travel – Down the Rabbit Hole

A juicy mystery of jealousy, love, and betrayal set on a Semester at Sea-inspired cruise ship, with a diverse cast of delightfully suspicious characters who’ll leave you guessing with every jaw-dropping twist.

After being jilted by her ex-boyfriend and best friend, Jade couldn’t be more ready to embark on the adventure of a lifetime—11 countries in 4 months, all from the luxurious Campus on Board ship—and to wedge an entire globe between her and the people who broke her heart.

But when Jade discovers the backstabbing couple are also setting sail, her obsession with them grows and festers, leading to a shocking murder. And as their friends begin to drop like flies, Jade and her new crush must race to clear her name and find the killer they’re trapped at sea with….before anyone else winds up in body bags.

Perfect for readers of Natalie D. Richards, E. Lockhart, and Karen McManus!

Overall Recommendation:

Lying in the Deep mostly delivers on what it promises: a tense mystery stuck on a ship with a killer. However, how it reaches the ending was not as unpredictable or compelling as I had hoped, especially with a protagonist I wasn’t sure I liked half the time. Perhaps I read too many mysteries or I’m starting to guess the out of the box scenarios far too often, but there was just something missing here that prevented me from loving it.

**Lying in the Deep comes out May 2, 2023**

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this copy in exchange for an honest review

I’m starting to believe that I read far too many mysteries to be surprised by “twist” endings. Or perhaps I just think along the same lines as Diana Urban after reading all of her thrillers published so far.

Lying in the Deep advertises itself as a fast-paced, harrowing search for a killer onboard as time runs out before possibly more bodies drop. Everyone is a suspect, perhaps even the protagonist herself. I mean, unreliable narrators are a thing these days, right?

On paper, this book has everything going for it that would lead to a deep seated love for it. Travel? Check. Dead body mystery? Check. Some romance that may or may not be relevant but is still fun to have in a story? Check. Those are all great things that I enjoy. But execution connecting these elements are just as important.

The synopsis and prologue tells you quite early on what the mystery is and who is the one found dead. Unfortunately, it’s not until almost 50% of the way into the book that we get to this point of finding a dead body. For literally the first half of the book, we are getting the opportunity to “get to know all of the suspects onboard”. I understand the importance of setting the scene with a handful of newcomers who all may have a (hidden) motive against the person who ends up dying. But 50% of the book just seems largely too long for that.

It’s also not helpful that I found our protagonist, Jade, not super likable. While I empathize with her situation against her ex best friend and ex-boyfriend, this girl fantasizes far too much about killing them. When her new crush, Felix, comments about her propensity to wake up and choose violence, it’s not entirely untrue. She gives me “unreliable protagonist” vibes. I wondered half the time if the information we are getting about the situation that led to her breakup with the two closest people in her life was missing important details.

Once the mystery does get underway, it felt rushed. Unlike others who have read this book early, I couldn’t get into the tense atmosphere so easily. Yes, there were plenty of suspects onboard but I never felt Jade was in true danger as she ran headlong into solving the mystery herself. Any tense feelings came from the countdown to solve the mystery before the boat made port and all the evidence would be handed over to the local authorities.

For the romance, I understand the chemistry between Jade and Felix but it’s kind of hard to root for a couple when he is also technically a suspect. I also felt the feelings they developed for one another was rather fast. The situations between them were not many prior to the events leading to the murder, plus Jade was mostly preoccupied with her ex whom she still harbored complicated feelings for. I didn’t dislike their romance, but I wouldn’t say I shipped it (ha ha).

The main thing that makes this mystery stand out from others in its genre is the Campus on Board setting. I really did enjoy this. A little bit of travel descriptions were even included for London and Lisbon which makes me crave travelling all the more. I didn’t expect such detailed touristy scenes set in these cities – I thought everything was mostly focused on their time on the boat – so I thoroughly enjoyed seeing these European locales through their eyes. It makes me wish I could’ve done schooling in such a way. You’re never too old to continue learning.

As with all mysteries, I don’t want to say too much about the ending, but I will say that it wasn’t as unpredictable (to me at least) as it seemed. I think I guessed the twist all along but was hoping to be proved wrong. It will shock some people, but I unfortunately was unable to enjoy it in such a manner. If you don’t manage to guess how it all ends, I think it makes the mediocre journey to the ending worthwhile nonetheless. I will always applaud Diana Urban’s out of left field endings, though I have come to expect them. Whether the journey to the end is important to you, or the ending and its twists trump all, Lying in the Deep does offer something unique to readers, even if it isn’t the mystery.

3 star, YA

Review: Nine Liars by Maureen Johnson

January 5, 2023January 5, 2023 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Senior year at Ellingham Academy for Stevie Bell isn’t going well. Her boyfriend, David, is studying in London. Her friends are obsessed with college applications. With the cold case of the century solved, Stevie is adrift. There is nothing to distract her from the questions pinging around her brain—questions about college, love, and life in general.

Relief comes when David invites Stevie and her friends to join him for study abroad, and his new friend Izzy introduces her to a double-murder cold case. In 1995, nine friends from Cambridge University went to a country house and played a drunken game of hide-and-seek. Two were found in the woodshed the next day, murdered with an ax.

The case was assumed to be a burglary gone wrong, but one of the remaining seven saw something she can’t explain. This was no break-in. Someone’s lying about what happened in the woodshed.

