epeolatri's reviews
304 reviews

Okay, I can see what this book was trying to do. It’s rare to read books about the start of the end of the world, and for that it’s unique and interesting. The characters were terribly boring and so one-dimensional. I didn’t care even a bit about any of them. The use of the third person omniscient narrator had its purpose when it could give us small bits of information on what was happening in the world outside these two families, but other than that I feel like it did a disservice to the story. Had it been written in first person maybe the urgency of the situation and the terror the characters felt would’ve seemed more real to the reader. I was mostly annoyed at their choices and the way they only ever seemed to talk about what they should do but never actually did any of it. This book needed more action and less words. 
On that note, the author really really likes his metaphors and similes. Without them this book could’ve been about 100 pages shorter. An entire two or three pages were just a list of what a woman bought at the grocery store. The author also seemed weirdly obsessed with sex. At least three times I was made to read through a paragraph of a character masturbating, one of which was a minor. There was a description of a thirteen year old in a bathing suit that made me very uncomfortable. I’m not sure why the characters genitals were deemed so important to the plot. 
This book should have been a lot of things, but ended up just a weird, overly wordy mess that I barely managed to get through. Maybe the netflix movie will be better. 

I very much enjoyed this book. I was a little unsure at first and thought that it would be just another boring historical mystery, but it had me tossing that notion aside from the very first chapter. I was NOT expecting this to be as queer as it was. There were many varied queer characters and relationships, and I could tell each was put in the story with purpose and not just for diversity wins. Sarah James’ characters could never be called boring or static, that’s for sure. Each one was full of both negative and positive traits, made sometimes terrible and selfish decisions, and were still loveable in their own way. I would say this is a found family story, and in a way it is, but it’s the most dysfunctional family group I’ve ever read about. They’re all assholes and the friendship shouldn’t work at all, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the dynamics all the same - much like the characters feel about each other.
The story was set within a background of WWII-era Hollywood, which really set a great stage (pun intended) for the mystery itself. I have to say I had no clue where it was going at any given point. I couldn’t have guessed who the killer was until Annie herself did. I liked that the reveal wasn’t the end of the story, either. Annie’s story deserved an ending (or really, a new beginning) that revolved around her, and I’m glad she got it. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes complicated, strong-willed characters and a mystery that will keep them guessing.

Thank you to netgalley, Sarah James, and the publishers for this ARC. 

Had to DNF halfway through, I just couldn’t force myself to go on. Focused waaaay too much on the romantic relationships, one of which included the fmc and an engaged man and the other the fmc and a total creep who kisses her without consent and orders her around all the time. Both of these men are creepy, controlling, and emotionally repressed and the author spent no time establishing any sort of chemistry so I wasn’t at all interested in who she chose. The fmc felt very static and vapid at times. There was a whole chapter where she went to visit the wife of the guy who JUST died and all she can think about is how messy her house is and how she’s not wearing a bra, like dude her husband just died have some empathy?? The mystery itself felt like it was on the back burner during all of this, and wasn’t even interesting enough itself for me to keep reading.