nigmatillium

(actual review starts on third paragraph)

Quite an adventure with this book. I started reading it a while ago, then I decided I wanted to try something else and left it aside for a bit. It really didn't entice me and I didn't think I'd like it. But then I went on Hardcover while planning what to read next and I saw there's a 100% probability I would enjoy it so I started reading it again. And last night I got in bed and thought I'd read one more chapter of it, and that's how I discovered I had one more chapter left.

I was surprised, really, I thought I'd get a bit more, but I guess a recipe is pretty useful (is it accurate, though? I'm kind of tempted to try it).

"Waiting for the Flood" is the definition of short and sweet. I liked Edwin. At first he didn't make such an impression on me, but as I learned more about him, I got to really like him. He was so endearing and his emotions were so raw, it was impossible not to feel him.

Adam was great too, I liked his reactions and his honesty. I feel like he's a what you see is what you get type of person and I really liked that kind of transparency.

And throughout the book I liked the metaphors, some of them actually made me melt, they were so well picked and so full of meaning. Everything together made this book feel very gentle and real. I really enjoyed it a lot.

Note: Just found out this story is part of a series, but I am not really interested in the series and I also don't feel like I missed some context.

That's left to be seen, of course, but I feel like this short side-story can be read as a standalone with no issues.

This was really such a great book to read. It took me a long while to read it because I'm still struggling with a massive reader's block, but I am so glad I stuck to it. Better to read it slowly than not at all.

The book was really great, I wasn't expecting anything of what happened and I was so delighted to have something happening and then gasping when I realised exactly what was going on, I love that for me.

I liked the story, the setting, and how everything came together. I liked the characters a lot too, and I enjoyed seeing them grow from page to page. I was also imagining them like in a film while reading so I was happy when I found out there is a film made after the book as well. I didn't watch the film yet and I really hope it will do the book justice, but either way, I'm glad it's been made.

While I thought the plot of this book seemed really interesting and it actually prompted me to look up stuff and learn things that are less spoken about, I could not read the book. I dropped it halfway through after I really tried to hang on to it.

There area few reasons why I dropped the book. One of them is the description. Without actually repeating itself, the description felt very repetitive. The description gave me the impression of a school assignment where you had to fill the pages with something, anything.

And the setting... Something about the manner it was presented didn't sit well with me. I can't really pinpoint it, but something bothered me there. Which is a shame because I was really curious about what's going to happen with Ikolo and Elliot. And I really liked Ikolo.

Another reason; there are so many writing errors. Sometimes they are really distracting, especially when I read about something that's 'her[s]' when there's no 'her', or when I have no clue who I'm reading about because the author didn't mention any of the characters. And these are just two examples.

I actually want to read this book, but not this one. The premise is great, but everything else lacks a lot.

I was in such a mood for Josh Lanyon and I liked this book, but it didn't quite hit the spot. I really liked the premise, I liked the characters, and I would have loved the book if the mystery would have been just a bit more in the dark. I focused quite a lot on what was happening in Carter's personal life and when I finally got into the uhh, spooky, wonder what'll happen next, everything was revealed. I had already figured out most of it, but I would have liked for the illusion to last longer. Oh, wait a minute, maybe that was Josh Lanyon's intention? Hm, could be.

Anyway, enjoyed the book, not my favourite from this author, but still an entertaining read.

Not the most exciting John Grisham I read, but it was good entertainment. I liked the premise, and the book did keep me interested, I enjoyed reading it, but at the same time I would have liked more lawyering. One thing I really like in John Grisham's books is what goes on surrounding the courtroom, the discovery, the investigation, the reveal of new information, conflict, all that stuff that usually manages to keep me on the edge of my seat. This time there was pretty much none of that, although I did like reading about what goes on with new lawyers in a big firm. Well, I think I read about that before, but this was a slightly different angle and context.

Wasn't the biggest fan of Kyle, I usually like the main characters, but this time he was just meh. I actually found myself thinking he kind of deserved it. He maybe didn't, it's a bit of a blur, but I can't say I cared one way or another. The other characters were the same, I might have liked John a bit more, though.

