A review by x_miss_mcrae_x
Whispers of Deception by Liliana Rose Hastings

mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Who doesn't love a murder mystery/thriller? I certainly do. I whizzed through this in a couple of hours and whilst the plot and title drew me in, I felt the execution was missing something. This has left me with very mixed thoughts because with every pro, there unfortunately is a con! The chapters are short and the plot dives straight in but i found it quite slow paced, with very little character development to the point where I dont recall learning much about them as individuals at all. Also as a Pretty Little Liars fan, it was really hard to not notice the similarities, both in the plot and the characters. This took away any suspense and led to me to guess the "big" reveals very early on, not to mention the fact that they ignored a key point around 60% which not only was infuriating but gave the whole thing away anyways. However the book was very descriptive and included multiple aspects of media coverage, which I found quite unique but didnt understand why they were necessary as they just repeated information we had already been told without adding anything new to it. I understand this is a debut so I'm on the fence about sticking the series out or not. 

Thank you to Love Notes PR and the author for the ARC. 

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