[SHORT REVIEWS] #27

NOVELS
CHN

(*QIDIAN)

快穿：女配又在疯狂打脸 by 蓁蓁妖妖

(mtl: Quick transmigration: female supporting role slaps faces again)

Very basic, very shallow transmigration story. I think I added this at times when I was in "I want some trash stories" era.

You An travels world to avenge poor souls.

The plots are very common ones with all the tropes you've seen many times. But also poor quality if I'm being honest. SInce a lot of it is just pure revenge with no sense of scale. You've wronged the person, now you will end up being hunted down for the rest of your life.

In later half it becomes repetitive (I skipped only two apocalyptic worlds, don't care for those) with a lot of similar scenarios and You An's actions. Lol, even the character have similar names.

Oh yeah there is one homophobic arc with the rare but still present storyline of a wife being cheated by her gay husband into marrying and giving birth and later making her into a live-in nanny. Also making her spend her entire life for her family but afterwards being thrown away.. The melodrama of such stories is leaking and seeping through.

Not recommended at all of course. I even find my own reaction weird, because I sometimes crave trash, but this is the copy-paste type that came from somewhere and I'd call it kiddy writing which is very shallow, better quit any logic, stale diologues and just have nothing good to say.

暗恋情敌 by 二月竹

(mtl: Unrequited love rival)

(*JJ)

I'm not sure about this title. I'm not really going to read this one though, even if it's the same author as Backtracking and Infernal which I loved, this one is a calmer type of story that describes Chu Ziyu who falls for Shen Huaiyu, but his feelings are not returned, this happens during their school days. But the two meet again 11 years later and now it's Huaiyu's turn to pursue Ziyu who became his only light.

I'm not a fan of such stories, despite loving this author, but if anyone gets attracted to such plots you can give it a try. At the moment of me posting this it is still in publishing stage.

漂亮替身玩转豪门修罗场 by 惗肆

(mtl: Beautiful substitute navigates cutthroat world of the wealthy)

(*JJ)

This comes from the author of many novels I've reviwed, they have a different range and recently they switched to more profound ones in emotional sense. But the preview of this one sounds like some of their previous ones with MC being a literal queen but who plays with people since he is now trapped in a body of a substitute after transmigrating into a melodramatic BL novel.

It's another on-going one, but I'll be waiting for it, because it sounds like fun. Le Yin will be playing those who used him as substitute, the only person who will find his true face is of course ML. You know how it goes~

KOR

That’s How I Became a Villainess / 그렇게 악녀가 되었다

I read spoilers for this one. I somehow found it interesting sounding, but was not in the mood for reading when I found it ahaha lol

But actually it sounded pretty interesting. The only thing that also stopped me from reading is I found this on a TL site that is more like MTL so it's really hard to read.

It tells a story of FMC who is reborn. Her husband cheated on her and after returning brings back his mistress. FMC does not go into hysterics but instead greets her "friend" who betrayed her with open arms and does everything to accomodate her. her husband was not her choice of a partner in the first place, she married only to help her family, which never treated her fairly and she had to syphon them money from time to time. Her husband was ambitious and married her for her title and had mistress for nothing but pleasure and child.

Now FMC navigates this situation to make both of cheaters look bad, but this is only the beginning. Her main target is the current ruler who was her past love, who thinks she betrayed him (which she didn't), but this story has supernatural element and FMC has purifying power which haunts the cursed ruler/king. So this is a bit of melodramatic love where she feels she does not deserve his forgiveness for what she did but still tries to save him despite everything, very dedicated love. While he will of course eventually uncover the truth.

The story also involves some political intrigue since the king is cursed and other waits for his slow demise to take his place etc. So it involves several families.

Having the enemy's baby / 원수의 아기를 가졌다

THIS IS INSANE HOW DIFFERENT MANHWA IS FROM THE BOOK

I started reading the manhwa version and then chapters were over but I was interested - is MMC really so unhinged?

And the answer is, the manhwa portrays him as someone different, when things are not like that in a book and the problem is in small details that happen.

Basically all the events are similar, but what people say and think is different and this is why manhwa makes you think he is some sort of psycho, although the book does him more justice, despite him still being quite cruel.

