three star review – Home | The Blind Scribe

Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you’re all having a good day today. It is the new year and I am getting around to putting up my first book review of the year! The book review is for Act Your Age Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert and it is the final book in the Brown Sisters Trilogy.

In this book review I will give star ratings to four categories and I will write a little bit about each one. I will try to keep it as spoiler free as possible. I hope you enjoy my book review.

Act Your Age Eve Brown Plot:

Okay so first I will admit that I only started this trilogy so that I could read this particular book. I thought the description of Eve was something that I could relate to and the grumpy and sunshine trope was something I hadn’t read before.

Now my actual reading of this book wasn’t as enjoyable as I hoped it would be. The beginning was something I did enjoy, with the introduction of Jacob and the setting of the Inn. It felt very warm and cosy and I was looking forward to the romance of it, which is very rare for me. However, one of the things that I really don’t like in books is when drama is added for the sake of having drama and that is what it felt like at some points in this book. A good point for it though is that it has representation of autism that I felt was good.

Act Your Age Eve Brown Characters:

Eve was my second favourite of the sisters, Chloe being my favourite, and I loved her bubbly personality and how she went from being supported by her parents and having no confidence in herself to how she is at the end of the book. Jacob is the love interest in this book, he is the grumpy character at the beginning and I liked how he was represented.

Act Your Age Eve Brown Writing and Dialogue:

Talia Hibbert’s writing is very enjoyable because of it’s witty dialogue and humour. It was clear and well structured.

Act Your Age Eve Brown Overall:

I am giving the book three stars overall because it didn’t quite live up to my expectations but I did really enjoy the characters and the dialogue.

In Act Your Age, Eve Brown the flightiest Brown sister crashes into the life of an uptight B&B owner and has him falling hard—literally.

Eve Brown is a certified hot mess. No matter how hard she strives to do right, her life always goes horribly wrong—so she’s given up trying. But when her personal brand of chaos ruins an expensive wedding (someone had to liberate those poor doves), her parents draw the line. It’s time for Eve to grow up and prove herself—even though she’s not entirely sure how…

Jacob Wayne is in control. Always. The bed and breakfast owner’s on a mission to dominate the hospitality industry—and he expects nothing less than perfection. So when a purple-haired tornado of a woman turns up out of the blue to interview for his open chef position, he tells her the brutal truth: not a chance in hell. Then she hits him with her car—supposedly by accident. Yeah, right.

Now his arm is broken, his B&B is understaffed, and the dangerously unpredictable Eve is fluttering around, trying to help. Before long, she’s infiltrated his work, his kitchen—and his spare bedroom. Jacob hates everything about it. Or rather, he should. Sunny, chaotic Eve is his natural-born nemesis, but the longer these two enemies spend in close quarters, the more their animosity turns into something else. Like Eve, the heat between them is impossible to ignore—and it’s melting Jacob’s frosty exterior.

That’s it for this book review, I hope you all enjoyed it!

blog tours, Book Reviews

Book Review: The Dinner Party by Sarah Gilmartin

September 17, 2021 theblindscribe

Happy Friday bookish people! Today is my stop on the book tour for The Dinner Party by Sarah Gilmartin. Thank you to Tara McEvoy for sending me a physical copy of this book to read and review.

In this book review I will give star ratings to four categories and I will write a little about each one. I will try to keep it as spoiler free as possible. I hope you enjoy my book review.

The Dinner Party Plot:

For most of this book I wasn’t sure there was much of a plot, but I realised this was because the author was showing us glimpses of the past intertwined with events of the present and the relationships of the characters. I liked that this book didn’t shy away from difficult topics and instead presented them in the right way.

The Dinner Party Characters:

To me this book was very character centred. Most of the tension and the mystery was because of the relationships between the characters and I liked getting to know each of them on a deeper level than books sometimes show their characters.

The Dinner Party Writing and Dialogue:

The writing in this book is lovely, clear and smooth. It also has this ominous tone to it throughout which I think added a whole other level to the story.

