September 1, 2015

"The Foxglove Killings" Review


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Book: The Foxglove Killings

Author: Tara Kelling

Format: ARC

Page Count: 320 (Final Hardcover)

Publisher: Entangled Teen

My Rating: ★★★

Synopsis: Gramps always said that when the crickets were quiet, something bad was coming. And the crickets have been as silent as the dead. It started with the murdered deer in the playground with the unmistakable purple of a foxglove in its mouth. But in the dying boondock town of Emerald Cove, life goes on.

I work at Gramps's diner, and the cakes―the entitled rich kids who vacation here―make our lives hell. My best friend, Alex Pace, is the one person who gets me. Only Alex has changed. He's almost like a stranger now. I can't figure it out...or why I'm having distinctly more-than-friend feelings for him. Ones I shouldn't be having.

Then one of the cakes disappears.

When she turns up murdered, a foxglove in her mouth, a rumor goes around that Alex was the last person seen with her—and everyone but me believes it. Well, everyone except my worst enemy, Jenika Shaw. When Alex goes missing, it's up to us to prove his innocence and uncover the true killer. But the truth will shatter everything I've ever known about myself — and Alex.

      I don't even know what to really say about this book. I have such conflicting emotions about this book, more leaning towards negative than positive. It was definitely not what I expected it to be. At times it seemed to connect more with the personal relationships going on in the book and their petty drama than the actual killings going on. For instance, all that nonsense with Nora and Alex just irked me. It seemed really irrelevant, and the entire "friendzone" situation is one that bothers me intensely in YA books. Speaking of Nora, the main character, I did not like her. I thought she was naive, spineless, and pretty damn selfish. She spent so much time trying to be a detective when she really wasn't even that good at being one.
   
      On to the good stuff, which although I can't think of a lot, it is there. In the beginning, I almost put down this book because it really didn't interest me. It seemed slow and I was waiting for a plot to happen, which sometimes it felt like the central plot wasn't even the main plot. But that is besides the point. Once I got drawn into the book, I couldn't stop reading it, which is a good thing because that is what all thrillers or mysteries should strive for. In addition to that, when the killer was finally revealed, I was totally in shock. I had guessed everyone except who it really was. Now, I still don't quite understand what their motives were and what the hell was wrong with them because the excuses made just don't make sense to me.

      Overall it was an alright book. In all honesty, in the end it just left me wondering what the hell I had just read.

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  1. Awe! I hate when the plot sound interesting but the execution is terrible. Great review! :)

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