I think I was mostly so impressed by the change of perception due to details, so this is the one time when I say pick the book, instead of my usual pick any media you want, book or comics.

The story is about FMC who is sent by her biological uncle (who is not her adoptive father officially) to the enemy's family, this family and their had a feud lasting for more than a century, to the point where two territories hate each other, including people.

So her fate was predictably to be tough.

I hated that manhwa opened from an event that will happen much later in the story as if we need this misleading preview. I wished manhwa did a better job at portrayal.

She is also very ill with a sickness called Herzol which have not appeared for over a century and no one knows the cure (of course she will get one).

MMC of course is not happy with this marriage and does not treat her well, and even if he understand some mistakes he may have made, but he is stopped by his pride as a ruler of his territory and also because she is still his ebeny's daughter and he has no idea if she has any agenda or not.

I'd say the book took quite long to get to the point where she tries to open up to him, then he also started to have feelings for her, they try to work it out, but of course author had to do some crazy spin so she will leave him, staging her death and he will search for her anyway.

This was an okay story in general. I can't say for sure how I liked it because the translation was more like MTL and it was hard to judge style and such. But at some parts it was obvious the author had some misses when it came to the creation of this story.

But it has BEST MAID EVER. Who is also FMC's friend, she is truly the best, since FMC herself is quite weak-willed due to many past traumas of losing her parents and later being treated like an empty spot and being compared to her cousin all the time, so she lost any confidence or happiness in her life.

US

Murder by Moonrise by Patrice McDonough

IT'S FINALLY HERE~ I'm so reading this when I finish what I'm reading now. can't believe it's already March..

The third and final book in the story of Dr. Julia Lewis.

The Retired Assassin's Guide to Country Gardening by Naomi Kuttner

I want to give a cozy mystery with a more mature main character another chance. This sounded interesting. You know how it goes, a person wants to find a cozy quiet place, but it doesn't end up so quietly after all.

Galvanism and Ghouls by Tilly Wallace

Because I liked the first book, I will happily continue with the series. The second promises the Frankenstein type of creature to appear.

Because I found such interesting type of story, it was also recommended to try Soulless by Gail Carriger, it should have the same vibe as this series.

I decided not to pack what I want to read next, though who am I kidding, it's always packed to the brim whenever I see my bookmarks.

MANHWA

I'm lazy to put out covers.

• Peony: Dreaming of a dangerous duke. Pretty short and nice. I really liked that it's short and doesn't dwell like many others. Story of a transmigrated girl who tried to fix her own fate, but was killed. She fell in love with her husband in arranged marriage. But after death she travels to the future and becomes a princess who is married to the same duke. She can't tell him that she is his deceased wife, but eventually the restriction is lifted. With time ppl recognize her and her husband falls in love with her for the second time, not because she is who she is.
• My husband was stolen twice. Pretty unsatisfying melodramatic plot. In modern times the girl is shocked how her friend stole her husband. They travel to a plot where she does the same thing, but what is different is their status. FMC starts a business and also meets a man who helps her several times. But instead of a confident personality we again have this mopey FMC who has no idea if the man likes her or not and she is not confident etc. Such cliche garbage.
• I became a level 999 Demon Queen. I thought it's going to be fun, but it's such a kiddy writing, honestly, I thought I was reading a story written by a kid. It's shallow, not interesting, FMC is boring, everything bored me to no end.

DONGHUA

Heaven Official's Blessing / Tian Guan Ci Fu / 天官赐福

I'm actually finaly watching it. Took me a while. But honestly I can't blame myself since the same with the Grandmaster I've read the novel and saw the manhua and usually I don't watch the same story so many times even if it's a different media.

Though let's admit, the manhua for TGCF is cunty, it's so gorgeous that it overwhelms you with how good it is.

Donghua is also looking really good and I'm loving it so far. It's interesting to revisit the story when time passes instead of chasing it.

The Lord of Mysteries / Guimi Zhi Zhu / 诡秘之主

OMG THIS IS GORGEOUS

I have no idea what they did for animation to be like that, but it feels like they use a lot of computer graphic, yet it feels more like an in-game feel instead of what we're used to.

