I read a book by this author around 8 years ago and gave it 4*. So, I expected this one to get an easy 5*.......nope !! I packed it in for good after I read a book by this author around 8 years ago and gave it 4*. So, I expected this one to get an easy 5*.......nope !! I packed it in for good after persisting for 36%. I rarely get that far and jack it in but I'd sadly seen enough. The dialogue just doesn't ring true for me; people just don't speak like that-and there are too many daft mistakes. Mallory speaking to Charlotte about her husband humiliating her and later speaking to Michael about his health were blunt and not in the same vein most of the conversations had been up to that point....the same conversations, I'm meaning, not different ones. She just abruptly speaks so rudely out of nowhere. It wouldn't happen as far as I'm concerned, which is why it stood out so much for me. I was enjoying the story itself (though NOT the needless Welshisms I had to keep pausing for and looking up. A translated glossary at the beginning might've been helpful as it halts your flow and it's really distracting. The Kindle translation tool itself was very hit 'n' miss with its service as well.) She did provide a list of rooms and occupants in each room, which would've been helpful if SHE remembered this herself !! She spots Michael and Stella in reception but then goes traipsing along to room 5 to listen to the TV playing inside his room......it may be this happened some time after she'd seen them both but if so it was as clear as mud. I couldn't understand why the next sentence had her outside his door !! She wrote shoe-in and not shoo-in, doesn't capitalise Prosecco or Sauvignon and missed a question mark off a question but that was it for grammatical or spelling mistakes I spotted. She does, however, have an issue with continuation-at one point Mallory has slung away a mug of coffee as it was stewed, THEN goes into the hotel and pours herself another ! Then the victim eats a chicken wing yet later it's morphed into a chicken leg, someone mentions spotting a "her" at a table but Mallory, clearly not detective of the year, wondered if one of the men at the table was an old flame !! Sadly I won't bother to read anything else by her, as it appears this is number one of a new series and I can't be doing with all the Welsh. (Something similar put me right off a series by another author set in Ireland......it is immensely irritating to have to keep looking words up.) I also expected great strides in the writing in the intervening 8 years and they weren't there, unfortunately....more
I have had to call time on this, though I did get as far as 38%, and I rarely give up once I manage to get past 20%. The main reason is the lack of anI have had to call time on this, though I did get as far as 38%, and I rarely give up once I manage to get past 20%. The main reason is the lack of any consideration for international readers. Too many times I had to stop reading to look up some American pop culture reference, till in the end I got cheesed off having to keep interrupting my flow to do just this. It's referred to as a true crime fiction, which in and itself is a paradox and made me roll my eyes, especially when I read in his disclaimer that 'no identification with actual persons...should be inferred'....really ? Cos' if the author can't make up his mind what category it falls into then I've sod all chance !! He persistently reminds us he's a writer as well, which got tedious. However, when he describes the crime itself I do recall something very similar being featured on a true crime podcast so I will take a look online when I finish this review and look up any developments if I'm remembering it right. The tape recorder reference I definitely recall...... He used an expression I found pretty unpleasant, and it was another of his funny little Americanisms...."choking on heart meat"......made him sound cannibalistic !! I had to look up red hats, AWP, clouding coffee and when Dan Fogelberg was mentioned and I had to yet again consult Google I just lost the will to live with it altogether. There were more of these but I didn't highlight them all. At one point he was dropping a signed book into a police station, stating he wanted to see the local cop in person, then on the next page we're told he plans on leaving it with a secretary ! Too many times he needed to use hyphens and didn't, as with smoky boy in the cold months or print out or about face or record shops turned spas.......painful. He also wrote sheriff as sherriff. I liked he dedicated the book to his old pal Jack. I never reached the end so I'm unsure whether he ever learned if Jack's alibi was a fiction or not, which I personally suspected. I know some publishers release American and British English versions of books and I have often wondered why but this pretty much showed me why !!...more