And I wanted to see Kyle actually practising law. I also thought I want a sequel, but I grow more and more indifferent to this book. Either way, enjoyed it while reading, but it feels pretty forgettable.

This book is a masterpiece, plain and simple. It feels so real, I actually looked up the characters, becoming convinced I was reading someone's memoirs, and I was surely not the only one. Maybe the characters from the book are not real, but the story definitely is. This could be the story of anyone, maybe not exactly the same, but pretty darn close. Anyone who was gay and living in Ireland at the time could have went through all this. And speaking of, I loved how fiction blended with real life, that played a huge role into me thinking this was someone's memoirs, that Cyril Avery is a real person.

I can't think of a single thing I didn't like. The characters are perfect in the way that they are flawed, they make mistakes and they are all the shades of grey. They feel very real and there are few things I love more in a book. Sometimes it was challenging to like them, especially the main character, but I stuck around. It was hard not to anyway, this book simply can't be put down once starting to read it.

I also liked all of the conversations, all of the details, the way it did not rush things. Thinking about it a while after reading the book, it felt almost like a diary, it all developed very naturally and there was no artificial or over the top description to set the reader into the timeline. Really, the way this book is written is simply brilliant.

Reading The Heart's Invisible Furies I felt joy, I felt amusement, relief, worry, pain, so much pain, anxiety, resignation, calm, happiness. It took me through all of the human emotions and even now I'm actually a bit devastated. It feels so damn real and I feel for the characters so much.

Having said all that, I still can't do this book justice, it is an experience and the only way to get it is to go ahead and read it.

It's unexpectedly hard for me to write a review on this book... I guess it is an average book, quite predictable and cliche, but in a way that it makes you want it to be cliche. It is pretty straight forward, it has a likeable main character, and the concept is quite interesting. If anything, I would have liked to read about other settings, besides the library, as well. I don't know, for some reason the mention of the restaurant really got me wondering. What would they serve?

The first part of the book felt quite depressing to me, the middle felt more like fantasy, and the end felt a bit over the top. I actually wanted it to be longer, everything concluded a bit too quickly. However, I did enjoy it. In essence, 'The Midnight Library' is an easy read, and it is a hopeful story. But after having read it, I don't feel like it did much for me. Given the concept of it, I feel like it should have been more impactful. I am not mad, though, I did genuinely enjoy reading it, and I probably would have been amazed by it to read it as a teenager.

Where do I even start with this? There are so many things this book did well, I really don't know where to start. Maybe with the characters, they were great. Or maybe with the plot itself which was engaging and thought-provoking. Or maybe with all of the other little details that shaped this book into an awesome read.

I really didn't now what to expect. Even if I would have wondered about it before reading I still couldn't have guessed where this would go or how much I would enjoy it. There is a good amount of mystery to it and I'm still trying to piece things together. There has to be something more to it, we were given some details, some snippets that someone should have put together, but yet, no one asked the right questions. That's as much as frustrating as it is delightful. Actually, more delightful than frustrating. I love a book that keeps me guessing long after I finished reading.

Another thing I liked very much is the way Bel and Daniel spoke, the communication, and the fact that Bel acted his age and the reader is made fully aware of that. I found that to be very realistic when at the beginning I had my doubts.

The relationship between Bel and Daniel evolved so nicely, I really liked watching them grow into each other, learn each other. And I loved the insecurities, the wondering, the questioning. Hats off for very well written characters.

And maybe I'm overthinking the plot? Seeing things that are not actually there? I don't know. All I know is that I have this strong impression there's more to it, something we are meant to pick up on, and that also adds a realism to the story that I really love. It doesn't feel like the book is unfinished, and if my suspicions would have been revealed it would have felt cliche. But like this? It's just how things are sometimes.

How much I enjoyed this book! Had it on my virtual shelf for quite a long time, maybe even a year, but I misjudged it and what I imagined this book to be had nothing to do with the actual story. There is a downside to not reading synopsis, but at the same time I got such a pleasant surprise.

Having barely read over the past few months and having read a historical book ages ago, it was a bit difficult to get used to the writing style, the unfamiliar words, but not for a second did that take away from my enjoyment. I loved the book from start to finish.

