely that should be housecoat?

A lot of ice seems to flow through her veins many many times. Is there no other way to describe menace? I’m thinking hair rising at the nape of the neck or goosebumps on the arms or uncontrollable shiver? But no, only ice in the veins.

Wow this is a heavy story.

I’m finding none of the characters in this book likable.

Obviously these women never watched Thelma & Louise! Public Service Announcement: If you commit a crime in self defense, go ahead and call the cops while there is evidence to prove self defense. Don’t make a run for it and wait to get caught and THEN try to sell it once all the evidence is gone. That never turns out well.

Book number 142 that I have read this year. Definitely the worst one! From the overdone prose in the first chapter to the repetitive “break it off” to the timeline hopping to the characters changing personalities I cannot wait til it’s over.

If I were one to mark a book DNF this would be the one.

Only 29% in and I’m thinking Jade is VERY STUPID and may deserve whatever might happen to her.

The plot kind of reminded me of Kismet by Amina Akhtar. That book also had the protagonist leaving New York for a wellness retreat. That one set in Sedona, AZ instead of LA. I will have to continue reading to see if the comparison ends there.

This early in the book and I am already wondering what the heck did this woman do????

While I stumbled upon a clue, I didn’t think all the way through it, did I? Can you call a character an unreliable narrator when they barely have any dialogue?

I’m starting to think the unreliable character is Micah, although initially I wondered about Zoe. I don’t understand why Rita as a drug addict never tried to get money out of Nathan in the past 13 years. I also wonder if Micah offed Rita to pursue a better life. These are the things crossing my mind as I read!

I’m sure there is an unreliable narrator here but I can’t decide who it is.

If you live in a Lakeside community, would you go on vacation at just a different lake?

I wonder how Hannah’s bakery stays in business when she’s always giving away the goods?

I’m on the opening chapter and already blown away by the imagery! The things you can do with words!!!

The body count is brutal in this one! Every new character introduced caused me to fear for their life!