When I requested this book I expected a recently written book about Belle Gunness. It is neither new nor realThis review can also be found on my blog.
When I requested this book I expected a recently written book about Belle Gunness. It is neither new nor really about Belle. Now I don’t mind the not new part much. It’s a re-release of a book from the 1950s but considering that it’s still fine. I’ve read some older true crime books that were very sensationalist and cheerfully mixed fact and fiction. (Not that newer ones are always better, especially when it comes to sensationalism). However, that wasn’t the problem. Yes, the facts were sometimes dressed in (light) purple prose and especially at the beginning we are told a lot about the thoughts and feelings of the people involved but that gets better. However, it’s also not really a book about Belle Gunness. It opens with her farm burning down and the discoveries of the bodies on the ground. Then it spends only a short time on Belle’s life and her crimes. I already knew more about her and my only previous contact with Belle had been my favourite true crime podcast doing an episode on her. The book’s actual focus is Ray Lamphere’s trial. Only at the very end, it returns to Belle and the author poses her own theory about Belle’s fate. (A theory that’s plausible but also one that hasn’t any more proof than any other). Now I wasn’t that interested in that trial before I started reading and the book didn’t change that. Mainly because the trial is mainly told via court transcripts. Just one after the other (with the occasional newspaper article thrown in) with the minimum linking narration possible. Sure, some original quotes from the time are good but this book goes beyond that. Often the information from several pages of transcripts could have been summed up in a few paragraphs. And then the next transcript just repeats the information we already got in the last one. It makes for some rather tiresome reading.
The book simply has a misleading blurb. I wouldn’t have picked it up if I had known that it focussed so heavily on the trial. If that’s your thing you might enjoy it more than I did. ARC provided by NetGalley
When I requested this book I expected a recently written book about Belle Gunness. It is neither new nor really about Belle. Now I don’t mind the not new part much. It’s a re-release of a book from the 1950s but considering that it’s still fine. I’ve read some older true crime books that were very sensationalist and cheerfully mixed fact and fiction. (Not that newer ones are always better, especially when it comes to sensationalism). However, that wasn’t the problem. Yes, the facts were sometimes dressed in (light) purple prose and especially at the beginning we are told a lot about the thoughts and feelings of the people involved but that gets better. However, it’s also not really a book about Belle Gunness. It opens with her farm burning down and the discoveries of the bodies on the ground. Then it spends only a short time on Belle’s life and her crimes. I already knew more about her and my only previous contact with Belle had been my favourite true crime podcast doing an episode on her. The book’s actual focus is Ray Lamphere’s trial. Only at the very end, it returns to Belle and the author poses her own theory about Belle’s fate. (A theory that’s plausible but also one that hasn’t any more proof than any other). Now I wasn’t that interested in that trial before I started reading and the book didn’t change that. Mainly because the trial is mainly told via court transcripts. Just one after the other (with the occasional newspaper article thrown in) with the minimum linking narration possible. Sure, some original quotes from the time are good but this book goes beyond that. Often the information from several pages of transcripts could have been summed up in a few paragraphs. And then the next transcript just repeats the information we already got in the last one. It makes for some rather tiresome reading.
The book simply has a misleading blurb. I wouldn’t have picked it up if I had known that it focussed so heavily on the trial. If that’s your thing you might enjoy it more than I did. ARC provided by NetGalley...more
This story would have needed full novel-length and not novella-length. I didn't mind the fact that we weren't given too many details about the world-bThis story would have needed full novel-length and not novella-length. I didn't mind the fact that we weren't given too many details about the world-building and especially how the magic works. That is OK for me in a novella. But the character development was...less development and more jumping from one point to the next. A character doesn't want to talk about something. Time passes. Now they do. The heroine is not confident in her abilities. Time passes. Now she is. But as a reader, I just didn't have the feeling that any of the things that happened while time passed would have changed the characters that much since they mainly were 'the characters travel along a road with lots of gallows on the sides and sleep in inns'. There is definitely potential in the story, the characters are interesting and if there was a full-length novel about them I would consider reading it but this one fell flat.