The Dinner Party Overall:

I gave this book three stars overall because although it was an enjoyable read, I didn’t feel all the tension in my self, I wasn’t that connected to any of the characters.

Blurb/Synopsis:

To mark the anniversary of a death in the family, Kate meticulously plans a dinner party – from the fancy table setting to the perfect baked alaska waiting in the freezer. But by the end of the night, old tensions have flared, the guests are gone, and Kate is spinning out of control.

Set between from the 1990s and the present day, from Carlow to Dublin, the family farmhouse to Trinity College, Dinner Party is a beautifully observed, dark and twisty novel that thrillingly unravels into family secrets and tragedy.

Haunting and unforgettable, it explores how the past informs the present, the inevitability of childhood damage resurfacing in later life – and yet how, despite everything, we can’t help returning home.

That’s it for this book review, I hope you all enjoyed it!

blog tours, Book Reviews

Book Review: Stalking Shadows by Cyla Panin

September 17, 2021 theblindscribe

Happy Friday bookish people! Today I’m excited to be bringing you a book review of Stalking Shadows by Cyla Panin as my stop on the book tour. Thank you to TBR Tours and Beyond and Cyla Panin for sending me an ecopy of this book to read and review.

In this book review I will give star ratings to four categories and I will write a little about each one. I will try to keep it as spoiler free as possible. I hope you enjoy my book review.

Stalking Shadows Plot:

I had heard that this book is a different take on the Beauty and the Beast retelling so I knew instantly that I wanted to read it. Anything that is even slightly reminiscent of Beauty and the Beast interests me. I loved the eerie Gothic feel to this book, it was most prominent in the settings but the whole book was filled with mystery and tension. I enjoyed the mystery and the slight creepyness of it, one thing I wanted more of was the action, I felt the story was too slow-paced for my liking and I would have liked some more intriguing events.

Stalking Shadows Characters:

I really enjoyed the personality of the main character, Marie, she is very caring and brave and loyal to her sister. One of my favourite things about this book is the connection between the sisters, in this book they are the Beauty and the Beast rather than a love interest which was a nice change, there aren’t too many books with such a focus on the sibling relationship and having a sister myself I really felt I could put myself in Marie’s shoes.

Stalking Shadows Writing and Dialogue:

The writing in this book is very detailed and atmospheric, it helped to build up the plot layer by layer. I personally felt there was a tiny bit too much foreshadowing which sort of gave away the ending before it happened.

Stalking Shadows Overall:

I gave this book three stars overall because, although it is a very enjoyable YA debut read, I felt like I wanted a little more from the book than what it gave me.

Blurb/Synopsis:

A gothic YA fantasy debut about a young woman striving to break her sister’s curse and stop the killing in her small French town

Seventeen-year-old Marie mixes perfumes to sell on market day in her small eighteenth-century French town. She wants to make enough to save a dowry for her sister, Ama, in hopes of Ama marrying well and Marie living in the level of freedom afforded only to spinster aunts. But her perfumes are more than sweet scents in cheap, cut-glass bottles: A certain few are laced with death. Marie laces the perfume delicately—not with poison but with a hint of honeysuckle she’s trained her sister to respond to. Marie marks her victim, and Ama attacks. But she doesn’t attack as a girl. She kills as a beast.

Marking Ama’s victims controls the damage to keep suspicion at bay. But when a young boy turns up dead one morning, Marie is forced to acknowledge she might be losing control of Ama. And if she can’t control her, she’ll have to cure her. Marie knows the only place she’ll find the cure is in the mansion where Ama was cursed in the first place, home of Lord Sebastien LeClaire. But once she gets into the mansion, she discovers dark secrets hidden away—secrets of the curse, of Lord Sebastien . . . and of herself.

About the Author:

Cyla Panin is an MG, YA and Adult author who prefers to look at the world through a dusting of magic. After spending most of her childhood wanting to escape into the wonderful worlds her favourite author’s created, she’s now using her own words to craft magical places. When not writing, Cyla can be found playing dinosaurs with her two young boys, watching swashbuckling and/or period TV shows with her husband and, of course, reading.

