I didn't say it was good, I said I LIKED it

This book has extreme tumblr circa 2018 energy, and you know what? I'm completely okay with that. I related to Emily Wilde in a lot of ways, and she was already such a familiar character to me that I couldn't help but love her. Shocked me back to my high school years (once again, because of the tumblr energy), but I have to say, this is one of the few series in recent years that I actually want to continue and finish

4/5 stars

It feels weird rating this because I didn't even know this was a short story collection until the longer story about the engaged couple planning their wedding. And I don't usually read short story collections, so I really don't know what to do with this one. Somewhere in the 3.5/3.75 range

There were a lot of stories I loved. I was particularly interested in the ones focusing on sibling dynamics and the one about the dog (that was my favorite). I do think the author did a disservice in making the ones about romantic love all about relationships that ended (well, minus one) or failed or were bad instead of a variation of stories. If someone is supposed to love another in all their damaged glory, break-ups aren't exactly what I'm picturing. And I think there needed to be familial loves that weren't just siblings (though I'm glad that they were represented) and more between friends.

The writing is spectacular, to be sure, but I'm still parsing how I feel about this though. If you like short story collections, go ahead and read this

I am now dumber for reading this book. I can feel my brain atrophying. There are fewer brain cells than I started May with

All authors, please note this: STOP HOLDING MY HAND!!!! I'm not stupid, your readers aren't stupid, but the more you hold our hands, the more stupid we become. Mystery/thrillers are supposed to be about chasing the mystery, not about throwing elaborate twists for the sake of throwing in twists THAT MAKE NO SENSE and are full of plot holes. Like there was not one singular satisfying reveal.

Also, I need men to stop writing female leads. It's not that I think no man can do it well, they can (see my very glowing review of Between Two Fires and The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires), but because men like Riley Sager are always going to be disconnected. If you're not part of a demographic that you're writing from/for, there is no amount of research that can make it feel authentic. His female characters were wooden and one-dimensional. I couldn't tell their voices apart because they were so similar. And he kept holding my damn hand, and I'm getting more heated about it. Those are brain cells I'll never get back, Riley. If I wanted to be dumber, I would use AI.

This book is stupid. The twists are stupid. The premise was actually kind of interesting, which is a bummer since I spent money based on the synopsis and now that was a waste of $20. I cannot decide how low I want to rate this book, but it's less than one star. Maybe not the worst read of the year, but it's really close. Like uncomfortably close, and we're not even halfway through the year.

I want to like this genre, I do, but I think too many authors who are not good at writing are published in this genre. I think it's too easy to be published in mystery/thriller, and it's too easy to become a prolific author in this genre as opposed to historical fiction, literary fiction, or women's fiction. And the problem is I have liked mystery/thriller, but only when it overlaps with another genre or when it's written by Agatha Christie. It's probably time to retire this genre, and thank GOD, actually. I don't ever want to do this again