Merged review:
This story would have needed full novel-length and not novella-length. I didn't mind the fact that we weren't given too many details about the world-building and especially how the magic works. That is OK for me in a novella. But the character development was...less development and more jumping from one point to the next. A character doesn't want to talk about something. Time passes. Now they do. The heroine is not confident in her abilities. Time passes. Now she is. But as a reader, I just didn't have the feeling that any of the things that happened while time passed would have changed the characters that much since they mainly were 'the characters travel along a road with lots of gallows on the sides and sleep in inns'. There is definitely potential in the story, the characters are interesting and if there was a full-length novel about them I would consider reading it but this one fell flat....more
I don't think KJ Charles likes dukes very much. Which is completely understandable, but then you really shouldn't write about a duke ... Much of the fI don't think KJ Charles likes dukes very much. Which is completely understandable, but then you really shouldn't write about a duke ... Much of the first part of the book was spent going "Severn is really really useless ... mind you there are specific circumstances, that explain why he is so useless (probably even more useless than other dukes), but still he is really useless" and that didn't particularly endear him as a romantic hero. So, I really had to fight my way through the first half. Eventually it did pick up. And nobody writes "Rich asshole gets their comeuppance" scenes as satisfying as Charles, so I really enjoyed the second half. B ut on the whole this book just didn't work for me....more
This book tries to be too many things at once. On the one hand, it is a fairly typical cozy mystery: A (group of) amateur sleuth(s) in a charming smalThis book tries to be too many things at once. On the one hand, it is a fairly typical cozy mystery: A (group of) amateur sleuth(s) in a charming small town, where everyone seems to know almost everyone (and which, nevertheless, seems to have an impressive club scene). Sure, it's also a fantasy book; the town is an occult town, full of witches, vampires, fae etc. the sleuths themselves are witches, and the murders are also magical. It's also not aimed at quite the same age-group as the average cozy. The sleuths are in their 20s and there are so many Tumblr and TikTok memes. So many. Too many, I would say, but then perhaps I am no longer in the target age demographic for that kind of book.
Anyway, neither the witches nor the 'un-alived' jokes stop the story from feeling very cozy. And neither does the fact that the mein character has a chronic illness. Cozys have occasionally handled heavier topics. Sometimes well, sometimes not (I let someone who understand the topic better judge on which side this book falls).
So you're reading a cozy, and then you get suddenly hit with a ... side-plot? (or random mention? I'm not sure, actually) about for-profit prisons and how bad they are. And the main characters all have a deep distrust of the police. Police violence and institutionalized -isms don't actually get mentioned, though. They just don't like the police, because. They like neither occult police forces nor the apparent (non-magical) ones. Which are separate things. I think? At least occult towns are separate from apparent ones and have universal basic income, which seems to suggest some sort of separate government, but occult towns and apparent towns also seem to exist side-by-side in one country.
Ah, yes. Before I got distracted by the world-building, I wanted to say: there's a time and place for everything and the time and place for a condemnation of for-profit prisons, is perhaps not in a book that also features a cat-eared ghost who can't stop talking.
"I do not find myself in the way of dancing enough to warrant a disliking to it. But what I can admit to is the unlikelihood of dancing again anytime
"I do not find myself in the way of dancing enough to warrant a disliking to it. But what I can admit to is the unlikelihood of dancing again anytime soon, or ever again for that matter."
This is a contemporary novel. I am expected to believe that a modern person talks like this. I have some doubts. But...I might have been able to stomach that, but not everyone sounds like they fell out of an Austen novel. Some also recite Introduction to Queerness leaflets (Shouldn't everyone be able to wear whatever they want, no matter if it matches their perceived gender or not? - Yes, it is true, everyone should wear whatever they want). I mean, I agree, but just because I agree doesn't mean that I don't recognize when the author is standing on the most blatant soapbox. Oh, and sometimes the characters talk like a lecturer in a film studies 101 class. Because the author has an MA in films studies and wants you to know that.
That all makes a very dull reading experience. I didn't feel like I was reading about characters, just mouthpieces telling me what the author wants me to know. And the book really lost me when Darcy tells Bron (the MC) that he's gay, and Bron's reaction is utter disbelief because Darcy wears suits and isn't flamboyant at all. And it really is framed that way. I could have accepted some version of "Darcy has it easier than me, a non-binary person who is perceived masculine and likes feminine clothes, and we have nothing in common" (I would not have agreed with that statement, but would have understood that Bron feels that way). But that's not the argument. Bron really just goes "nah, he can't be gay while wearing a suit"
Thank you to NetGalley for providing a review copy....more
The plot had potential: Lydia and Gabriel were childhood friends. More than that: Before he left for diplomatic service, he asked her to wait for his The plot had potential: Lydia and Gabriel were childhood friends. More than that: Before he left for diplomatic service, he asked her to wait for his return and promised to propose to her then. Only his stint in the diplomatic service involuntarily turns into a career as spy and assassin for her majesty's government, and now he feels unworthy of Lydia. (OK, and instead of just writing her a "please forget me" letter he ghosts her, but we do not read romance novels for protagonists who make reasonable and intelligent decisions, so I could have forgiven that). But fate throws them together again...and you never guess what happens then!
