Helen > Recent Status Updates

‘But to devise a more plausible mystery than The Hound of the Baskervilles or The Purloined Letter should not be too difficult. Nowadays it would be rather more difficult not to. There are no “classics” of crime and detection. Not one.’

Um. That’s one way to write an introduction to your anthology.

I enjoyed this even though it was deeply confusing.

Did I enjoy it? I mostly feel discombobulated but it did keep me engaged. IDK, I might have to think about it/re-read it later.

So, a standard Natasha Pulley experience.

I have a pretty high tolerance for purple prose, but this was such a slog to get through.

‘“All right,” Zeb said reluctantly. “But can we make it quick?” It was not quick. It was a trudge outside, through the clinging mists.’

I love a deadpan bitch being reluctantly dragged through a Gothic Romance, protesting and complaining the whole way.

I was enjoying this, but it drags a lot towards the end.

My second favourite couple in the series, for sure.




Spoilers:

Still, plot threads I thought were going somewhere in this book that just didn’t:

1. Kyle’s unrequited crush on Kip.
2. Kyle and his family. I thought there would be some change to their relationship, if not a confrontation, by the end of the book.
3. Eric bottoming. They both talked about how much they wanted to do it!

You usually shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. This one you absolutely can.

From the authors dedication; ‘I grew up reading bodice-rippers in the ’80s, and this book is my loving homage to those deliciously tropey tales of pirates, virgins, and swashbuckling on the high seas.’

That’s exactly what it’s been so far. 🏴‍☠️ ❤️

‘(4) Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.
(a) Give lengthy and incomprehensible explanations when questioned.
(i) Cry and sob hysterically at every occasion, especially when confronted by government clerks.’

I think I may be a born saboteur.

‘Anyone can break up a showing of an enemy propaganda film by putting two or three dozen large moths in a paper bag. Take the bag to the movies with you, put it on the floor in an empty section of the theater as you go in and leave it open. The moths will fly out and climb into the projector beam, so that the film will be obscured by fluttering shadows.’

This suggestion may bump this up a star.