Down the Rabbit Hole

Welcome to Stanhope – a safe neighbourhood. A place for families.

William Wooler is a family man, on the surface. But he’s been having an affair, an affair that ended horribly this afternoon at a motel up the road. So when he returns to his house, devastated and angry, to find his difficult nine-year-old daughter Ella unexpectedly home from school, William loses his temper.

Hours later, Ella’s family declare her missing.

Suddenly Stanhope doesn’t feel so safe. And William isn’t the only one on his street who’s hiding a lie. As witnesses come forward with information that may or may not be true, Ella’s neighbours become increasingly unhinged.

Who took Ella Wooler?

I’m not entirely sure why the synopsis on goodreads says the daughter’s name is Ella when in the book, it’s Avery. But nevertheless, this was the latest book from Shari Lapena in 2023, and I really enjoyed it! There were a couple of things that threw me off, but overall it was such an exciting page-turner I finished reading it in about 2 hours. That’s a win in my books.

Everyone Here is Lying is about a safe neighbourhood in which a 9-year-old girl suddenly goes missing. The book takes place over more and more POVs as we follow two detectives trying to solve the mystery of this small town. The missing girl’s father was a respected doctor in the town, who was having an affair with a woman in their neighbourhood. More and more characters from the neighbourhood are introduced, but all seem to have a secret agenda. The book really lives up to the title—just who is telling the truth in this town?

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discussion

Let’s Talk Bookish – Do Tropes Count as Spoiilers?

March 22, 2024March 21, 2024 Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Aria @ Book Nook Bits is the new host for Let’s Talk Bookish! If you aren’t following her yet, good check out her blog and give her a follow!

March 22: Do Tropes Count As Spoilers?

Prompts: A lot of the time, books will be promoted on social media books with their tropes. For example, a book might be advertised as being enemies to lovers, having found family, or starring a ‘chosen one’. Can those tropes be spoilers, giving away parts of the plot? What do you think about marketing books based on tropes?

Welcome to another week of LTB here at DTRH, everyone! Today’s topic is about common tropes, and whether they are basically spoilers. This is an interesting topic that I hadn’t thought about specifically in this perspective. I do consider the tropes of a book a lot as advertised before choosing to read it, but do you all ever see it as a spoiler?

In order to get people interested in a book, it must be promoted and advertised by their tropes. It could one or a combination of the many many romantic tropes, or it could be classic tale retold, or a combination of classic tales retold. Even on the back cover, a lot of other writers will often describe books…using other books! Are these spoilers in some way?

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3 star, YA

Review: A Curse for True Love by Stephanie Garber

March 20, 2024 Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Once Upon a Broken Heart #3

Two villains, one girl, and a deadly battle for happily ever after.

Evangeline Fox ventured to the Magnificent North in search of her happy ending, and it seems as if she has it. She’s married to a handsome prince and lives in a legendary castle. But Evangeline has no idea of the devastating price she’s paid for this fairytale. She doesn’t know what she has lost, and her husband is determined to make sure she never finds out . . . but first he must kill Jacks, the Prince of Hearts.

Blood will be shed, hearts will be stolen, and true love will be put to the test in A Curse for True Love, the breathlessly anticipated conclusion to the Once Upon A Broken Heart trilogy.

And finally we have it, the finale (see what I did there) of the Once Upon a Broken Heart series, the cousin of the Caraval series, coming to an end. As you can probably already tell by my rating, I was just a little bit disappointed how it all came to an end. I wish there was more explained, and in general the last book was a lot shorter than I thought it would be, for a book that would end a trilogy.

A Curse for True Love is the final part of the trilogy revolving around essentially what is the love story of Evangeline Fox, as she is torn between a real-life fairytale prince, or the feelings she gets whenever she sees Jacks, even though she remembers nothing about him. If she has always wanted her fairytale ending, why does her happily ever after seem like it’s not quite enough? And in that case, what is it that she’s forgotten but perhaps actually wants?

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