Now, this could have been good, if it had seriously dealt with Gabriel's PTSD/general fucked-up-ness after what he had experienced and Lydia's reaction to the fact that Gabriel broke his promise to her, left her an old maid and even completely ignored her upon his return, but it didn't. Instead, everything is drowned in the most melodramatic purple prose imaginable. I mean
But all were trivial inconveniences compared to the thing that irked him most: smiling. Damn, but Gabriel loathed smiling.
Yes. That is an actual sentence from the book. I know I just made the "Edward Cullen called and told you to cheer up" joke but seriously? I am expected to take a character serious who whines about having to smile?
And who has monologues that sound like they are lifted from teenage emo poetry?
Gabriel's heart had flared to life, wakened by the taste of her, the sensation of her lips on his. It was if he'd been in purgatory, a ghost of flesh and blood. He wandered through the world, but was dead in every way that mattered.
Not that Lydia is any better:
So she had forged her own protections. Gabriel wanted to shut her out? Very well, let the battle commence. Her heart would guard itself with something more impenetrable than timber; Lydia would smelt it from iron, so he'd never hurt her again. Reinforce that barrier with iron, day by day, year by year. Nobody would know her heart had never healed.
The kissing-scenes, meanwhile, made me long for the simple days of tongues battling for dominance.
She was a battalion meeting his enemy siege. Their lips met like duelling swords, every touch becoming a battleground.
And in-between all of that...I missed any of them seriously dealing with their emotions about the past. There's melodramatic whining, duelling lips then a misunderstanding/Gabriel fucks things up by saying the wrong thing/the B-plot makes a sudden appearance and has to be dealt with, and then it's back to the monologuing but both are so horny that they rather jump each other instead of having a conversation like adults. Rinse repeat. I just fully expect that they will continue this cycle and if they have a disagreement about the curtain colour, both will see it as proof that the other one doesn't love them any more and there will be more melodramatic monologuing....more
This was simply not funny enough for an actual parody and too silly for a proper crime novel. The book starts with a couple discussing the upcoming ChThis was simply not funny enough for an actual parody and too silly for a proper crime novel. The book starts with a couple discussing the upcoming Christmas party and how there's always murders on Christmas parties and how if anybody is going to get murdered, it would surely be the rich family patriarch. The joke then gets dragged round as if it was Hector's corpse, with every single of the approximately 437624 characters constantly mentioning how the patriarch is really the most obvious hypothetical murder victim.
Though perhaps I shouldn't say 'mentioned'. Or 'say'. Because nobody simply fucking says anything in this book. They enquire, prophesize or murmur. If a plainer verb is used, it needs at least an adverb: people say reassuringly, ask anxiously, answer unemotionally or ask nervily and rhetorically because sometimes one adverb just isn't enough. ("But it is!", the author of this review sobbed emotionally, "sometimes you don't need one at all!", she added despairingly.)
Halfway through the book, the patriarch finally and surprisingly does kick the bucket, and it continues as before. With 4 1/2 jokes that get dragged out, and repeated over and over again with different words (so many different words! So many of them!) so that every last trace of humour gets lost in utter exhaustion. ...more
During the first few chapters, I was quite surprised by how progressive this book was for a book written in the Golden Age. Yes, you get some good femDuring the first few chapters, I was quite surprised by how progressive this book was for a book written in the Golden Age. Yes, you get some good female characters in that time (sometimes even by male writers), but the women, even the side characters, were really well-written, and the book also pulled no punches when it came to acknowledging the racism of the time and shell-shock/PTSD ...and then I realized that this wasn't the re-released Golden Age mystery I had got recently, but a contemporary book set in the 1920s. The author had simply done a great job at matching the voice of Ye Olde Writers, something that many others who write in that period don't really bother with (I don't mind, still it was a nice surprise).