The story is intriguing, lots of gore, blood and also steampunk vibe? heck yeah.

Some say the stry is all over the place, others say it's for those who dont like to be led and the plot to be fed to them. We'll see. But the animation is great.

DRAMA

SWEETPEA (2024)

And this is one I completed. 

Could be beter, could be worse. I think it's underwhelming in a way. I hope they don't produce a second season, the girl should be caught. She should not get her happy ending.

It's slow and the theme of overlooked invisible person is so exaggerated.

The FMC was bullied at school to the point where she developed a habit of ripping her hair out because of nerves. This haunted her to her adult life where she still continues to be invisible to others and she is overlooked. The only person she cared for dies and even her dog gets into accident because she was distracted to see her former bully on the billboard, having a great career.

She tries to sloppily navigate her own case to be promoted at her workplace.

Kinda reminded me of that movie with Jake Gyllenhaal where he was a reporter.. I'm getting distracted.

Anyway, she murders the first victim and any feeling of guilt was wiped out when she found out he was a bully. Second person was responsible for taking attention of medical personnel when her dad needed attention. Of course another prick and asshole who acts as if he deserves what is about to get him.

These two were more like a spur of a moment crimes.

While she planned for the third and wanted to off her school bully. But it didn't go as planned.

Eventually we find out that her former bully is now in a very toxic relationship and she was physically hurt many times and can't get away from him.

All med are bad if you didn't get it so far.

To the point where they plan to dump all the guilt on this guy.

I liked only one character, her former bully, not because of her sloppy story that she had a hard time, this is why she did what she did, but because she took off in time after the release. 

While FMC was caught in her own lies more and more and it came crashing down.

Because of her brilliant plan to shift blame she had to give away the knife she used, but forgot others saw her with the same knife as well.

There is another dumb moment when she lies about her time at the club where had her first victim. She could have told the truth, no one saw her anyway. But she chose to lie, which was suspicious af.

Sloppy person, sloppy writing. just nah. Good thing it was short, but it felt long tbh.

Honestly, at the end I felt sorry for wasting my time. I could have watched some dorama instead.

That's it. So far.

Happy Women's Day to everyone.

Read good books, watch good shows and be happy.

[Chinese BL novel] 无间 by 二月竹 / Infernal

Finally, I got to this novel. It's the same author of "Backtracking" that I could not shut up about in several "short reviews" posts, especially when it started to be published.

All I can say that it was worth the wait. Maybe I'm not as smitten as with the Backtracking, but it's still a very worthy read in the scope of self-publishing of JJ

Unfortunately, this story has no better cover and always used this default type.

Summary: Deputy captain of the criminal investigation Lu Yan has been looking into several murders that occured in their city. He has no lead except a blurry video of a hired driver, wearing a dark baseball cap and exposing his pale and sharp jaw. And one day he meets a man and something clicks that motivates to find out who this man is, there is no connection, but his intuition told him that this man is the one from the video.

The man's name is Shen Qiao, he is a pretty well-known doctor, said to be a genius who is currently pursued by three prominent figures, sons of wealthy families, who are good brothers and were once classmates and whose fate is connected to a suicide of young boy from 18 years ago.

#TW: sui*ide, SA, violence 

Again, like Backtracing this is a revenge type of story, while this one relies heavily on revenge of the emotional nature. But the type of revenge that is served slowly and meticuously.

Before I will dive into it, I must say that I read through MTL and I can't say anything about the quality or style of the writing, I think the story was quite simple without much embellishment and not everything was spoon-fed to you, so you can have your own theories.

The structure of the story is pretty simple, these three "sons of wealthy families" were all involved with MC's brother in one way or another, I don't want to spoiler it too much before the spoilers section and now MC is back to feed back what they deserve.

I mainly described everything in the summary and here. Now the most precious SPOILERS section.

/!-SPOILERS-!/

Even if I will tell the main spoilers, but I will leave out a lot, since this story needs to be appreciated.

Although the MC of Backtracking served justice, but he still did so for himself and there was no such an emotional drama or the idea of involving three perpetrators emotionally. 