My other Kindle First selection of the month. It wasn't too frightful but dragged for me as lots of it was quite repetitive stuff about Vee and her thMy other Kindle First selection of the month. It wasn't too frightful but dragged for me as lots of it was quite repetitive stuff about Vee and her thoughts about her family. For me, not everything was left tied up in a neat bow, either. However, there is a 2nd book in the series so perhaps things get picked up again. It isn't for me, though.....I found myself loathe to reopen it a few times as it really didn't keep me properly gripped. I guessed what was happening here and there but as usual had it all wrong ! I did struggle to believe a 12 year old girl could keep secrets as well !! I've been one myself and that weren't happening !! Plus Vera was a seasoned copper and I thought she was exceedingly dense at times. I really liked this little passage, "A reminder that sometimes things and people need a reason to stay. A little something to hold them in place." There were odd errors here 'n' there-powers that be needs hyphenation, as did sh*t faced and low crawl, question marks were missed where they were warranted, she wrote crape not crepe, collapsedm is self-explanatory but got through the editing process (!!), we had ping not pang, tittered not teetered (but got it right further in) and there were also apostrophe mistakes.....not good. So it wasn't horrific but I am not interested enough to bother with book 2....more
No, no, no, no, no !!!! Not for me in the least......I downloaded this as my first choice of two this month from Kindle First. I spotted the author wrNo, no, no, no, no !!!! Not for me in the least......I downloaded this as my first choice of two this month from Kindle First. I spotted the author writes for teens and younger folk than myself but that doesn't usually matter. However.....Madelyn was moving house and her pal Syzygy was moving some of furniture for her and she writes, "...judging by their last few texts, they were at least half an hour away...." I assumed there was more than one pal coming and let that go. Then on page 30 Syzygy decided to stay over that night, since THEY were too tired to drive and I realised that this is one of those pronoun abominations I am sitting through. Well, I'm not prepared to. It's utter tripe, in my opinion, it's not edgy and it is not clever. It's nonsensical drivel !! She overdid the quotations at the very start as well, I thought. I then made a note 9 pages in when something's referred to as "vaguely racist" that someone was clearly hunting for something to be offended by, which irritated me. She doesn't capitalise French, either..... So I'm done. It makes no sense whatsoever and just makes the author sound like she didn't graduate 6th grade !! It has to be awful for me to only give 1*, trust me, but I'm not going along with this mental nonsense....more
What a shame.....I last read a book by this author some half a dozen years ago now, and marked it down a star due to poor editing and too many mistakeWhat a shame.....I last read a book by this author some half a dozen years ago now, and marked it down a star due to poor editing and too many mistakes for my liking. I was sure in the intervening years that things would only have improved so I was confident enough to buy another....never again !! The worst thing of all is the persistence of getting her own characters' names wrong !! Even if this happens ONCE in a book, it's enough to make me see red and I will hack off a star, but in this book it happened too many times for me to bother to count.....and I was furious !! She still hasn't mastered the art of using commas, either (...'she was already miles ahead of Emma in her opinion' being one of those sentences deemed senseless for the lack of correct punctuation). To say I was disappointed is a gross understatement. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the story (as I did the other I read by her) but when I'm paying for something it had better be up-to-snuff or else !! And this just isn't. Presentation for me matters just as much. It's certainly on-trend with kids and their social media goings-on these days. I'm so pleased I don't have children as it's a real minefield out there. I really enjoyed how she kept us guessing as to which girl was more injured as well. That was cleverly done. She can weave an intriguing tale for sure. (I did have to wonder where kids manage to drum up cat pee to sling at each other, however !!!) Sadly, it's ruined for me, though, for the sake of a decent proofreading exercise...She doesn't capitalise ok for some reason, off kilter warranted hyphenation, as did slut dropping and me time. There were apostrophe mistakes, missed question marks, words missed in sentences...she asks at one point, "Could someone have lost weight in one night ?" when she'd not seen him for over a week so that was a senseless remark altogether. Botox and Prosecco need capitalising, she wrote crackling not cracking.......nightmare !! But to be writing Sophia and not Emma (twice on one page at one point) then Lisa and not Sophia, I think it was, also more than once is unforgivable !! And for nobody to spot this when checking it just reeks of a slapdash process altogether. So, a great story but an unpardonable lack of editing spoilt it for me and I won't buy anymore by her. ...more
This isn't for me. I have got as far as 8% but have now given up. It's set back in the 1940s and the olde worlde language and attitudes I'm strugglingThis isn't for me. I have got as far as 8% but have now given up. It's set back in the 1940s and the olde worlde language and attitudes I'm struggling with, really......I reached a passage where Shannon's ruminating on being the troublesome member of their family and the example she uses to illustrate this is picking up a mouse as a kid......I fear it's all a little TOO innocent for my liking !! Plus, I've had this on my Kindle a couple of years now and I think, because of the cover photo, I have always had it in my head that it was a true story !! I read in the preamble that it's based on real-life but that disappointed me as it wasn't the book I'd been expecting. I was just googling the word cretin as it's used in the book as a road name-Cretin Avenue-but I can't see a differing meaning than how we use it over here in the UK so that's a bit odd ! I have given it 2* because I didn't happen upon any mistakes by the time I gave up, which is nice to see, but it's just a little too pedestrian for my liking....more