The mystery itself also started off very enjoyable, but did lose some steam for me when it got unveiled further. On the other hand, what really kept me glued to the pages was how the main characters reacted to the reveals and how it gave them and the story much more depth than I expected from a book of that length (no matter when it was written).
Thank you to NetGalley for providing the copy...more
Look, I need escapism as much as the next person who's living through *gestures vaguely*, but I have my limits. I was willing to buy the story of MiyaLook, I need escapism as much as the next person who's living through *gestures vaguely*, but I have my limits. I was willing to buy the story of Miyara, a princess, who randomly and without any planning decides to run away from home with nothing but the clothes on her back. I was willing to accept that she is almost immediately offered a job. Because after that it got quite cute. Miyara works in a tea-shop, makes friends and tries to solve minor problems. I would have loved a book that is just some low-stakes magical tea-shop shenanigans. It would have been delightful escapism. But that's not what this book was about. No, it needed to be high-stakes. And for that, Miyara has one conversation that makes her realise her privilege and then she immediately goes off and fights gentrification and internalised racism.
Yeah. Escapism is great but I am too cynical for this....more
I was disappointed, when I realized that Hera isn't the narrator of this book. Aphrodite did quickly grow on me, but I still missed Hera. AdditionallyI was disappointed, when I realized that Hera isn't the narrator of this book. Aphrodite did quickly grow on me, but I still missed Hera. Additionally, Menelaus is a great despicable villain, but also the worst person to spend time with, and with an omniscient narrator we spend quite a lot of time in the head of the patron saint of MRAs, which is not the most fun experience. I still love what Claire North does to Greek myths. They're feminist retellings, that have lots of respect for the source material and don't turn the heroines into not-like-the-other-girls-girls (or women), but I still didn't blaze through this one as quickly as I did through the first....more
This is one of the more enjoyable BLCC collections, even if the "bibliophiles" connections is occasionally perhaps a bit tenuous. Is an author as killThis is one of the more enjoyable BLCC collections, even if the "bibliophiles" connections is occasionally perhaps a bit tenuous. Is an author as killer or victim really enough to make it a bibliophile mystery? But then, if you interpret the rules more narrowly, there are fewer mysteries left ;). And admittedly, most of the stories where books played a really major role were a bit absurd. Clever? Yes. Fun? Also yes. But simply also a bit silly and in large doses that can get a bit exhausting. So I felt quite grateful for a break with more conventional stories, even if it meant we were just watching an author plot a murder and it would have been a quite similar story if he'd been a carpenter.
I am also very happy, that the British Crime Library has started using content warnings. I'm of course aware that views on certain subjects have changed over time, but in some previous collections I would have been glad about some warning in advance that some yet-unchanged views play a major role in a story....more
This book had a good start but then tried too many things at once. At first, I found the story really intriguing and while not all the jokes landed, IThis book had a good start but then tried too many things at once. At first, I found the story really intriguing and while not all the jokes landed, I did find many very funny. Zagreb as setting was also intriguing, especially because I had the impression that the author had made an effort to make sure that it really feels like Zagreb and not simply JustAnotherCity.
But then the story went on and the humor got grating. The jokes got repetitive and in sometimes just felt completely out of place. Like when one of the POV-characters just witnessed the bad guys committing atrocities and then worries if his hair is still in order.
Another thing that didn't quite work were the very different tones in the different POVs. One plotline had two adult characters and another centered around a couple of children. And while the adults got a proper adult fantasy with death and torture the kids were in a YA or even MG story with some ridiculous caricatures of teachers.
It's sad because I think the story had potential, and, as I said, I loved Zagreb as setting but the more I read the more indifferent I felt towards the book....more
A mediocre and highly predictable crime story about a retired female detective who misses Margeret Thatcher and being cat-called and her ex-partner whA mediocre and highly predictable crime story about a retired female detective who misses Margeret Thatcher and being cat-called and her ex-partner who misses the times when you could be a bit racist (not very racist you see, because he's A Good Guy, but he thinks some slight racism should be OK).
Oh and a talking cat. At least the cat is not racist. Sadly, that couldn't save the book....more
If I had the non-audio version of this, I might have made it till the end and perhaps even enjoyed it. The 1 1/2 hours or so I listened were interestiIf I had the non-audio version of this, I might have made it till the end and perhaps even enjoyed it. The 1 1/2 hours or so I listened were interesting enough. But unfortunately, I have the audiobook version that is cursed with two narrators who feel the need to do accents. Let me elaborate: This is book is written in English but set in France. Most of the characters are French. I assume they are talking to each other in French, and by translation convention I get to read/hear them in English.