Shen Qiao's way of revenge was quite simple, he studied the three people for years, all their behavior patterns, most-likely choices and what would attract them before approaching all three. But he did so in a different way, even if the one thing was a common trait - he acted indifferently with all three.

I find that his beauty trap.. though it's too lowly to call it that, basically it works because of few reasons, one is that Shen Qiao is extremely beautiful (in this case I support the character's mention of beauty, since it works as a mean to something) and also he is accomplished for his age. He is really detached and aloof, a person of great mystery for people who saw everything in their life, esspecially too many servile types.

And the choice of being emotionally entangled is chosen for the sake of paying back for what his brother went through, complete emotional breakdown of being toyed around, abused, violated and manipulated. Pan Xingyou, abused Shen Qiao's brother for several years in school physically, Meng Ji assaulted Wen Nianqian (brother) many times and Xie Yue appeared in the image of a friend who was the last light in Wen Nianqian's life before disclosing that he knows two of his perpetrators and they're close friends.

Although I say emotionally entangled, the basic thing was to make all three people fall for him, even though he himself stayed indifferent, there is no emotional drama, no physical contact etc. He was and stayed the indifferent self until the very end.

All three are called "friends" but actually by their actions later you can see they can easily turn on each other. Deep inside they're absolutely selfish people.

Where they stood when the story only starts.

Pan Xingyou is an unruly young master of his family, he was in love with Xie Yue all his life but couldn't get him since they're both tops, yet he slept with anyone Xie Yue slept with, known fact in their circle. Messy, I know.

Xie Yue considers himself very high above everyone else, he likes to play a role and doesn't disclose anything about himself even his parents are in the scope of people he despises. He loves to manipulate and play a role. People make him nauseous and he also has the conditon where instead of red he sees green.

Meng Ji, the true psycho of the three. He is sex addict and has violent tendencies. Very deceptive and many don't think he is much of anything, like in school no one might have known that he had such a relationship with his classmate. I'd say because of his means he was the last one standing and could have succeeded in many ways if Shen Qiao wasn't as collected and intelligent.

List of early victims. Like previously Shen Qiao also doesn't use his own hands to act. Even with the three main targets he uses the feelings of these three people for himself so they can elliminate each other (which basically they did). But early on we find that several people die:

- Wen Nanqian's classmate who took part in violence;

- Another classmate;

- Homeroom teacher, who took bribes and fabricated story about Wen Nanqian' who thought he finally left the hell of junior high;

- Adoptive father of Wen Nanqian, failed businessman who turned into a gambler and alcoholic, he gave keys to their house to Meng Ji;

- A reporter who covered the suicide of Wen Nanqian and used false claims that were not true.

How Shen Qiao approached all three.

Shen Qiao was an attending doctor of Pan Xingyou's grandfather, which allowed him to approach him in a natural way. they met during a party where he saved a young actor not for the good heart but to catch Xingyous attention.

As for Meng Ji, he used his love for extreme sports by befriending him and sent him to a mountain where Meng Ji got an infection and was blinded, his father knowing Shen Qiao treated Pan's patriarch invited him to treat his son, which SQ eventually did, attracting the attention of Meng Ji by his aloofness and disregard etc.

He also became a neighbor of Xie Yue and attracted his attention at first by making a worker always using machinery at home (though no repairs happened) and later gave hints that he was a fan without outwardly saying it. Basically 'I give you hints and I manipulatively give you hints so you can pay attention'. Which worked. Xie Yue believed they're same type of people, in a sense he was right. SQ was open to emotional manipulation with all three of them and that was his tactic.

Why all three had no idea they fell for the same man.

As mention all three are deeply selfish people, when they realized their feelings for SQ their first thought was to hide him away, especially from those who can potentially become love rivals, so they had no idea all three were acquainted with same person until much later.

I agree not everything was treated well and the plot has a type of "oh, this is a story" feeling. 

Especially for the sake of story, although SQ is a genus doctor, he wasn't.. doctoring much. Though udnerstandable, some "experts" are said to be unavailable, especially if your clientell are wealthy people.

From another point, in the story he left for States and became famous there before returning solely for revenge.

And he spent a lot of time from the moment he happened to witness his brother's suicide to this day when the gears of revenge were set in action on studying all three people.