The characters are great, I loved everyone's personalities and I absolutely loved how chaotic it was at times. K.J. Charles always manages to paint such a fun world in her books and create such interesting and lovable characters. I won't go into each character and why I liked them, that's best discovered while reading the book. That being said, highly recommend it!

If I would have picked up a hard copy of this book I would have undoubtedly dropped it. There was only one thing I wanted to find out and normally I would have skipped pages to get to that part, read it then just drop the book. But while listening to the book, that seemed harder to do so I just didn't bother. Instead, I increased the speech speed and got on with it. And I might have dropped it anyway, but the narrator, Stina Nielsen, did such a great job, I really enjoyed listening to her.

First thing that was off with this book: Her Perfect Life is a mystery and thriller book, but it is such a weak mystery and no thriller. It's very easy to figure out exactly what's happening and nothing comes as a surprise. There were also things I would have wanted more detail about, like Eileen and Clare's relationship, I feel like some parts were left unexplored.

I don't find myself caring for any of the characters or relating to them. Relating to the characters isn't a must when I'm reading something, but caring for them is a big thing to be missing. I didn't feel any of their pain or emotion, it wasn't there for me.

Another bit I didn't like, and this is small-ish thing, but it really annoyed me how often I heard 'bitch' at some point in the book.

So yeah, definitely not the best book I listened too, but it served as good background noise while doing stuff.

There are three titles in this book's descriptions, but I only listened to Dead Man's Mirror just now. And let me first just say how much I appreciate audiobooks. It's been an embarrassingly long while since I read a book and listening to one while I work on stuff is so good.

I just thought now that October must be the perfect month to read a murder-mystery book, it goes so well with the cold and the approach of Halloween.

As expected, I quite enjoyed this story, it was a fun listen. It is short, though, and I would have liked more tension, more to think about. There is just so much you can fit in a short story, but I feel like something was lacking. Just a tad, because like I said, it is still enjoyable.

I tend to avoid first person books where the POV switches between the main characters; the reason why I didn't close this book as soon as I realised it is one of those books is because it has a really catchy opening, but also because the chapter titles aren't the names of whichever POV they were featuring. I'm still lowering the rating because of that. While I did like the writing style quite a lot and both of the main characters, the first person switching POV is a pet peeve of mine. I could go more into why I don't like it, but pet peeve works just fine.

And there are a few other reasons why I couldn't give Femme the full stars rating anyway. For one, I would have like more background on Lionel. I wanted to know what happened. I got just some snippets here and there and I feel like a lot was left out. I felt like his background was shown enough for something to be there and also played it quite safe, not really giving details. While it is nice that it leaves room for the reader to fill in the blanks, there are too many blanks. Then there's Doug who I liked, but I think he got away with his screw ups way too easy.

I also would have liked more on the side characters too. Some more background on Carlos. And I didn't really like the team's attitude, I would have expected more from them for some reason. I kind of get it, but at the same time I don't.

But I started with the things I didn't like and there are actually things I did like too. I liked how Lionel and Doug differed. There was some sort of contrast between them. And I liked the dialogue in the book, with everyone. The writing style was nice, I liked how the characters' personalities came through. And it was a funny as well. Not laugh out loud funny, but witty funny.

The most I liked the theme of the book and the way it was dealt with. I'm not going to elaborate on that.

I'd describe Femme as an easy read. It rolled out nice and smooth, it didn't drag at all and it pulled me in. I thought I might drop it simply because of my pet peeve, but I actually enjoyed reading it.

I enjoyed this book. I had no clue Romesh wrote a book until like a week or two ago when I watched him on Taskmaster, then in an interview where he was talking about this book, back when it was released. I think he's funny so I thought I'd give the book a try.

For some reason I was surprised to see how down to earth Romesh Ranganathan is. To be fair I had no other opinion on him apart from funny guy, so I don't really know why that came as a surprise, but there it is.

The book was not as funny as I was expecting it to be, but that's fine. I enjoyed reading about Romesh's journey, what he went through to get to where he is now. And Leesa sounds lovely, it's obvious how much Romesh loves her and their kids.

