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Mini Reviews (11)




This is an older Susanna Kearsley book that was recently re-released.  It has both historical and mystery aspects to the story and was a pretty fun read.  Some of the twists were obvious but I still found it to be an enjoyable and engaging story.  I loved the author's description of the workings of a play as well as her descriptions of Venice.  She truly brought the city to life.  Celia, the main character, was young but well-developed and I enjoyed watching her grow as a character throughout the story.  3 1/2 stars.




This book was so odd.  I really loved it in the beginning, the story was super creepy and I could not wait to see what would happen next.  However, it eventually seemed to take a strange turn and the completely diverged from the original story.  This new 'turn' was still interesting and kind of creepy so I kept reading....but the end?! The end killed it for me.  I hated the ending and I still cannot believe that was how the author wrapped things up. YUCK.  I'm giving it 3 stars because the first 2/3 of the book were really good.


 
I like Sarah Pekkanen's books and was really drawn to this book because the subject (shootings involving police officers) was so timely.  I thought Pekkanen did an excellent job of showing how such an event might affect a police officer and his family and it made for a compelling read.  However, with the exception of Lucy, I did not like any of the characters.  The whole lot of them were dysfunctional to begin with (and not in a relatable way) and the shootings just made them more so.  I felt really bad for the kids in the story because all of the adults were such a mess.  I was also hoping for a happier ending after all the drama of the story and was sorely disappointed when there wasn't one.  3 stars.


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