Sorry but this was not 'a gripping read' for me as advertised. I packed it in at 24% for one reason only, in the main. The author's persistent (and hiSorry but this was not 'a gripping read' for me as advertised. I packed it in at 24% for one reason only, in the main. The author's persistent (and highly irritating) habit of adding a bracketed remark after almost every other sentence !! Yes, some were smart little asides but most of them just interrupt your flow (and distract you from the actual sentence itself and I can't be doing with them !!) See what I mean ? Even on page 1 I highlighted a sentence where the mother of the home mentioned her kids getting up and asking her if she'd slept well....they're 9 and 7, I think she said, but I have never heard a child of ANY age asking their parents if they slept well. To me that is cobblers ! Then a little further in she was discussing wedding vows and mentioned her English students being familiar with this Anglo-Saxon tradition.....like she was maybe writing in 2300 or something ! I couldn't warm to our "heroine" of the story at all. Seems she lies. A lot-I have no time for liars myself. And yes, I know it's fiction but in order to enjoy the story you at least need to be on the side of the leading character in some small way and I wasn't on board with her in the least. This book was shortlisted for a crime fiction dagger so that's why I took a punt and actually paid for it but sadly it isn't for me....more
I had a few free downloads on my Kindle courtesy of this author so thought it was time I got round to one !! However, I was a bit disappointed. Some oI had a few free downloads on my Kindle courtesy of this author so thought it was time I got round to one !! However, I was a bit disappointed. Some of the writing, particularly the dialogue, I found didn't ring true enough for me. It just didn't "sound" genuine, like people really speak. Then I see that on the series I chose to read that there's only one further book !! So it seems it's not really worth getting that since that's the lot. I liked the characters and would've probably carried on with the series to learn how they progress but I won't bother starting another of her series...... We never learned why there were Chinese symbols left on the bodies, which I found a bit odd. Why bother mentioning them in the first place ? Then a policewoman called Alice was mentioned a couple of times and it turns out her name was actually Alison.....properly sloppy. Then a character was referred to as Mark near the end when he'd been known under another name to the character......and said character hadn't been told his real name. Again, sloppy. A family in witness protection are mentioned in the story but not all the members of the family had their names changed which I would think wouldn't be the case, either. Figure hugging, stone walled and drug induced lost hyphens, apostrophes were dropped here and there along with speechmarks. Off the back of this one, I won't try another by this author. I was interested enough to finish this, though....more
This was a Kindle First choice but just not for me at all. I skimmed other reviews before embarking on it and saw many had referred to the excess of pThis was a Kindle First choice but just not for me at all. I skimmed other reviews before embarking on it and saw many had referred to the excess of poetic language as such and wondered then if it was going to be my sort of thing.....however, the synopsis sounded right up my street so I gave it a go.... But even the chapter heading are WAY over-the-top with their flowery titles.....they remind me of Russell Brand. Uses a heap of "big" words but manages to sound like he hasn't a clue how to use them in context or even if HE really understands the stuff he comes out with !! Such as, 'Mountains with deep pockets' or 'The rattled lines of rotted wood'. They just succeeded in making me roll my eyes in exasperation. Even on the first page I read this passage, "Down the black road comes a boyish call, tossed between the mouths of men like howling wolves" and I was already irritated. I just left the note, 'For real ?' Then the second page gave us, "....a crooked little cross atop it bends like an acrobat prepared to fly". It's like every noun she uses has to have its own little sub-description and less is definitely more in this case !! I knew right there and then that I was going no further as I can't be wading through all that needlessly prosaic guff. Makes the experience WAY too heavy-going, I'm afraid. So if you're a fan of all that flowery, descriptive stuff I recommend you fill your boots but I'm way too black 'n' white for all that myself. I gave it an additional star as I hadn't happened upon any spelling nor grammatical mistakes by the time I gave up on it, plus I feel a tad mean not giving it a proper chance, but I just can't be doing with it.