I don't know how much I should take this book seriously, so I'm not going to comment on the stuff I didn't enjoy; I will just say that I actually managed to stay more into it for the first two thirds of the book and I thought the ending was rather abrupt—not totally unusual since, well, the memoir is a work in progress I'd say—but I did like the pictures. Actually, no, the pictures were a nice touch, but what I actually liked was the little description on each of them.

I'd describe the book as a pretty decent read, I got used to Romesh's way of going on a tangent (the warning helped), and it is definitely a must for any of Romesh Ranganathan's fans.

The book started off really nice, I liked Xav's personality and the way he interacted with his co-workers. I thought I would enjoy the banter between them, but, well, that didn't happen because of reasons.

Major spoilers incoming, I tried writing a spoilers-free review, but it's not happening.

The investigation was pretty good. I think the authors did their research and nothing was left to chance. I mostly really liked it, it made sense right until I started having some questions that didn't get answers. The plot didn't get resolved. I mean, yeah, they caught the bad guys, but who are the bad guys? Who pulled the strings? Who was behind all of it? I have no clue.

I like how the deputies went over with it, but I didn't get a clear answer on what exactly went on. And now that I'm thinking about it, there's a pretty big thing that kept being brought up only to be completely ignored (the church). What was that all about?

Evan and Xavier's relationships progressed... somehow. Right since they first met strong feelings were implied, but I didn't feel any of them. Later when love was brought up (multiple times and I got the impression the authors forgot they mentioned it in the first place) I also didn't feel it. Most of the interactions between Evan and Xavier were related to the case, there was some steam too, some intimate talk, but it was quite brief and it could be chalked up to two guys getting to know each other. The loving looks came out of nowhere, the mutual understanding too. They spent much more time on the case than getting to know each other in a loving way. (Which I liked, but there was more investigation development than relationship development so it didn't really make sense.)

Going back to the case, I didn't really understand how Evan missed something so important as his boss being a bad guy for three years. And his pal too. And speaking of him, we do know that his pal (Tally? Wally? Whatever his name was) was involved as well, Faison called him after his fight with Evan, but there was no word on him being arrested. And what about Charlie? Why did he do it? And how did he get to do it with Faison? And, again, who pulled the strings? Faison was just facilitating things, there's no way he was leading the show, and I didn't get enough info on Charlie either way, but I tend to believe he didn't either. And why did Charlie fake his drowning? He had the perfect job to keep doing it, no one was even suspecting he was tampering with the system, so why did he do it?

And what about Michael? I bet he had a lot to say, but no one seemed to ask. And what came of him afterwards?

Ugh, I have so many questions, I shouldn't have read this book, it's frustrating.

But let's move on. There's one more thing I didn't really enjoy and that is the writing. There were so many words being repeated. When the characters were talking about the shooting I read that word like five times in two paragraphs, and that's only one example, a lot of words got repeated over and over again. Then there were expressions that repeated throughout the book. And the description was just too wordy (I saw it described like that in another review and it really fits), there was a lot said without actually saying anything.

The more I think about this book the more I find things I did not enjoy, but most of all I'm disappointed about how the investigation got 'resolved'.

I cannot express how I feel about this novel. I keep looking for words, but I can't seem to be able to grab the right ones.

I had some sort of an idea of what to expect when I picked up this novel, as we all do, but my idea and the reality 'His Quiet Agent' is, have nothing in common. Not by far.

Very well written, 'His Quiet Agent' is a surprising read. The two main characters are so great, I loved Arthur's perseverance and the silent encouragements he got from others. Martin is a quiet person, but his subtle reactions show us a glimpse of what's inside and luckily for everyone, Arthur was paying attention.

I was surprised by everything that happened, and I loved how their relationship developed. They are both really great and it makes me feel warm and content knowing they have each other.

Usually I have at least a couple complaints, something I didn't quite like, when I read a book, but when it comes to this novel, my complaints list is blank, there's none. 'His Quiet Agent' is such a nice, smooth read.

I don't know how I was in the mood for this type of book. The last time I tried something similar (meaning slice-of-life, no angst), I couldn't get into it, but Convenience Store Woman pulled me in. I could relate to Keiko. We actually don't have much in common, but I could relate with society trying to 'fix' you, trying to dictate what you're supposed to do, projecting onto you, and I really loved the main theme of the book.

