Poll
High Five or Dumpster Dive? Vote for the Dud of the Month. See comments below:
Poll added by: Donna
Voting started on: Sep 03, 2025 12:00AM PDT
Ends at: Sep 10, 2025 11:59PM PDT
Comments Showing 1-5 of 5 (5 new)
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Michelle says that Diamonds and Daggers should be the Dud of the Month because:
I really need someone to explain to me how Lucy is still among the living? Honestly, by all rights she should have died like 11 times by now if not more. Is every main character in a cozy mystery dumber than a turnip? So far all of the ones I have read except for 1 or 2 this is the case. And I swear Lucy makes dumber and dumber decisions as the books go on. Usually by book 11 a character shows growth. This is not the case with home girl here. It really is ridiculous. Let's take for example an incident where Lucy agrees to go talk to a man she doesn't know. He tells her to go down a dark hallway, past the bathroom, and there was a room past the bathroom and that's where she should meet him. What dumbass agrees to this? She does this and wonders why someone hits her over the head and when she wakes up the diamonds she was wearing are missing. Well duh! Then we have to read about how dumb she thinks she is throughout the book. We get it, we don't need to be beat over the head with the same information over and over again.
We also have the incident where Sylvia bullies Lucy into wearing her very expensive said jewels to a gala. Despite Lucy being a dipshit, Sylvia is a bully when the jewels are stolen. She is downright mean to Lucy and very threatening, and no one calls her on it. I would have set Sylvia on fire. I don't get some of these characters, I don't get their decisions, and I don't know why I keep reading these
I really need someone to explain to me how Lucy is still among the living? Honestly, by all rights she should have died like 11 times by now if not more. Is every main character in a cozy mystery dumber than a turnip? So far all of the ones I have read except for 1 or 2 this is the case. And I swear Lucy makes dumber and dumber decisions as the books go on. Usually by book 11 a character shows growth. This is not the case with home girl here. It really is ridiculous. Let's take for example an incident where Lucy agrees to go talk to a man she doesn't know. He tells her to go down a dark hallway, past the bathroom, and there was a room past the bathroom and that's where she should meet him. What dumbass agrees to this? She does this and wonders why someone hits her over the head and when she wakes up the diamonds she was wearing are missing. Well duh! Then we have to read about how dumb she thinks she is throughout the book. We get it, we don't need to be beat over the head with the same information over and over again.
We also have the incident where Sylvia bullies Lucy into wearing her very expensive said jewels to a gala. Despite Lucy being a dipshit, Sylvia is a bully when the jewels are stolen. She is downright mean to Lucy and very threatening, and no one calls her on it. I would have set Sylvia on fire. I don't get some of these characters, I don't get their decisions, and I don't know why I keep reading these
Ashley says that Pucking Around should be the Dud of the Month because:
Big sigh. This book.
Let me preface this with a disclaimer. I like the “reverse harem” / “why choose?” trope. I don’t care about the order of operations: who’s with who first, how they get there, or what creative furniture is involved. I also love stupid, cheesy dialogue and over-the-top lines that make me laugh, even when they’re nowhere near smart or groundbreaking. That is not the problem here.
The problem? Is it the sketchy doctor/patient power dynamic? No. The wet-noodle FMC? Also no. It’s that this thing is nearly 800 pages long when it maybe, maybe, had enough story for 300. The conflict is paper-thin, and the insta-love kills any tension before it starts. If you’re going to have a woman and three men end up together, you need an actual climb to get there. We can’t all just yell "Yay! Let’s do it!" like horny cheerleaders and call it a plot.
Rachel, our wet-noodle, is annoying. I have no idea why these guys are so obsessed with her. Caleb and Jake have the closest thing to a relationship arc, and Ilmari? He’s just a random add-on, like a DLC nobody asked for. If I wanted that experience, I’d just play The Sims and set someone on fire. Instead, my brain is the thing in ashes.
When Rachel asked herself if she should stay or go, I was screaming, GO! Let these men rest in peace! Ugh.
I wanted messy, chaotic fun. What I got was a very long book where the only real journey was how fast my enthusiasm died.
Big sigh. This book.
Let me preface this with a disclaimer. I like the “reverse harem” / “why choose?” trope. I don’t care about the order of operations: who’s with who first, how they get there, or what creative furniture is involved. I also love stupid, cheesy dialogue and over-the-top lines that make me laugh, even when they’re nowhere near smart or groundbreaking. That is not the problem here.
The problem? Is it the sketchy doctor/patient power dynamic? No. The wet-noodle FMC? Also no. It’s that this thing is nearly 800 pages long when it maybe, maybe, had enough story for 300. The conflict is paper-thin, and the insta-love kills any tension before it starts. If you’re going to have a woman and three men end up together, you need an actual climb to get there. We can’t all just yell "Yay! Let’s do it!" like horny cheerleaders and call it a plot.
Rachel, our wet-noodle, is annoying. I have no idea why these guys are so obsessed with her. Caleb and Jake have the closest thing to a relationship arc, and Ilmari? He’s just a random add-on, like a DLC nobody asked for. If I wanted that experience, I’d just play The Sims and set someone on fire. Instead, my brain is the thing in ashes.
When Rachel asked herself if she should stay or go, I was screaming, GO! Let these men rest in peace! Ugh.
I wanted messy, chaotic fun. What I got was a very long book where the only real journey was how fast my enthusiasm died.
Erin says that Europea Halls should be the Dud of the Month because...
This one was about what i expected it to be - low budget slasher - but I think the author could have tried harder to tie some incoherent strings together. Writing style was okay for this but the villainry was too unrealistic and there were improvements to be made. 2/5 stars
This one was about what i expected it to be - low budget slasher - but I think the author could have tried harder to tie some incoherent strings together. Writing style was okay for this but the villainry was too unrealistic and there were improvements to be made. 2/5 stars
It was not good! It was a quick read that I muddled through to complete X of an A-Z Female Author Challenge. I'm not a huge fan of fantasy but this one was very corny.