This goes back to my October Kindle First download....I rarely get as far as 50% in and jack a book in but I have here.... I highlighted her dedicationThis goes back to my October Kindle First download....I rarely get as far as 50% in and jack a book in but I have here.... I highlighted her dedication at the start as I thought that was a very sweet one. Then my next highlight was the daughter of the story's name-Dylan !! Who calls a girl Dylan ?? So that caught me off-guard each time I got to it.... Yes, the book is written by a sporting journalist but I didn't think that mattered much. However, I know nothing or have any iota of interest in basketball and that featured, so that made me lose interest somewhat. Almost every character has themselves a Grateful Dead T-shirt as well-must've been a run on them ! I did not for one minute believe a newspaper would've printed verbatim what Kate said to earn her suspension......so that didn't ring true for me and I finally packed it in after Kate had left Mia's home without asking why she'd omitted to tell her something. For starters, she's a woman, PLUS she's supposed to be a journalist. It wouldn't happen. So that was my call-it-a-day moment, I'm afraid. Too far-fetched to believe. She persisted in writing Robbinses' or Robbins's when it would've been better and way less messy to just write Robbins' each time. Her editor needs a slap ! Cabernet needed capitalising, cords ought to be chords, I spotted some hyphen, apostrophe and comma mistakes, too. I loved the cover, I must say, though. I don't think I'll pick up another by her but only as I have no interest in basketball in the least. American readers will probably get on with it way better....more
I downloaded this as one of my Kindle First choices but I'm calling time at 21% in, I'm afraid. It just isn't for me. She tends to use a lot of needlesI downloaded this as one of my Kindle First choices but I'm calling time at 21% in, I'm afraid. It just isn't for me. She tends to use a lot of needless buzz-wordy sort of speech, like "if perception is reality, then perception is also reality" which, to me, is just a lot of old guff. Then we hear about a transgender woman and her pronouns, which just causes me to roll my eyes at the absolute mentality surrounding us these days. This sort of talk a decade ago would have (rightfully) seen you sectioned for your own good. Her character Bhavna comes across as a total cow and I didn't really find myself that drawn to any of the other women.....perhaps the nicest one was the one who killed herself, sadly. Then we have a sentence about one of the women being triggered....another new little saying that is all over the place and is just a load of old codswallop to me. I reached this sentence, "These were not lies but dressed-up truths" and I made the note, "No, they're lies and this lot are a bunch of self-serving nits" and that was me done with it. I don't think it's wise for authors to be jumping on all this woke, virtue-signalling nonsense because they're all going to look pretty dumb in a decade or less, if we stop losing our minds, when we once more regain a collective commonsense....more
I have a few books by this author I've either bought or got on free downloads so thought it high time I finally read one !! Till I got halfway throughI have a few books by this author I've either bought or got on free downloads so thought it high time I finally read one !! Till I got halfway through I was enjoying it but then I don't know what happened but it's like someone else started to write it for her instead. The things her characters suddenly said or did were just totally unbelievable and didn't ring true in the least. Like a DA's receptionist would describe visitors as cranks. Then a social worker makes a home visit but upon being offered a drink says she's not there for refreshments and then proceeds to touch her client's bedsheets and lift her jewellery from its box !!! Just wouldn't happen.....her neighbour suddenly altered character altogether and became this awful, sarcastic, unpleasant piece of work, when she hadn't been at all till this point. Keely panicked abut Abby being at dog eye-level, yet the previous day she had been crawling around with the dogs and in their food bowls. It was really very odd indeed and put me off altogether. I reached 54% and a psychiatrist had prescribed mood elevators to Keely's son without her being present or giving her consent and I finally called it a day. It was like the author perhaps packed in writing this for 6 months then picked it up again but forgot the characters she had created altogether so gave them all revised personalities !! At one point Keely was considering the price of a bracelet and thinking she may need to sell it...then when she