I liked Keiko very much from the start, I liked her peculiar way of thinking and doing things. Her method of doing things was very logical and she had a purpose and a path. Reading the book I loved discovering the way Keiko worked. Sayaka Murata really has away of drawing the reader in and getting the reader to care and be curious about what's happening. Highly recommend the book.

I liked this book so much! I enjoyed reading about Rahul's coming of age, everything he went through, the way he grew up, and how he learned about himself. I think this is the most honest and in dept book that I read when it comes to boys growing up. This is also my first book by an Indian author and I should really seek some more, from all over, because there are so many things, so many experiences to read about.

The writing was great, I liked the way Rahul described everything and I felt everything he was feeling, it was awesome.

The palace was really magical. So big and beautiful; full, wide gardens and all kinds of animals. I don't think that Rahul is the only one who's missing that place.

While Rahul was telling his story I liked how I also learned about Andrew as well, how he grew up, how their relationship is. The present time instances were few, but packed with information.

Then there was Mallika. Oh, Mallika. I liked her a lot and her story made me feel things.

There's one thing that keeps me from giving this book five stars and that's the fact that I don't know what happened with some of the characters. I don't know where they are now and how they feel about Rahul right now. I wanted to know about everyone.

But the book is great and I think it's an important read. There are so many terrible things that can happen and it might seem like there's no way out, but this book shows that there's that little flicker of light, brighter and brighter as you go forward. Great book.

This book was so poetic. The writing style is great and it also made a lot of sense in character, seeing how Annie was an English teacher. That's one thing I liked a lot, the second being how uneasy the book made me feel after Sophie showed up. Just for a bit, before I got to know her. The description, everyone's reactions to Sophie, told me there's something off.

I enjoyed Annie's journey a lot. We started off in the middle of her pity party and accompanied her in her journey to something new. A new job and a new place. And Rowan sounds like a really nice little town with friendly people and really good coffee, who wouldn't want to live in a place like that?

But even in this new place Annie continues her pity party and she is thinking and drinking and crying over her ex so much and so often. Surprisingly, though, that didn't annoy me as much as it normally would. I attribute that to the writing, because, okay, I get it, long relationship, you didn't see it coming, fine. But Annie kept making things harder for herself, she kept trying to hang on to something that was not there anymore.

On the other side, there's Sophie, and Sophie was great. She did everything right, she tried to help Annie and make her see her own worth. I may not completely agree with her methods, but no one's perfect.

I think the book falls in the feminism category, it is esentially about being your own woman, about making your own decisions and about not being on your knees for the first man that shows you attetion. I liked that. Annie was definitely this type of person, thinking she can't ever be happy without being tied up to a man. And when Sam dumped her, with no warning, she was lost and depressed. Sophie did a wonderful job at trying to show her, to teach her that happniess doesn't come from outside. I really liked Sophie for this.

Overall the book was great. It was recommended to me by my best friend and I am going to go and give thanks again for it because I really, really liked it. More than it, I want to read 'The Return', also by Rachel Harrison. 'The Return' is the first book the author published and I saw it was generally well received so I want to check it out. But until that, definitely give 'Cackle' a try. If you like everything empowering, witchy, and don't absolutely dislike spiders, it is a great book.

In the last book of this series (I just realised I don't know what the series is called. Well, now it is called the Killing Eve series because clearly the show is better and with that name it would attract readers, like it did me, but I have no clue what it was originally called) it feels like Luke Jennings has no idea what he was writing anymore. After Codename Villanelle and No Tomorrow, in Endgame (or Die For Me, can't figure out why this one has two different titles) the story telling is changed to first person. I don't think I ever came across a series that changes the writing style in the last book and I was so confused. Did Luke Jennings really forget what he was writing? Did he really think he could pull this off? Was there anything he felt he couldn't accurately write in 3rd person?

Anyway, I couldn't get past the first chapter.