Her YA debut, Stalking Shadows will be out with Amulet, Abrams Fall 2021. She is represented by Chloe Seager of the Madelaine Milburn Literary, TV and Film agency.

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/stalking-shadows-cyla-panin/1138773828

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stalking-Shadows-Cyla-Panin/dp/1419752650

Blackwells: https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Stalking-Shadows-by-Cyla-Panin/9781419752650

Tour schedule: https://tbrandbeyondtours.com/2021/08/19/tour-schedule-stalking-shadows-by-cyla-panin/

That’s it for this book review, I hope you all enjoyed it!

blog tours, Book Reviews

Book Review: The Chateau by Catherine Cooper

September 13, 2021 theblindscribe

Happy Monday bookish people! Today is my spot on the book tour for The Chateau by Catherine Cooper, an intriguing murder mystery set in a castle (Chateau). Thank you to Anne Cater, Random T Tours and Harper Collins for sending me a copy of this book to read and review.

In this book review I will give star ratings to four categories and I will write a little about each one. I will try to keep it as spoiler free as possible. I hope you enjoy my book review.

The Chateau Plot:

I found this plot to be very intriguing, the first chapter throws you straight into the scene of the party and the finding of the body but it doesn’t tell you who the body is and then the first chapter goes back to before the party, sets the scene and introduces the characters. I love a murder mystery where it is set in a party, hotel or castle type place and then you have a limited amount of suspects so this was an enjoyable element of this story for me. This story got dark pretty quickly and that’s when I found myself enjoying it a little less because it was feeling like a thriller instead of a mystery that it started out like. It is described as being a thriller but the beginning felt a lot lighter and that was better for me than the end.

The Chateau Characters:

The only character that I particularly liked throughout this novel was Aura with her down to earth, seemingly sweet nature she was just trying to turn her Chateau into a lovely hotel but as I went through the book my opinion on her changed a little. I wasn’t drawn to any of the other characters, I found they were very well-written but none of them captured my attention.

The Chateau Writing and dialogue:

In the first few chapters the writing was a little clunky but it soon found it’s feet and got smoother to read.

The Chateau Overall:

I gave this book three stars because I enjoyed the mystery for the most part, other than how dark it quickly got but I just wasn’t feeling the characters the way I like to when I’m reading books.

Blurb/Synopsis:

The twisty new thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Chalet

They thought it was perfect. They were wrong…

A glamorous chateau

Aura and Nick don’t talk about what happened in England. They’ve bought a chateau in France to make a fresh start, and their kids need them to stay together – whatever it costs.

A couple on the brink

The expat community is welcoming, but when a neighbour is murdered at a lavish party, Aura and Nick don’t know who to trust.

A secret that is bound to come out…

Someone knows exactly why they really came to the chateau. And someone is going to give them what they deserve.

The Sunday Times bestseller is back with a rollercoaster read, perfect for fans of Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware.

That’s it for this review, I hope you all enjoyed it!

blog tours, Book Reviews

Book Review: The Woman In The Wood by M K Hill

September 4, 2021 theblindscribe

Happy Saturday bookish people! I hope you’re all having a great start to your weekend. Today is my stop on the book tour for The Woman In The Wood by M K Hill. Thank you to Anne cater and Head of Zeus for sending me a copy of this book to read and review.

In this book review I will give star ratings to four categories and I will write a little about each one. I will try to keep it as spoiler free as possible. I hope you enjoy my book review.

The Woman in the Wood Plot:

I will start by saying I did enjoy the mystery element of this story. There were many tiny clues subtly mentioned throughout the novel that thinking back would have helped me identify the killer much quicker and I liked that there were sort of two different mysteries happening alongside each other. However, I did not really enjoy the reality TV show side of it, I felt that it took away from the tense atmosphere of the novel. I also didn’t like that I figured out who the killer was as early on as I did.

