Carole´s Monday: The 7 deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Author: Stuart Turton

Narrator: James Cameron Stewart

Title: The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Fantasy, & Historical Fiction

Format: Audiobook

Published: February 8, 2018

Where I got It: Audible

Summary: 

Aiden Bishop knows the rules. Evelyn Hardcastle will die every day until he can identify her killer and break the cycle. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes up in the body of a different guest at Blackheath Manor. And some of his hosts are more helpful than others. With a locked-room mystery that Agatha Christie would envy, Stuart Turton unfurls a breakneck novel of intrigue and suspense.

Review:

Gotta love book club. I had my eye on this one but never gave it a chance until this was picked to read in my book club.

Here we follow Aiden who knows the rules to the game. Evelyn Hardcastle will die every day until he can figure out who the killer will be and break the cycle. He wakes up in the body of a different guest at Blackheath Manor. He has 8 hosts to try to solve it or the loop begins again and his memories are wiped clean. 

What a cool concept. Mixture of Agatha Christie-esque mystery and 'Groundhog Day'. So cool and def a great book to spark conversation. 

Now...I will say I struggled hardcore at the beginning. It was slow and slightly confusing. WHICH you are supposed to be confused-ish. This is Aiden's narrative. You only know as much as he knows. Very, very slow to get the story off the ground. I do think some parts could have been trimmed down a wee bit. 

Once you get past the first couple of chapters things start speeding up and you can see that there is more to the story and characters. Aiden has a mountain to climb for sure. I don't want to give away any spoilers.....but he has a full plate and not everything is as it seems. 

I go back and forth about Anna. Not sure what I would do in Aiden's place. A part of me would want to save her too, BUUUUUUUT after a big reveal....mmmm. 

The ending was good. Def has a slight open-ended feel to it which I liked. 

OOOO and that one BIG, BIG twist???? Oof. That got me good. I didn't see it coming. There were a lot of twists that tied in but it was so good. 

The narrator was okay. The voice is familiar but I can't remember where I had heard it before. The female voices were subpar. They all sounded alike (minus the old lady who was more distinct). The guy voices were good. 

This was a tough review to write ;) I didn't want to give anything away. 

But yes, pretty good especially for a book club. I can't wait to discuss this with the gals! 

Lots of mystery. A slowwwww beginning and some parts could've been slimmed down a wee bit, but once you get into the thick of things you won't want to stop until you figure out what the heck is going on. I enjoyed this. 4 stars. 

Challenge(s):
- #12 for Audiobook challenge

Best of February

 

Here are our bests of February! 

Best Movie of the Month:

Blodeuedd - Nada this month

"Who knows as usual?"

Carole - Persuasion (2007)

"Rewatched this for Feb! This is a gem and a treasure. A must watch!"

Best Book of the Month:

Carole - Every Last Secret by AR Torre

"This had me all over the place emotionally. So good."

Blodeuedd - Marked in Flesh by Anne Bishop

"Best book of the  month goes to the re-listen of Marked in Flesh. All the feels. Cried a river."

Best TV show of the Month:

Blodeuedd -  The Rookie (S4) & Bling Empire: New York

"I watched s4 of the Rookie. I have also tried to watch Vikings Valhalla, and omg, not going well. I thought I had watched several eps but was still on ep 1. Says a lot. I also watched Bling empire NY for the DRAMA."

Carole - Lucifer (s6) & Sex Education (S1-3)

"Finally got myself to watch the final season of Lucifer. It tore me up! Such a good show...sad to say goodbye. And randomly turned on Sex Education bc it has a bunch of actors I am liking....and it blew me away. I totally binged all three seasons in a matter of a couple days. Can't wait for the next season!"

Best Cover of the Month:

Carole's pick

Blodeuedd's pick

Audio: Wild country by Anne Bishop

By: Anne Bishop

Narrated by: Alexandra Harris

Series: The World of the Others, Book 2

Length: 17 hrs and 57 mins

Release date: 03-05-19

Urban fantasy /own

Third time listening!

Gods, humans are So stupid!!!!! Like hello! The Elders killed EVERYONE, and still some stupid humans think they can take that town. Eejits.

Oh man, Virgil, the end broke me. He who cared nothing for humans, started to care.

Tolya and Jesse. I find this sad, a friendship had been built, but then he lost all faith in humankind. I want her to revisit this town

Great book, awesome narration

There are ghost towns in the world - places where the humans were annihilated in retaliation for the slaughter of the shape-shifting Others.

One of those places is Bennett, a town at the Northern end of the Elder Hills - a town surrounded by the wild country. Now, efforts are being made to resettle Bennett as a community where humans and Others live and work together. A young female police officer has been hired as the deputy to a Wolfgard sheriff. A deadly type of Other wants to run a human-style saloon. And a couple with four foster children - one of whom is a blood prophet - hopes to find acceptance.

