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A review by litwithleigh
After She'd Gone by Alex Dahl
4.0
Thank you Head of Zeus and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. IYKYK, my reviews are always honest.
HONDA CIVIC RELIABLE IN CONTEXT. 3.5 rounded UP. The more I think about this book, the more I like it. Came back to bump up the rating.
SYNOPSIS
Liv is a mysterious women who is suddenly kidnapped along with her autistic son Adrian. Anastasia is a Russian model who came and conquered the fashion scene in Milan before falling in love. Selma is a doggedly determined journalist who won't quit until she figured out what happened to Liv and her son and how this ties to the underbelly of the fashion world.
MY OPINION
Before you choose to pick up this book, I want to be very clear: This is Norwegian Nancy Drew: Secrets of Villa Serafina starring Selma the journalist. Police? What's that? Selma runs the show here. The police are only good for sweeping in at the last second and locking up the baddies when Selma has had enough. Otherwise, Selma Drew is leading the investigation into Liv's disappearance and unearthing the truth about Milan's glamorous fashion world. If you can't yeet all logic and reasoning out the window for this book, then it is not for you.
Next, this is heavy on the storytelling and the writing is VERY European. If you don't fk with this style of writing, skip it. I'm a fan though. Now back to the storytelling: I can definitely see people being very bored by this. If you're looking for straight up THRILLZ with a z, then this is not the one. This is a story as much as it is a mystery.
ANywayZ. I found this an enjoyable afternoon read. I'm obsessed with Europe because the food, art, history, and fashion is on point, so I enjoyed "travelling" to Norway, Russia, and Italy. I'm also into fashion (even though my closet is primarily white tees, light washed jeans and of course, pink ski masks) so following Anastasia's journey was fun too. And I appreciated the author including an autistic character without falling into negative stereotypes. Adrian was a resilient, intelligent, and emotionally sensitive boy who you can't help but root for.
I didn't really care for Selma Drew, but she was the knitter who brought all the threads together. Her relationship with Olaf or whatever tf his name is was whatever because I literally pictured him as a dorky bald old man who thick rimmed glasses who loves to wear bike shorts on the reg. But I digress...
An enjoyable lil read... but please read my review carefully before you pick this up and then come into my comments saying WOW THIS SHIT SUCKED YOU FOOLED ME!!!! (No one has ever done that because ya'll aren't animals but still lol...)
PROS AND CONS
Pros: takes place in Europe, interesting look at the fashion industry, enjoyable, easy to digest read, has some edge to it if you require thrillz
Cons: requires extreme suspension of disbelief, twists are easy to clock, lots of projectile vomit lol, romance is a lil cheesy but I have a piece of coal for a heart so take that as you will
HONDA CIVIC RELIABLE IN CONTEXT. 3.5 rounded UP. The more I think about this book, the more I like it. Came back to bump up the rating.
SYNOPSIS
Liv is a mysterious women who is suddenly kidnapped along with her autistic son Adrian. Anastasia is a Russian model who came and conquered the fashion scene in Milan before falling in love. Selma is a doggedly determined journalist who won't quit until she figured out what happened to Liv and her son and how this ties to the underbelly of the fashion world.
MY OPINION
Before you choose to pick up this book, I want to be very clear: This is Norwegian Nancy Drew: Secrets of Villa Serafina starring Selma the journalist. Police? What's that? Selma runs the show here. The police are only good for sweeping in at the last second and locking up the baddies when Selma has had enough. Otherwise, Selma Drew is leading the investigation into Liv's disappearance and unearthing the truth about Milan's glamorous fashion world. If you can't yeet all logic and reasoning out the window for this book, then it is not for you.
Next, this is heavy on the storytelling and the writing is VERY European. If you don't fk with this style of writing, skip it. I'm a fan though. Now back to the storytelling: I can definitely see people being very bored by this. If you're looking for straight up THRILLZ with a z, then this is not the one. This is a story as much as it is a mystery.
ANywayZ. I found this an enjoyable afternoon read. I'm obsessed with Europe because the food, art, history, and fashion is on point, so I enjoyed "travelling" to Norway, Russia, and Italy. I'm also into fashion (even though my closet is primarily white tees, light washed jeans and of course, pink ski masks) so following Anastasia's journey was fun too. And I appreciated the author including an autistic character without falling into negative stereotypes. Adrian was a resilient, intelligent, and emotionally sensitive boy who you can't help but root for.
I didn't really care for Selma Drew, but she was the knitter who brought all the threads together. Her relationship with Olaf or whatever tf his name is was whatever because I literally pictured him as a dorky bald old man who thick rimmed glasses who loves to wear bike shorts on the reg. But I digress...
An enjoyable lil read... but please read my review carefully before you pick this up and then come into my comments saying WOW THIS SHIT SUCKED YOU FOOLED ME!!!! (No one has ever done that because ya'll aren't animals but still lol...)
PROS AND CONS
Pros: takes place in Europe, interesting look at the fashion industry, enjoyable, easy to digest read, has some edge to it if you require thrillz
Cons: requires extreme suspension of disbelief, twists are easy to clock, lots of projectile vomit lol, romance is a lil cheesy but I have a piece of coal for a heart so take that as you will