There are lots of surprises in both A Good Girl’s Guide to Murderand Good Girl, Bad Bloodbut this one took it to a whole level, providing a nonstop roller coaster of scares and thrills. I had to go back and find some reading guides online because my memory is embarrassingly bad (hence starting this blog I can go back and reference myself!). I unfortunately spent a lot of the first half of the book trying to resituate myself in the universe: who is this and why does he hate Pip? Wait, what happened to this guy? And so on. In retrospect doing a reread would have been a good idea, because-unlike in most mystery series-the events and develop from one book are critically important in the subsequent ones. I absolutely adored the first book of this murder mystery trilogy (and I liked the second), and even though it had been long enough that I didn’t necessarily remember all the finer plot points, I was excited to dive into As Good As Dead, the conclusion. This Time Will Be Different by Misa Sugiura The characters are severely underdeveloped, and the book as a whole simply has too many shortchanged or missed opportunities and relied too much on its powerful subject matter to do the the heavy lifting. Those are not subjects that interest me, but even acknowledging that, the book disappointed me. This is a book about pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood. I didn’t feel much of anything for the characters as individual, and the only emotions I felt came from the inherent sadness of the situation rather than anything Variyar brought to it specifically. It should have worked, but a lot of it simply didn’t for me. Female infanticide is a horrific thing that by its very nature dregs up huge emotions. That being said, this still could have been a good-if not traditionally enjoyable-book. There’s only so much talk of pregnancy and childbirth I can personally take before I want out (and that’s the happy kind!), and Daughters of Madurai hit that threshold in the first twenty pages. When I read the phrase “her breasts cried tears of milk into her nightdress” I knew this was going to be rough to get through. The Daughters of Madurai is a book about female infanticide and abusive relationships, and that’s really not my vibe.

Every once in a while you read a book that is just not for you.

Pull of the stars book