The narrators give all of them French accents.
All of them.
Yeah, I said most of them are French. There's a Polish character who talks with a French accent that occasionally slips into some generic Slavic, and a Filipino character who talks with a French accent and says the th in an amusing way.
This book starts slowly. Very slowly. Because each POV-character gets a quite lengthy introduction/backstory. I don't mind books with many POVs, but eThis book starts slowly. Very slowly. Because each POV-character gets a quite lengthy introduction/backstory. I don't mind books with many POVs, but even I get exhausted when I spend over 100 pages on what feels like a prologue (because the introductory chapters are mostly set during the same time and centre around a major event). I was very relieved when the characters finally met and the plot started properly. And how it started.
Wow.
Because it's essentially a "A bunch of misfits are doing a heist" plot, but it's not about stealing something valuable but about...killing the gods. I had no idea how much I wanted a plot like that. It's glorious. (Especially because the gods are just a beautiful, horrible, dysfunctional family that is so much fun to watch/read about and that you really really want to get what's coming to them.
Sadly, with such a long "prologue" and quite a lot of chapters set in the domain of the gods there's not as much time for the interaction between the characters as I would have liked. I still feel like I have no idea how some characters feel about each other because I barely saw them interacting. And really memorable were just the interactions between Zos (who is a very privileged dude) and Era (who has a problem with privilege in general but very specifically with the one Zos has) and how they slowly came to appreciate each other.
I'm still giving this quite a high rating because come on...a heist Against All Gods . That's just cool. And because I'm giving it some benefit-of-the-first-in-a-series-doubt. Of course, you'll need to set things up and spend some time on introducing the characters (but...that much? Really?). And what it's setting up just promises to be very very cool. Thanks to Gollanz for providing me with a review copy....more
This story is just not very special. There's a Chosen One who struggles with her task and gets help from a Handsome And Mysterious, Brooding Stranger This story is just not very special. There's a Chosen One who struggles with her task and gets help from a Handsome And Mysterious, Brooding Stranger Who Is Handsome And Mysterious And Who Broods A Lot. And also repeatedly tells her that he's not a good person, and then goes to brood some more. What happens next will surprise nobody, and of course I'm not complaining about YA doing YA things, but it felt so bloodless and lacked any chemistry. (It also didn't help, that while we were informed that Alessa is 18 and Dante 19, she read more like 16 and he like 30).
The lack of chemistry wasn't restricted to the romance; there were friendships and family-ties that we were told were deep and strong but felt shallow and so when the characters gasped and cried about betrayals I could only shrug my shoulders and go "Well...Shit happens I guess?"
The faux-renaissance Italy setting was intriguing at first, but nothing much was made of it (except that we got a quote in Italian at the start of every chapter...). So, in the end, it was just....nothing special....more
Kenamon takes his time to consider this. Penelope does not mind. The silence of men is a novel experience, and she is prepared to thoroughly enjoy it.
Kenamon takes his time to consider this. Penelope does not mind. The silence of men is a novel experience, and she is prepared to thoroughly enjoy it.
That‘s the point where I fell in love with this book. I mean how could I not? And it‘s not the only beautiful quote:
Oh most certainly all the councilors of Odysseus are aware of trade, but to speak of it in polite society? Absolutely not! It is something that their trusted slaves must do, or in the very worst case their wives- The great men of Ithaca are far too busy doing more poetry-worthy stuff, such as losing battles or stealing other men‘s mistresses.
Hera is the narrator of the book and it was a bit unusual at first to have a first-person narrator who occasionally interacts with other characters (though really interaction only happens with other Goddesses; when it comes to mortals Hera only occasionally whispers in their ears in the hope that they get ideas), who has strong feelings about what is happening (very strong ones in the case of what is happening to Clytemnestra, a character I admit I hadn‘t cared about much before but very much did in this book just because Hera‘s words were so moving) but who can‘t really intervene because it would lead to even more chaos on Olympus than there already is at any given moment. But she very quickly grew on me. And yes, her snark about poets/warriors/what poets consider noteworthy (and let‘s face it: men in general) helped.
It also meant that we did not learn about all of Penelope‘s feelings because Hera is not a mind-reader. Another thing that felt odd at first, but eventually grew on me. It meant that she appeared more human than the Penelope from the original myth and became a character I really cared about but at the same time not learning everything about her innermost thoughts and feelings meant she kept some of the detachedness I am used to, from (not only Greek) myths and legends and made it feel like a proper retelling of a myth and not some loose interpretation.