I really thought I could read this series, but it's impossible. It is so dumb. Initially I gave Luke Jennings a pass. I thought that maybe he wanted to do something here, create a certain type of character, give a certain vibe to the story, but it became painfully obvious that this is one of those dreaded cases known as 'male writing female'. I was in denial while reading the first book, but I have seen the light.

There was a particular phrase in the book that I will write here word by word, same format: "She's saying I've got your measure, and compared to me you're a loser. She's saying I can give you all the things you want - the intimate, feminine, super-expensive things - but can't have. It is a woman-to-woman thing."

After reading that, Mr. Luke Jennings, what the fuck are you on?

Besides this painful fact, the book is unreadable because of one other reason: the plot is so plain and the dialogue is so stiff. While the plot has nothing clever about it, the dialogue also dumbs it down, I felt insulted.

I am grateful to Luke Jennings for coming up with the idea and inspiring the Killing Eve TV show, but this is all I can be happy about because the book series itself is trash.

I don't think I would have wanted to watch the TV show, Killing Eve, if I would have read the book first. I have a dilemma now. I didn't particularly like the ending of the TV show and I wanted to read the book ending, but the book is surprisingly disappointing.

I liked Villanelle way more in the show. The book tries to portray her as a psychopathic assassin, but the show did that so much better. There's a lot more context to Villanelle in the book and somehow that takes away from her. There's also a lot of sex going on, not explicit, but I really don't see the point of it.

The Eve from the TV show and the one from the book resemble each other better so far, but I'm afraid a discrepancy is incoming. But before that, I liked that she's changing slowly and smoothly.

The book is not gripping, I didn't find myself wanting to find out more, I really only want to read because so far it has been so different from the TV show and I wonder what else I could find out about everyone and everything.

I'm going to try the next book as well, but at this point I am expecting to drop the series. Maybe I'll just go ahead and read the last book only, despite the fact that there are quite a few characters that did not exist in the series and vice-versa and I might not understand exactly what's happening.

Edit: Or I'll just read the whole series as I just figured out there are two books left, three total. The series is so confusing, I thought there were six books.

Edit2: I initially rated this book 2 stars, I did that only because of the show, but it really doesn't deserve the 2 stars, so I'm lowering the rating.

As much as I like Barbara Elsborg's novels, this one didn't quite hit the spot. There was less anxiety than I was expecting (I might just be used to it at this point, don't know) and I didn't fall for the characters like I usually do.

Tyler is the typical Barbara Elsborg character: he has a dark past, he is struggling and only needs a little bit of love. I liked him, I don't blame him for his choices, and while reading I hoped things will turn out well for him.

I liked Haris at first too, he seemed like the perfect guy for Tyler and I was actually glad things didn't evolve between Tyler and Jeremy. But then Haris started acting like a moron and I started liking him less and less. He was such a prat I don't think I can forgive him. I also don't trust he's not going to make the same mistakes again. These are just some vague examples of why I didn't like Haris, there are a few more things that I'm not going to list.

I thought Wilson was really great, the best sidekick anyone could ever ask for. He was funny, I didn't get the impression he had a lot of fucks to give, and he also liked dogs. I definitely liked him more than I liked Haris.

Moving along to whatever went down, Barbara Elsborg managed once again to construct a catchy plot, to keep her readers glued to the book, wanting to find out what's going to happen next and who is plotting what. (I hope it's not just me.) From that point of view, I enjoyed the story a lot, but there were also parts I would have liked explored. After I finished the book I checked to see if there is a sequel, I feel like there are quite some things left to be said about Tyler and Haris's relationship, they (meaning Haris) still have work to do.

Overall the novel is okay. Not my favourite Barbara Elsborg, but I'm definitely not upset about it either.

I really tried to read this book and I thought I will, but I dropped it somewhere in chapter 11, that's almost 50% of the novel. I think that is the longest I read a book before dropping it.

The first thing that kind of bothered me was Micah's eyes. There's nothing wrong with them, but I got the colour the first five or so times I read 'baby blues'. That description didn't work for me because I imagined one solid, unsettling block of blue as his eye colour. At some point I replaced it in my mind with 'bright blue'.