was in the jeweller's she is saying she'll treasure it forever...... There's a note right at the beginning that states the book's written in British English, which I found a little odd as it's set in the States.....but it ISN'T......we had the usual realized or criticizing, etc......so that was quite peculiar altogether as well. I made mention 15% in of being cheesed off at hearing how often homework was referred to and it happened again and again. Most tiresome. It ended up being THE most overused word in the book for me ! I have always wondered why Americans capitalise the word Realtor and looked it up this time out of interest and apparently it's a trademark !! Who knew ! I did spot a few errors...speechmarks where nobody was talking and a comma used not a fullstop and writing leaped not leapt......another American way of writing I notice they do a lot. As I already mentioned, the story was intriguing but was sadly ruined by the dialogue halfway through. It's a rare thing I give up on a book this far in, I have to say. I will try one of the others by her I've bought and just hope it isn't set out quite as strangely....more
Sadly this one isn't for me at all.....I wasn't aware it was a wokey type tale at all when I bought it. Then when I saw the quote from Jo Cox at the sSadly this one isn't for me at all.....I wasn't aware it was a wokey type tale at all when I bought it. Then when I saw the quote from Jo Cox at the start I just rolled my eyes......I don't go along with slinging open our borders to half the world, I'm afraid, and I was a fervent Brexiteer !! However, I still considered giving it a chance. But as I've referred to before she sets her stories up north and persists in writing "northern" and how they speak constantly dropping the from sentences.....so we get 'in street' or 'on safe' or 'down pit.' There's really no need for it and it just detracts and distracts from the story for me altogether. I finally packed it in at only 11%. Authors set books from all over the place but don't write in the particular accents so nobody has a clue what they mean. Only one I can think of in recent years I've picked up. I think it was Brian McGilloway, who set his in Northern Ireland, I believe...(it's been a while)......and I had to pack that set of stories in for the same reason. I have read 3 by this author before this one. Two were 5* but one 3* so she's a little bit hot and cold for me, anyway. I think I will call it a day with this one, however....more
Sorry but I can't get along with this. I'm not finding it believable enough to hold my interest. The lead character is a patent mess and I can't be doSorry but I can't get along with this. I'm not finding it believable enough to hold my interest. The lead character is a patent mess and I can't be doing with her at all. I just don't have the patience with nitwits like her. We're to believe she invites a perfect stranger into her home, then jumps down her throat at EVERY slightly personal comment, question or observation this stranger makes, like a paranoid nutcase. Then in the next breath she's spilling all hers AND her sister's personal, private lives to her !! It wouldn't happen, unless you're a proper headcase or drunk. Either could be the truth here and either way, I've spent enough time on the idiot !! I did laugh aloud at the conversations and the humour between her and her husband. I liked that and I loved Marley and that she's a doggy person (though I feared for him in equal parts having landed up with Annie). I only spotted 1 mistake before I called time at 18% in and that was that she didn't capitalise French. Oh, and she spoke about her mother in the present tense, which threw me, as I had thought her mum had died. I even flicked back to see if I'd misunderstood-I hadn't. On the plus side, she needs to retain this cover as it's lovely. ...more
I read a book by this author 3 years ago and really enjoyed it, though it did get a little farfetched and had a few too many errors for my liking. It I read a book by this author 3 years ago and really enjoyed it, though it did get a little farfetched and had a few too many errors for my liking. It was written before this one, shockingly, as this story is beyond ridiculous and has more errors !! So she has taken a wrong turn somehow perhaps with her editor or proofreader ? I reached 30% and called it a day. The first thing I noticed was her mentioning Buster the cat and referring to him as him but then suddenly as it !! I didn't like that. We're to believe this missing son rocks back up and she doesn't even let the police or FBI know !! Then Yvonne thinks to herself that she should have "told Luke to bring Joseph over," Luke being another parent....TOLD Luke.....I think not !! Also, she wrote this sentence