The Woman in the Wood Characters:

In this novel we follow the Detective Sasha Dawson and I did like her character and how she was represented throughout, she was a very grounded character who had struggles in her public and professional lives. What I didn’t like about most of the characters was that there were a lot of things they did that never had any consequences. They kept saying they would talk about it later and similar phrases but it left me feeling quite annoyed. The situations didn’t feel real enough.

The Woman in the Wood Writing and Dialogue:

I liked that throughout this novel we got to see different character perspectives because it added details to the story that as a reader we needed and we wouldn’t have gotten any other way. I did find M K Hill’s writing to be well-written and clear throughout which made it a nice read for me.

The Woman in the Wood Overall:

I gave this book three stars overall because although I enjoyed parts of it, there were other parts I enjoyed a lot less.

Blurb/Synopsis:

Three years ago, Danny ‘Abs’ Cruikshank, star of reality show Laid in Essex!, was living the dream – but on the night of the party, everything changed. It was supposed to be an intimate weekend gathering, just a few close friends in a remote cottage in Wales. But after a night of heavy drinking in the village pub, a local girl was reported missing – and never seen again. Abs and his friends had been the last to see her alive.

No-one was ever charged, but the controversy destroyed Abs’s career. So now, three years later, the celebrity who once captured the heart of millions is opening Basildon’s new branch of Quidstore.

But then one of Abs’s mates is murdered.

Does someone know what really happened that night in Wales? DI Sasha Dawson and her team must race against the clock to find the killer before they strike again – but first she must discover what happened to Rhiannon Jenkins on the night she vanished.

Will the truth set Abs free? Or bury him?

A reality TV star becomes a suspect in an Essex murder case in the sharp, exciting and moving new thriller from the brilliant new star of crime-writing M.K. Hill.

That’s it for this book review, I hope you all enjoyed it!

blog tours, Book Reviews

Book Review: Edie In Between by Laura Sibson

August 25, 2021 theblindscribe

Happy Wednesday bookish people! Today is my stop on the book tour for Edie In Between by Laura Sibson. Thank you to TBR and Beyond Tours for sending me an e-copy of this book to read and review.

In this book review I will give star ratings to four categories and I will write a little about each one. I will try to keep it as spoiler free as possible. I hope you enjoy my book review.

Edie In Between Plot:

One of the things I really liked about this book was the way it handled grief. I think grief is experienced by many people so it is a relatable theme but everyone experiences it differently and I liked how it was represented within this book. It was interwoven with the other themes of magic and love which was done really well. Personally, I feel this book was good but I wanted a little more from the story. I also really liked the scavenger hunt aspect of the book, this is something that is unusual in books but created an interesting story.

Edie In Between Characters:

In this book the main character is Edie, she was a very likeable character to follow. I especially liked the characters of Rhia and GG, Edie’s Grandmother because they both were well written characters who captured my interest. GG’s personality created a great opening to the book.

Edie In Between Writing and Dialogue:

I enjoyed that this book has duel perspectives, one following Edie and one following Edie’s Mother when she was young and by doing this you can see how learning more about her Mother affects Edie, I don’t think that this story would work as well without the dual perspective.

Edie In Between Overall:

I gave this book three stars overall because I liked the themes of grief, magic and finding love but for me the story needed something more for me to love it.

Edie In Between Favourite Quotes:

I also wanted to share with you three of my favourite quotes from the book:
1. “I hear my Grandmother in the houseboat’s kitchen, chatting with our ancestors”
2. “I don’t love seeing ghosts, but the fact of their presence makes haunted houses, well, just houses. With ghosts in them.”
3. “It’s raining again” – this one is because of the context of the scene.

Blurb/Synopsis:

A modern-day Practical Magic about love, loss, and embracing the mystical.

It’s been one year since Edie’s mother died. But her ghost has never left.