Then, when it came to the main characters' relationship, I would have wanted more show and less tell. I find this is a major pet peeve of mine when it comes to books. Adding that to the way they talked about things, while neither of them actually knew what to do, missed the spot completely. They sounded like someone pretending to know what they talk about while in reality having not the faintest clue. I didn't feel for one second confident in their relationship, I didn't feel anything of what was said they were feeling, so when something happened to make one of them angry or happy I was genuinely surprised. I didn't know how it happened.

And finally, what actually made me drop the book, is the way their relationship started and, I guess, will evolve. What a lot of BDSM novels have in common is this matchmaking, where the friend(s) of the Dom (always the friends of the Dom) act as matchmakers between him and the sub. This happens so often and I really wanted them to gravitate towards each other naturally. Actually, when the characters were first introduced I didn't think they will start something.

If I would have managed to read the whole book I was already thinking of rating it two stars, maybe something would have happened to make me rise that rating, but I really wasn't expecting that. Now that I dropped it I can only rate it half a star. However, I think the book can be enjoyed, I'm sure other readers will like it way more than I did.

Some books go great with a drink, and in this case that drink is a nice glass of wine. I wasn't in the mood for wine, but reading this I couldn't help it, I had to get a glass if only just to know it's there.

I had this short story on hold for a while now and I kind of lost my interest for it. I have this habit of getting books then getting other books and reading the newest I get instead of going through them in an orderly fashion. I'm sure I'm not the only one. Anyway, A Vintage Affair proved to be a great novella and I enjoyed reading it. Right now, as I'm thinking about it, I really love what Josh Lanyon did there, from start to finish. The plot was constructed beautifully, nothing was left to chance, and I had fun trying to figure out who was the bad guy there.

I liked both Austin and Jeff, and I liked how things evolved between them, although at times I felt sad and just a tiny bit deceived—I think that's the word I'm looking for. I probably could relate to Austin a bit better, but I also liked Jeff's sort of naïveté. He was very in touch with some things while completely oblivious on certain matters.

At first I wanted more insight on the mystery part of the story, but as I kept reading I didn't mind the focus of the book so that kind of solved itself. Then there was a scene in particular that I was expecting to bother me, but it didn't and that was surprising. I think it didn't bother me because I already knew (guessed) the outcome. Or part of it.

I liked the setting, I liked the characters, I enjoyed the story, but I will also say that I would have liked a bit more details overall. Actually, well, I think what I'm truly saying is that I would have liked for the story to be longer. I have some questions about Cormac and I would have said I wanted to know what's next for Austin and Jeff, but when there's a will, there's a Coda, as Josh Lanyon spoils us readers.

I'm a John Grisham fan, ever since I first read A Time to Kill at a very impressionable age so every review of mine on any of John Grisham's books is biased.

What a book! I'm not entirely sure how to review it, though. I definitely enjoyed it, there's a lot of drama and as far as that goes the book does great. When it comes to how accurate all the legal terms and work and anything else law related goes, I have no clue nor do I care very much, I don't go into any fiction book expecting to study something.

As usual, I liked the lawyer, Robbie Flak in this case. I wouldn't describe him as the good guy, but definitely not the bad guy either, he's just very real. I find that John Grisham's characters tend to feel like real people in general and that's one reason why I like his books so much. There's no pretending that this guy is the best, or that one is a complete monster, they are all people with qualities, flaws, and histories. Oh, how I like the histories. Even characters that are not at all relevant to the plot have at least a bit of background. It makes me wonder how does the planning of a book by John Grisham looks like. He says he doesn't like doing research, but he must spend a lot on planning things out.

I can't pick a favourite character, though. I liked Keith, he was maybe one of the best persons in the book. There are quite a lot of characters I didn't like, I would actively avoid being associated with them in any way, but I'm not going to name them. I will say, though, that I found some of these characters' expectations hilarious in a baffling way.

While the novel was entertaining and kept me glued to it, wanting to know what's going to happen next and hoping for the best, it was also very sad. The anticipation and the emotions really got me and I might or might not have shed a few tears. What is more chilling, though, is that the case is inspired by several real cases. Several real cases. Incredible.

I'm not going to go into the themes of the book, they are some of the usual ones in most of John Grisham's books—wrongful conviction, race disparity—and they are also a long conversation.