as, "I would have told Luke to keep bring Joseph over instead" so it was wrong on more than one level. Then, "I've taken a seat across him" losing from and, "When I got back from the hairdresser earlier, he sat in my kitchen," THEN, "It's noon a weekday and surprisingly busy" dropping yet other words from sentences !! Sloppy in the extreme. Almost there smile needed hyphenating, as did sand blond woman, redden should be reddens, look should be looking and why was written as wht and NOBODY spotted this (??) and I gave up. I'd seen enough. Remember this lot occurred only 70 pages in and there were a further 176 to wade through and I wasn't prepared to, I'm afraid. Yvonne herself comes across as a neurotic nitwit, who is clearly going to excuse Gabe's delightful behaviour.....the conversation she has with her psychologist friend about whether she has Febreze available was jawdropping as well ! I had another downloaded by her-Cuckoo Uncaged but reading the synopsis it carries on from this trilogy but is badged as number 1 in a new series. So you need to avoid reading THAT book's description if you plan on sticking with this series as it has spoilers !! Bit of a dumb thing to do as well by the publisher. I'm deleting it, anyway. I can't stand to be around this idiot example of a parent any longer !...more
I usually love this author's books and only downloaded this as it carried on from Every Breath You Take......only it doesn't. It sort of runs alongsidI usually love this author's books and only downloaded this as it carried on from Every Breath You Take......only it doesn't. It sort of runs alongside so I already know the ending. A bit of a con, really. She'd have done better to revisit EBYT and include all of this and do a reissue as it just confuses things altogether !! I see she has issued both stories in one edition but still as separate stories which makes no sense. All I spotted wrong before I packed it in at 33% was a missed apostrophe so that was good going. But it is spoiled for me. I can't even advise you to read this THEN Every Breath You Take cos' it will still be a spoiler, but then for the other book. I really don't understand what possessed her to do this. If someone advised her she needs to fire them. Her stories are good, though, so I will stick with her, but not when it comes to these daft ideas !!...more
Dear, oh dear......a new author to me and I paid for this book as it sounded right up my street. The story WAS, as it turned out but she acknowledges Dear, oh dear......a new author to me and I paid for this book as it sounded right up my street. The story WAS, as it turned out but she acknowledges three people by name taking care of editing and proofing and they need stringing up !! The presentation nearly had me throwing in the towel around 60% in, where I considered I had to stick it out as I'd come too far and again around 80%.....I was just so distracted and irritated by highlighting mistakes the whole way through, till it ruined the whole experience for me. I wanted to read Stalker by her as well but won't be now, I'm afraid......it was written before this one so therefore I'd imagine it to be in a poorer state than this one. I did enjoy the story, though I despised our leading lady with a passion. All she does is DRINK and drink and drink.......pretty much each and every spare minute she gets she's slinging wine down her neck. Then wonders why she makes so many pisspoor decisions !! There were moments of levity that made me giggle here and there which I liked. We did get told three or four times that Simon's house was ruined by his tarmacked drive, though..... These mistakes, though.......commas for starters. Plonked into sentences where they're not needed or in place of fullstops where she should be starting new sentences. This happened a lot. Then dropped where they ARE warranted. Of all those women she acknowledged, at least one of them should have a clue how to utilise them properly ! Also, there are apostrophe issues, mostly where they're not getting used. Sentences like this, "I hated the quiet, from what had been a bustling home, life had withdrawn from it." Awful English, terrible use of punctuation altogether. Same goes for this passage, "Ryan was the more troublesome one, when he wasn't playing Xbox and ventured out with his friends, he'd come home stinking of weed, red-eyed and spaced out." This sentence either needs to lose 'but also' or 'too'...."....but also the introduction of a new girlfriend too." Then this sentence is self-explanatory, "Was he was leaving ?" Many times questions were asked with no question marks used. She persistently wrote text and not texted, too. We had sloped not slopped, cut and dry not cut and dried, lent not leant (which made me gasp), heckles not hackles, a blaze not ablaze, omission not admission and peaking not peeking !! As you can see, this is in a total mess.....it never ceases to amaze me that after doing the really hard job of writing a book that someone will not get it checked out properly before publishing. Though, in fairness, this author had three people to do that, who've managed to let her down. Thanks to this trio, I won't be reading another by her....more
