Charlotte Greene

I've already been told that I'm being tough on this book but I did like it - as you can tell by the three stars (identified as "liked it" by the tool tip).

Gnarled Hollow is a pretty good haunted house story. It's similar to Shirley Jackson's [b:The Haunting of Hill House|89717|The Haunting of Hill House|Shirley Jackson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327871336s/89717.jpg|3627], which isn't a bad thing at all. I loved that book. And I enjoyed this one. I think I was expecting more of a thriller. Which is clearly my fault since it's a paranormal novel.

I might have really liked it (worthy of 4 Goodreads stars) had Jim (and Chris to a lesser degree) not been so over-the-top in their douchiness. But that was incredibly off putting for me.

I certainly would read more from Ms. Greene. I truly liked the story and ghosts and some of the concepts she used.… (mer)

The author painted the descriptions of the woods so vividly that you could almost feel like you could look up and see the trees looming above you and inhale their rustic scent. As someone who goes hiking and camping a lot, it made me nostalgic for adventures past and eager for the spring. Just like Fiona and her friends, the sense of danger hovered on each page, and I never knew what to expect next. Towards the middle of the book I made an assumption about a plot point, and when I reached the end of the book I was happy to see that the book didn’t go in that direction.
While the descriptions and the plot were standouts of this book, I do wish some more time had been paid to character development. I identified the most with Fiona, as we share similar behaviors, and I used to have a friend exactly like Jill. But I never felt like I got to know their other friends, Carol and Sarah. They just seemed to be “there”, and I wasn’t able to form an opinion or attachment to them. And this may be petty, if I had to read about Roz “rubbing her mouth” one more time I was going to explode! The ending is left open ended and ominous, which may not appeal to all readers. Personally, I would have liked to know more about the people behind the symbols and what happened to Jill.… (mer)

Gwen is on the road, driving through Texas when she spots Annie on the side of the road, halfway sorta trying to hitchhike. Gwen picks her up. And both their lives change forever.

Annie is going after the money that she stole and was put into jail for stealing. And Gwen is at first on that journey not voluntarily, but, then as they get closer, she is in it for Annie, not just because of a gun on her or whatever.

Oh, and Annie's partners in crime, they don't really want to let Annie have the money, and they will go to lengths, yikes will they ever go to lengths to achieve that outcome.

I really liked the first two thirds of the story. It was weird at first to just have the two fugitives point of view, I'm a police procedural sort of reader (a lot of them), but, once I got used to it, it was fun to read from that point of view.

Unfortunately, when I hit the last third of the book, the tone and how tightly woven the story was, seemed to change. It was actually sorta jarring, and started partially when, out of almost nowhere came a weirdly forced anger subplot (Trixie stuff also contributed to it too).

I get why the author needed the story to twist and go a little longer, but, I just didn't like how it read on the page at all.

Still, the first part of the book was almost a five star, so, a two and a five makes for a solid three stars I think.

I was given this ARC by Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books.… (mer)

I'll start this review with the fact that I've never read Pride & Prejudice. I actually think I've never read any Jane Austen book (although I may have seen one of movies based on the books?) So, I came into this book knowing that it was an homage, but probably not getting most of the homage-y parts and just seeing it as a lesfic romance.

All that said. This book was a delightful surprise. The main characters are Darcy and Erin. Erin and her sister Jen own a brewing company that's not doing horribly, but right on the edge. In comes Charlie and Darcy. Charlie is the head of a big Boston brewing company and we slowly learn who Darcy is. Erin's sister Jen falls for Charlie, and slowly Darcy and Erin sorta start to like each other as well, but there are fits and starts to it.

I really liked the Erin character. Jen grew on me. I went back and forth with Lottie. Mostly liked Charlie, and then there was Darcy. I'm still conflicted about her even after finishing the book.

But, it was an interesting story with some really great characters, and I enjoyed it a ton, even if I hadn't read the underlying novel.

I received this book via Netgalley thanks to Bold Strokes Books.… (mer)