According to her GG, it’s tradition that the dead of the Mitchell family linger with the living. It’s just as much a part of a Mitchell’s life as brewing cordials or talking to plants. But Edie, whose pain over losing her mother is still fresh, has no interest in her family’s legacy as local “witches.”

When her mother’s teenage journal tumbles into her life, her family’s mystical inheritance becomes once and for all too hard to ignore. It takes Edie on a scavenger hunt to find objects that once belonged to her mother, each one imbued with a different memory. Every time she touches one of these talismans, it whisks her to another entry inside the journal—where she watches her teenage mom mourn, love, and hope just as Edie herself is now doing. Maybe, just maybe, Edie hopes, if she finds every one of these objects, she can finally make peace with her loss and put the past to rest for good. But this journey to stake her independence from her family may actually show Edie who she truly is…and the beautiful gifts that come with being just a little different.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Edie-Between-Laura-Sibson/dp/0451481143
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/edie-in-between-laura-sibson/1138485772

Here’s a link to the full tour schedule: https://tbrandbeyondtours.com/2021/07/07/tour-schedule-edie-in-between-by-laura-sibson/

About the author:

After a career in Undergraduate counselling, Laura Sibson pursued an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. When she’s not writing in a local coffee shop, you can find her running the neighborhood streets or hiking with her dog. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and their two sons. Laura is available for school visits, book clubs, workshops and conferences. She can speak on the process of writing and publishing to audiences from middle school into adulthood. With her background in one-on-one counseling, giving presentations and facilitating both panels and writing groups, Laura brings both warmth and professionalism to all her endeavors.

That’s it for this book review, I hope you all enjoyed it!

Book Reviews

Book Review: The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton

August 9, 2021 theblindscribe

Happy Monday bookish people! Today I am bringing you my book review of The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton. I read this book this weekend just passed while I was down at my Partner’s Dad’s. My Partner always sleeps in a lot later than I do so I went down to the kitchen, got myself a cup of tea and read this book.

In this book review I will give star ratings to four categories and I will write a little about each one. I will try to keep it as spoiler free as possible. I hope you enjoy my book review.

The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels Plot:

I really enjoyed the uniqueness of this book. Although it was set as if in Victorian England and mentioned places such as Bath and Devon, it also included elements of magical realism like houses that could fly with pirate flags on top of them. It felt both serious and witty throughout the novel and I mostly liked this but some times I was hoping it would focus on one at a time. I felt that this book focused more on it’s characters rather than the plot.

The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels Characters:

In this book there are many characters and for the most part they have distinct personalities but I wish some of them had been more fleshed out, and more useful to the story. The main protagonist, Cecelia, is very adventurous and very determined to prove herself to the society so that she can be moved up from Junior to Senior and I felt that this was her motivation for most of the book (except for the end where I really feel her character was lost because of the decisions she made although I sort of expected them). I also felt Cecelia came across much younger than her age and a little whingy. The male love interest character was Ned, I liked his charm and his wit and the way he and Cecelia conversed. Also, he’s a pirate and I’m a sucker for a good pirate. Oh, and there’s also the only one bed trope for anyone who’s interested in that…

The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels Writing and Dialogue:

There’s not much to say here, I think the writing fit the universe very well and I thought the dialogue presented all the characters to the reader – also the dialogue between Cecelia and ned were my favourite parts of this book.

The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels Overall:

I gave this book three stars overall because it was an enjoyable read, it had pirates in it but it just wasn’t quite enough for me. I plan on picking up the next book in the series though.

Blurb/Synopsis:

A prim and proper lady thief must save her aunt from a crazed pirate and his dangerously charming henchman in this fantastical historical romance.

Cecilia Bassingwaite is the ideal Victorian lady. She’s also a thief. Like the other members of the Wisteria Society crime sorority, she flies around England drinking tea, blackmailing friends, and acquiring treasure by interesting means. Sure, she has a dark and traumatic past and an overbearing aunt, but all things considered, it’s a pleasant existence. Until the men show up.

