AW

The start of the book was the high point for me. The concept was silly but enjoyable to start but the characters never felt real to me.

I enjoyed Franny's best friends, they added some dimension to Fran. But I never really believed the chemistry between Hayes and Fran.

How in the world did they fall in love?! They barely dated.

I listened to the audiobook and although I enjoy Neil Hellegers as a narrator, I found his reading (or perhaps the book?) inconsistent with the description of Hayes.

I liked the relationship-building between Josie and Will, but I struggled with the MC ages. No way is a 28 year old a successful CEO for a popular clothing brand.

Also, everyone owns their own house, her BFF's fiance is just going to open a new restaurant in NYC... I get she comes from money but it was hard to believe.

Additionally the drama from the Forbes article made no sense. No one would care. No one knows anything about clothing CEOs. And GASP a start-up is difficult to work at? Eh.

But still, I liked it.

This wasn't for me. I love all of Alison Cochrun's other books so I expected to love this one too.

Logan and Rosemary both bugged me (they were caricatures) and frankly the book had too many references to butts, diapers, being smelly, and sweatiness for my liking.

We kept being told how the main characters feel (or felt) but it felt like we never saw it.

I really wanted to love this. I love a locked room mystery, particularly one when people are on vacation. I enjoyed the storytelling but there was wayyyy too much detail in some scenes and then entire other scenes were skipped over.

The piece that bugged me the most: why in the world was Ro allowed to be so involved in the investigation??

I just don't believe any of this. I don't need all my books to be believable, but some details are just so silly.

Alex is in her 20s and she gets a prestigious job replacing a beloved columnist with no journalism experience?

She makes $125k in NYC for said prestigious job with no relevant experience and has a personal assistant* and a private office at a newspaper?! And if my memory is correct, she has to write ONE column a week.

She has no friends or support group, oh wait, except for that eccentric group of friends she sees daily at a diner in NYC.

This was a cozy mystery when I expected a thriller and I'm a little annoyed.

A few disparate thoughts.
- it took me awhile to get into Better Left Unsent
- once I tucked in and just enjoyed the cozy story, I loved it
-the writing reminds me of Mhari McFarlane (love her!)
- the side characters and surrounding story to the MC are fantastic, like all Lia Louis books
- I think I'll enjoy a re-read a lot, now that I know what to expect

It was probably 4 stars for the first half and 2 stars for the second half. I listened to the audiobook and was eager to keep listening until about halfway when I realized I was dragging my feet listening to the rest.

Lucian and Emma had extraordinarily verbose inner monologues. But then somehow we never saw anything happen?

Randomly towards the end we find out Emma bought a house. Why didn't we see that? We already met the real estate agent, it was so odd to just throw in. And in the same scene Lucian told us about the meeting he had with his old coach. Somehow (with dual narration/perspectives too!) we missed all of that?! I also disliked the extremely brief mention of abuse. It was not fleshed out and did not add to the story.

I love all of Ruth Ware's books but this one took me ~50% before I was hooked.

It's not my favorite but I was confident in my 3 star rating until about halfway through when I realized I kept reaching for the audiobook to continue. I was so eager to figure out who did it, as well as learn the future of Hannah, Will, and the baby. It was a good ride.

Note the audiobook quality is not great. The narrator is good, but half the book sounds like it was recorded in a stadium; it is echoy.