Seven suspects. Two murders. One killer still playing a deadly game.

Overall Recommendation:

Nine Liars continues to demonstrate the beauty of a stand-alone mystery in this series following amateur detective Stevie Bell. A bit of fun sightseeing in London plus a cast of 9 adults who are all suspect of the mysterious deaths among their own group makes for an entertaining read. Slow at times but it picks up in places that propel me to continue. A solid mystery concept but with a subpar romance at the heart.

Continue reading →

4 star, YA

ARC Review: Spells for Lost Things by Jenna Evans Welch

September 26, 2022September 26, 2022 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Willow has never felt like she belonged anywhere and is convinced that the only way to find a true home is to travel the world. But her plans to act on her dream are put on hold when her aloof and often absent mother drags Willow to Salem, Massachusetts, to wrap up the affairs of an aunt Willow didn’t even know she had. An aunt who may or may not have been a witch.

There, she meets Mason, a loner who’s always felt out of place and has been in and out of foster homes his entire life. He’s been classified as one of the runaways, constantly searching for ways to make it back to his mom; even if she can’t take care of him, it’s his job to try and take care of her. Isn’t it?

Naturally pulled to one another, Willow and Mason set out across Salem to discover the secret past of Willow’s mother, her aunt, and the ambiguous history of her family. During all of this, the two can’t help but act on their natural connection. But with the amount of baggage between them—and Willow’s growing conviction her family might be cursed—can they manage to hold onto each other?

From the New York Times bestselling author of Love & Gelato comes a poignant and romantic novel about two teens trying to find their place in the world after being unceremoniously dragged to Salem, Massachusetts, for the summer.

**Spells for Lost Things comes out September 27, 2022**

Thank you Simon & Schuster for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

In Jenna’s latest novel that is separate from her renown Love & Gelato series, I found her usual whimsical storytelling with likable protagonists set in a location that becomes as much of a character as anyone. Spells for Lost Things is a heartfelt novel about two individuals who don’t know where they belong in this world, but perhaps could find what they’re each searching for with one another’s help.

Yes, this is a dual POV story and I was totally here for it. I loved how both Mason and Willow have such distinctive voices right from the start and it totally adds to the story by knowing their deepest thoughts and struggles both so intimately.

Mason is an astronomy lover, and the little geeky stargazer that I am was super ecstatic with all the star facts just splayed across this story. Also, he keeps a star log and I absolutely need to do that over a traditional journal. Being a foster kid in search of his mom’s whereabouts, immediately we get the sense of his struggles as she had always been the anchor to Earth, the gravity that kept him moving from home to home because they’d be reunited one day when she was ready. I don’t have firsthand intimate knowledge of what the foster system is like, but I did think his actions and behaviour felt genuine when placed in his new foster home. He wasn’t always happy or outwardly grateful but my heart couldn’t help but love him for what he had gone through and was still working out.

Willow brought some more of the lightness to the story, although her own struggles with her workaholic mom was prevalent. Her mom’s secrets and distant behaviour left Willow in search for home, that sense of feeling that she belonged and fitted somewhere. Like Mason, she too was unmoored and had a wanderlust that drove her restless to see all that was out there in the world.

That being said, while it could’ve been a really serious and dark book, the balance of fun and lightheartedness worked out well in the context of Willow’s search for her witchy ancestry. With the help of Mason by her side to decode her aunt’s clues left for her and her mom to follow surrounding a mystery in their ancestor’s past in Salem, their struggles and individual losses were brought to light that felt natural. The chemistry between the two teens were present right away. While I loved both characters individually for who they were – a grand feat as YA romances sometimes define their protagonists based on their interactions with one another and not as separate individuals – I am glad their interaction as a unit was just as beautiful.

I mentioned earlier that the location is just as big of a presence as any person in the story. Like Jenna’s previous books, Salem gets brought to life on page before us. For someone like me who hasn’t travelled extensively to such locations, I felt like I was walking down the streets with them, seeing ghost tours, feeling the 365-day year round Halloween spirit that still had room to be amplified more in October. The witch aspect of the story wasn’t super developed like other books, so don’t expect a whole system described about how spells work or their specific beliefs. This might’ve been something that would bother me in another story, but it worked in this one. Being witches is not the main focus, although Willow’s eccentric great-aunts were such wonderful gems that brought the comic relief. But I will warn that may be something certain readers would want to see more, so unfortunately I’m letting you know now it may not be as expected.

Overall, Jenna Evans Welch displayed she can write a fun contemporary story even within a more local setting while focusing on character development that made her protagonists shine brightly. Spells for Lost Things is a perfect read for contemporary romance lovers and comes at the perfect time to snuggle up with a blanket on a cold October evening.

Overall Recommendation:

Spells for Lost Things follows 2 protagonists, Mason and Willow, on their individual journeys to seek what they feel is missing in their lives. It brings them on a crash course collision in Salem, home of magic and whimsical longing. Salem was beautifully described, almost like a character itself, and it made me want to take a visit there some time. The seriousness of both protagonists’ struggles with feeling lost was balanced with the lightness that came with Willow’s quest to discover her family’s past, including the fact that she is a descendant of a line of witches. I really enjoyed the character development most in this book for each character, and their romance was sweet and perfect for any who loves a good ending. Overall, a solid read and continues to show off Jenna Evans Welch’s writing in this genre.