Ned Lightbourne is a sometimes assassin who is smitten with Cecilia from the moment they meet. Unfortunately, that happens to be while he’s under direct orders to kill her. His employer, Captain Morvath, who possesses a gothic abbey bristling with cannons and an unbridled hate for the world, intends to rid England of all its presumptuous women, starting with the Wisteria Society. Ned has plans of his own. But both men have made one grave mistake. Never underestimate a woman.

When Morvath imperils the Wisteria Society, Cecilia is forced to team up with her handsome would-be assassin to save the women who raised her–hopefully proving, once and for all, that she’s as much of a scoundrel as the rest of them.

That’s it for this book review, I hope you all enjoyed it!

Book Reviews

Book Review: Love and Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch

August 2, 2021 theblindscribe

Happy Monday bookish people! This is the second of the book reviews I will be posting today. This is a book review for Love and Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch. I bought the trilogy (Love and Gelato, Love and Luck, Love and Olives) a while ago and finally got around to reading the first one in July.

In this book review I will give star ratings to four categories and I will write a little about each one. I will try to keep it as spoiler free as possible. I hope you enjoy my book review.

Love and Gelato Plot:

I loved the setting and the descriptions of each place throughout this book, the imagery used made me feel like I was there experiencing the location. I originally picked up this book because I hadn’t slept the night before and I needed something nice and light, it did provide this although there were also themes of grief, loss and finding where you belong which I thought gave the story another layer. Outside of this I didn’t find the romance to be hooking me in any way and I did think about putting the book down at points.

Love and Gelato Characters:

The characters in this book could be better in my opinion. They have motivations other than just the romance which is something I enjoyed about this book however, their actions were very predictable. I thought the book could have been shorter and better developed.

Love and Gelato Writing and Dialogue:

The writing of this book worked well for me, it didn’t feel forced in any way and each chapter led into the next smoothly.

Love and Gelato Overall:

I could only give this book three stars because I found myself becoming less interested in the characters and the plot the longer I was reading. However, it did fulfill my need for a light read when I needed it.

Blurb/Synopsis:

“I made the wrong choice.”

Lina is spending the summer in Tuscany, but she isn’t in the mood for Italy’s famous sunshine and fairy-tale landscape. She’s only there because it was her mother’s dying wish that she get to know her father. But what kind of father isn’t around for sixteen years? All Lina wants to do is go back home.

But then she is given a journal that her mom had kept when she lived in Italy. Suddenly Lina’s uncovering a magical world of secret romances, art, and hidden bakeries. A world that inspires her, along with the ever-so-charming Ren, to follow in her mother’s footsteps and unearth a secret that has been kept for far too long. It’s a secret that will change everything she knew about her mother, her father—and even herself.

People come to Italy for love and gelato, someone tells her, but sometimes they discover much more.

That’s it for this book review, I hope you all enjoyed it.

blog tours, Book Reviews

Book Review: A Case of Royal Blackmail by Sherlock Holmes

July 26, 2021 theblindscribe

Happy Monday bookish people! I’m back from my trip to Hampshire to see family and today is my stop on the book tour for A Case of Royal Blackmail by Sherlock Holmes. Thank you to Anne Cater, Random T Tours and Unicorn Publishing for sending me a copy of this book to read and review.

In this book review I will give star ratings for four categories and I will write a little about each one. I will try to keep it as spoiler free as possible. I hope you enjoy my book review.

A Case of Royal Blackmail Plot:

This book was interesting to me because I’m a fan of the original Sherlock Holmes novels and I wondered how this one would compare. While I was intrigued by the case in this novel, that was to do with the Prince of Wales later King Edward VII, and I really wanted to know how the end was going to be figured out I didn’t enjoy it as much as I have Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. The mystery itself was one that I enjoyed, it had various threads of other mysteries interweaved in the narrative. I also loved the appearance of Oscar Wilde, being an English student this really appealed to me.