Oh dear.....I downloaded this back in 2020 and it has sat in my to-be-read pile ever since. However, someone recommended his books to me and I remembeOh dear.....I downloaded this back in 2020 and it has sat in my to-be-read pile ever since. However, someone recommended his books to me and I remembered I had it saved so made it my mission to read it. I skimmed some reviews before I started and many state it is packed full of errors but since Amazon had no updated version to download I hoped they'd all been ironed out. Especially as the author makes a special point in his acknowledgements to name-check Rebecca Millar, who sorted out the rewriting and editing process. Well, one of them needs to check again because it is in a dire state. I am really disappointed as the writing is good and the story interesting, hence the 2*, but I just got cheesed off only 77 pages in and gave up as I'd had enough of highlighting really slapdash schoolboy errors that should have been spotted, then corrected, before hitting the publish button !! The first thing I spotted was his mention of a teacher hailing from Trinidad, Jamaica.....last time I looked they were separate countries ?? Marlborough should be Malboro, ecstasy should read Ecstasy, he suddenly writes Superintendant out of nowhere after spelling it right at other times. Then we meet someone called Gardner, whose name morphs into Gardener, he uses airplanes not aeroplanes, day-glow not day-glo, then all of a sudden inquiry and not the enquiry he HAD been rightly using and that was my lot. He keeps on capitalising words like Chief Superintendent or Constable and then doesn't as well. The whole presentation is just beyond sloppy, I'm afraid, and not for me. If this bothers you as it does me, I recommend you give it a swerve unless it's been updated after I post this review in 2022....more
Sorry but this just isn't for me. When I downloaded it, I didn't spot that it was number 4 in a series, though it states in the blurb that that doesn'Sorry but this just isn't for me. When I downloaded it, I didn't spot that it was number 4 in a series, though it states in the blurb that that doesn't matter so I carried on. However, it is definitely written by or for a much younger audience than I am in my 50s !! I rechecked the Amazon categories and it seems I'm right, as it is high up in the teen and young adult category, and also in the new adult romance category, whatever the hell that is !! I got to page 22 and needed to call it a day when there is vomit on a bloke's shoes.....no, thanks !! I've never been that drunk or out of control and just don't think it's amusing in any fashion. I'd no idea what beer bong, chirpsing was or bare jokes, either. However, upon flicking to the end I see there's a glossary of London slang. Not too helpful at the END, is it ?? And I'm FROM London but don't know anyone who speaks like that. At one point Sam was stroking his stubble beard, which I would think was meant as beard stubble but that was it for mistakes so I give it an extra star on this basis. It just isn't for me at my clearly advanced age, I'm afraid....more
I got as far as 21 pages into this and found I was highlighting errors more often than I was actually reading and I had seen enough. No way am I prepaI got as far as 21 pages into this and found I was highlighting errors more often than I was actually reading and I had seen enough. No way am I prepared to sit through an additional 300+ pages doing this. The story sounded quite amusing, a take on the old Stepford Wives idea but nothing is good enough to make me sit through a badly proofed book. She's no idea how to utilise hyphens so we get phrases written like this, "shadow of herself me" and "air kissed" and then "hung-out" !! So misses them where they're needed and chucks them in where they're not ! French needs capitalising, it is relieved not relived and my give-it-up-as-a-bad-job-moment was when she writes coupe not coup......a totally different meaning altogether-and no editor or proofreader appears to have had a sniff at it. For some reason, my version isn't the same as the Amazon 'Look Inside' version and doesn't have the subtitles of each chapter written on the Contents page, which is a shame. So, just not for me and I'll pass on this author in future....more
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