Thank you to NG for providing a review copy....more
There was too much going on for a novella. Firuz fled from their homeland to Qilwa. What exactly happened in their homeland is something the reader haThere was too much going on for a novella. Firuz fled from their homeland to Qilwa. What exactly happened in their homeland is something the reader has to piece together from offhand comments that often come together with explanations on the current situation in Qilwa which is a lot to take in and keep straight (now this book is a Persian-inspired fantasy and I admit that I am not familiar with Persian history and perhaps knowing more would have helped...on the other hand this world features murderous birds and blood magic, so I don't think I would have been able to draw many comparisons to actual Persian history).
Well, and then the history and the main plot are at least somewhat connected, so if you only sort-of grasped the backstory it's also harder to follow the plot. The plot about the strange plague that is, not the one about Afsoneh, the powerful blood mage Firuz adopts halfway through the book. That was fairly easy to follow, but I didn't quite see the point of it (the bits about her felt a bit like reading one of those 0.5th book in a series about the backstory of the MC who later goes on to have grand adventures).
Oh, and then Firuz has family problems with their brother who wants their help but Firuz doesn't think they're qualified to give it. Let me remind you that this is a novella. For that it was just too much...more
I did enjoy the story. I love Prague, and it felt really anchored in the place. Ilana's Oh no I want to do something different from what my parents exI did enjoy the story. I love Prague, and it felt really anchored in the place. Ilana's Oh no I want to do something different from what my parents expect me to do is not the most original (YA) tale but it was easy to understand why her parents were the way they were and didn't turn them into some facless monsters.
However, the verse prose didn't do much for me. Oh, there were beautiful lines like:
Maybe my father is still running from Prague. Maybe my mother is still fleeing Havana. Maybe my entire family is still trying to escape history.
(But if that's true, what am I doing here, drowning in it?)
But even those were a lot more about what was said and not how it was said and in a whole book written in verse, you inevitably get very mundane things described in verse and well.
That's when you begin to wonder if inserting line breaks in random places makes poetry.
This book had many problems. The first was that the characters were too over the top for a "serious" book, but not funny enough for a parody. Yes, in This book had many problems. The first was that the characters were too over the top for a "serious" book, but not funny enough for a parody. Yes, in Knives Out (which the blurb makes comparisons to) the joke is that rich people are awful, but it shows a variety of amusing ways in which the rich characters are awful. In Like & Subscribe the joke is that influencers are shallow and stupid, and it shows all influencers being shallow and stupid in very similar ways, and that gets exhausting very quickly.
For Sam and their love interest...Sam had their moments, the LI was somewhat annoying and childish, and the attraction between them seemed entirely based around sexual attraction. Which can be a nice start, but it never seemed to develop in anything more...it just magically turned into true love, which I just didn't buy.
And finally: the mystery. First, there was the interesting choice to have almost all interrogations/witness interviews dialogue-only. (Well, we get to "listen in" to the tapes Sam records during the interviews, so we get the dialogue and occasional descriptions of sounds...like a goat bleating when the interviewee is just doing goat yoga...yeah...don't ask). Yes. The detective is questioning people and the reader does not learn anything about their body language or if the detective believes them/what they think about the suspect. Because why would we care about unimportant details like that?
Well, and finally I have to get into spoilers. Major whodunnit spoilers: (view spoiler)[ I give the book that I did not guess the culprit in advance. One reason was that there were a fair number of well-done twists and turns on the way. The other was that in the introduction, the author dedicated the story "to queer people who are sick of crying over queer stories without a happy end" so I assumed that of course Sam and their LI would get together (which they did) and so would the beta couple: the groom of the influencer wedding and one of his groomsmen, with whom he had been having an affair since high school. That did not happen. Because the groomsman did it. The victim had found out that they were having an affair, blackmailed the groom (who had a conservative family and a conservative YouTube audience) and his lover killed her to protect him.
Now I'm a firm believer in Normalizing stories with queer people means queer people should also be the bad guys/asshole/villains but the combination of that introduction and the fact that this wasn't a story about a rich asshole who happened to be queer but became a murderer for unrelated reasons but a story that could only have happened this way because of homophobia just doesn't sit right with me. (hide spoiler)]...more
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