A Case of Royal Blackmail Characters:

This for me was where the book was slightly disappointing, the story itself was good but because Sherlock Holmes is such a beloved character and he is known for being with Dr Watson I felt the gap where that other character should have been and it threw me off a little bit. I also felt that it was strange that it was supposedly Sherlock himself writing about one of his cases. However, it did feel authentically like Sherlock Holmes and it did keep the Victorian era setting and language very well.

A Case of Royal Blackmail Writing and Dialogue:

As I said above, I think the author did very well to make the dialogue and the writing feel like the traditional Sherlock Holmes that everyone knows.

A Case of Royal Blackmail Overall:

I gave this book three stars overall because as a book, distancing it from previous Sherlock Holmes works, it was very well written and filled with tension and mystery. However, I’m not able to forget about Conan Doyle’s original stories and it didn’t quite live up to my expectation in that way.

Blurb/Synopsis:

In Oscar Wilde’s Amethyst Tie-Pin, the 24-year-old Sherlock Holmes recounts how he untangled the web of blackmail and deceit surrounding the ‘complex romantic endeavours’ of the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, those of Lillie Langtry and her various suitors and the morass of ‘scandal sheets’ and libel cases surrounding the Prince’s court of the time, while at the same time solving the mystery of Oscar Wilde’s missing amethyst tie-pin.

That’s it for this book review, I hope you all enjoyed it!

blog tours, Book Reviews

Book Review: Death and Croissants by Ian Moore

July 12, 2021 theblindscribe

Happy Monday bookish people! I’m very happy to be part of the book tour for Death and Croissants by Ian Moore today. Thank you to Anne Cater and Random T Tours for sending me a copy of this book to read and review for this tour.

In this book review I will give star ratings to four categories and I will write a little about each one. I will try to keep it as spoiler free as possible. I hope you enjoy my book review.

Death and Croissants Plot:

I was highly anticipating this book because I thought the premise sounded very much to my taste in murder mysteries, a hotel setting, a missing guest, a bloody handprint and some humour? I was pretty excited about it. It didn’t quite live up to my expectations. I still enjoyed it as a whole but there were some parts that didn’t work for me. The tension was brilliant, it built as the story went along and I was very intrigued to find out who it was that had done it. I thought the setting and the worldbuilding was also good, I felt like I was in France while reading this book. Where I think it was let down was the humour side, there were some funny moments but to me it felt forced. It felt like the book was trying too hard to be funny so for me most of it wasn’t.

Death and Croissants Characters:

I liked the characters in this book. Most of them grew on me as the book went on. I didn’t like the character of Valerie at the beginning, it was quite the rollercoaster with her character – I liked her, then I didn’t, then I did… she was very well written and I could picture her exactly. The owner of the hotel, Richard, I mostly enjoyed following throughout the book. Things just seemed to keep happening to him and I liked this feature of the book, what I didn’t like about him was his reaction to the bloody handprint and I won’t say any more because I don’t want to spoil anything.

Death and Croissants Writing and dialogue:

As I said above, some parts of the novel felt forced to me and this had an affect on how easy it was for me to read it. Most of the writing was smooth and clear but some parts I got slightly stuck on. That is my personal opinion on the writing in this book.

Death and Croissants Overall:

Overall I gave this book three stars because I enjoyed the book but not as much as I thought that I would.

Blurb/Synopsis:

Richard is a middle-aged Englishman who runs a B&B in the fictional Val de Follet in the Loire Valley. Nothing ever happens to Richard, and really that’s the way he likes it.

One day, however, one of his older guests disappears, leaving behind a bloody handprint on the wallpaper. Another guest, the exotic Valérie, persuades a reluctant Richard to join her in investigating the disappearance.

Richard remains a dazed passenger in the case until things become really serious and someone murders Ava Gardner, one of his beloved hens … and you don’t mess with a fellow’s hens!

Unputdownable mystery set in rural France, by TV/radio regular and bestselling author Ian Moore – perfect for fans of Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club, Julia Chapman, or M.C. Beaton.

That’s it for this book review, I hope you all enjoyed it!