But as they reopen the stores and the professional offices and start to make lives for themselves, the town of Bennett attracts the attention of other humans looking for profit. The arrival of the outlaw Blackstone Clan will either unite Others and humans...or bury them all.

Joint Discussion: Shadow and Bone

 

Hello all! We will be discussing "Shadow and Bone" by Leigh Bardugo. Blodeuedd is in red and Carole is in blue.

Author: Leigh Bardugo
Title: Shadow and Bone

Series: The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #1

Genre: Fantasy, YA, Romance, Paranormal
Published: June 5, 2012

Pages: 369

Summary:

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.

Discussion:

Literally can’t wait for season 2! Reading this made me even more excited!!

Reading this made me less excited. It ruined it for me *sobs*. Even the Darkling was ruined. I feel the need to rewatch s1 and all its glory.

Oh yesss hubby and I are planning on rewatching S1. This made me excited to rewatch. It’s rare but the show is so much better. This felt like a rough draft of the TV show script lol. 

Omg, yes, it does feel like a rough draft! The show is so much better. The book was for me rather meh and SO many things annoyed me.

The book was super, duper YA. The convos felt awkward and choppy. The show was YA but it didn’t feel like it was. 

Every last thing was super YA. All those things that make some YA books so annoying to read, and that some seem to love. Where to even start?! One of the last things that annoyed me was when Mal got really angry at her for wearing the Darklings colors. Like wtf man, toxic much?!

Oh yes! I get Mal being mad thinking she betrayed him. BUT so toxic. She literally had zero choice. 

Maybe we were supposed to think it was hot that Mal, who had never looked at her, suddenly got super obsessive over her?

He wanted what he couldn’t have. Sure she was a friend but the moment he seen her with teh Darkling he was all “WHA????? SHE IS SUPPOSED TO LOVE ME!” He is a jealous boy. I liked the show version so much better. Sure he was blind to his love to her but you could see it and feel it that he actually cared about her. Here? It felt like she was the only one chasing and yearning. 

Yes it was very one-sided, and I am not a fan of the book Mal now. You do not need toxic people in your life Alina. But then the book Alina was also so very YA. Can¨t say I liked her either.

Oh yeah her whole “I AM SO UGLY” was so annoying. Sure she is no great beauty but I kept rolling my eyes. Obv she has some looks because I think the Darkling was attracted to her and Mal obv was! Again….TV Alina was much more palatable. 

The whole I am mousy, ugly, and everyone else commenting on it. And how she thought she could not be a Grisha cos she was not beautiful. And then the whole how magic changed her, but oh, it only made her hair better and her skin glow…well then you are not ugly Alina, you just need some feed, better haircare and a good night´s sleep. Those parts. Ugly duckling mary Sue

For real! She was in the dirt and mud as a solider of course you will need some good skin treatment and some fatting food. Yepp. She def was an ugly duckling Mary Sue. 

As for the Darkling, well I ADORE Ben Barnes. He is so evil and hot. While book Darkling was boring, grey, and no personality. He was just there and meh. Everyone was meh.

Like we said earlier this felt like a rough draft of the TV script. WHICH kudos to the show they stayed pretty true to the storyline. They filled it with great dialogue and acting to make everyone not meh. 

Great acting, better dialogue, fleshed out characters. They did improve on it so much in my opinion. It was there, just hiding.

Indeed!! I am curious about book 2. Maybe it gets more fleshed out? I feel like this one was rushing. IDK. I’m scared to read book 2. Haha

Nothing happened in book 1, She got discovered, met a mean girl, and then a LOT happened. But however it happens, I can´t wait for S2!!!!! As for reading book 2, meh, not that keen. Maybe we should read the thieves instead, but I feel very meh ;)

Maybe someday we’ll read book 1 of the thieves to see how well the show did. Haha. But yeah, I’m not feeling it anytime soon. We have a whole list of other goodies we want to check out this year!

On to better things! But it was interesting to read this and compare. If I had read it first I would not have been that interested in the tv show.

Yes! For sure a rare gem. Rarely do we get a show/movie that surpasses the book! I loved comparing the two. So it was fun. It does have me excited to get started on the show right now. Maybe I’ll read book 2 after watching season 2 to compare again. Someday. 

I just saw on Fb something like only 20 days left! Eeeeek

Literally jumping for joy! Can’t wait! 

The end?

The end! :D 

About the Authors

Carole and Blodeuedd have been blogging for a long while now. For the last few years the epic duo has been discussing books, watching movies, and even wetting the pen and sharing their stories with the worldwide web. They both love cats, chocolate, and a good story.