Shen Qiao's story is actually very tragic.

He could have had a steady and lovely family, he had loving parents, but a tragic accident took his father away, his mother got infected by donating blood and to not be a burden for her family, Shen Qiao's health was a matter of concern for years, she committed suicide by drowning in a river, Shen Qiao witnessed that. To lessen the burden his brother Wen Nanqian was adopted by relatives, but we know what happened from there, the couple had few good years before the wife got sick and passed away and the adoptive father lost his business.

Shen Qiao's maternal grandma is the only relative that stayed, but she suffered from Alzheimer when Shen Qiao was pretty young. If he was less mature or collected he might have broke down long ago. Especially when he witnessed the body of his brother (it was the day they promised to meet).

he stayed in the country for some time before leaving and developing abroad. And he returned I presume only after his grandma passed away.

He even had a connection to Lu Yan early on. Thing is Lu Yan's mother was investigative journalist and she was killed for one of her reports. It was obvious there is someone manipulating things behind it, but no connection was found. The prepetrator was one of those whow as reported by her.

SQ and her met in the morgue where she said she doesn;t believe it's that simple, he found diaries of his brother that supported the claim, but when he wanted to give them to her she was gone right before his eyes.

You can guess that despite the way SQ acts aloof and not bothered he actually has few instances of PTSD filled with hallucination.

He witnessed too much, so it's understandable why he decided to do what he did.

For the three perpetrators Wen Nanqian's life wasn't a life worth mentioning, none of them were even feeling truly remorseful by the end of it, but for Shen Qiao he was a loving brother who wanted so much to reconnect with his younger brother, even despite feeling like dirt and mess he looked forward to the future when he could finally live, but he was still haunted by his past and was not given the chance.

How it ended.

When the three men found out that they fell for the same men of course some things started to float. Especially when Shen Qiao suddenly started mentioning the suicide of his brother. But of course none of them affirmed their role in this. While Shen Qiao played along with their claims he slowly fed to the animosity between the three people.

The most unhinged, in a bad way, is still Meng Ji, he used underhanded means to set up two others together, filming the process too. Later he tried to fram Lu Yan for the death of his father, but who is Lu Yan, he got evidence to free himself of charges, but at that point Meng Ji smartly disappeared, leaving all the riches behind. Eventually Shen Qiao to get rid of him acted as a lure, which worked, during confrontation, which was like a movie tbh, both SQ and Meng Ji fell from the roof, while SQ was saved by Lu Yan and his small parachute, Meng Ji did not survive of course.

Pan Xingyou feeling mortified by what happened planned to get back for it. During the final conference when Xie Yue announced his retirement he caused fire and in a scuffle hurt Xie Yue, making him a eunuch. He was arrested for it and awaited his trial, not admitting that he was r* by Xie Yue. And that was his motive.

Xie Yue when he was hurt might have lost his manly function but outwardly he was the least touched by events, yeat who is Meng Ji, he will not let anyone have a safe life, so he released the video he took, which overturned the previous impression of Xie Yue, who committed suicide by jumping from the same building Wen Nanqian did. He also called SQ to witness it, called SQ a devil and that he will see him in hell.

All three actually reallized at one point that they were targetted, but not one of them acted against SQ by harming him or doing something extreme, because by that time they were too far gone, so crazily in love they couldn' do anything and felt powerless in their conflicting feelings. Loving in their own twisted way.

It's interesting that you cann call this story having 4 love lines. While 3 are crokked but the one with Lu Yan is the one that was true.

Even the obsession over Shen Qiao, Lu Yan might have been smitten, but you know it felt rather similar and different from feelings of those three people.

To Shen Qiao Lu Yan at first was chasing him, because he was feeling the connection, but the more he found out about Shen Qiao the farther he distanced from his initial goal. You could say both of them were mixed with a bit of darkness. But eventually Lu Yan became that leading saving light, who gave love, unconditional trust and comfort.

It's interesting how they never actually talked about anything, but they both understood that they know what they know, they just never brought it up. As if "I know what you did and I acquise but never say a word and I know that you know what I know but we both don't say a word" complicated like that.

/-/

Overall, I was satisfied and couldn't put it down before I finished, it was very engaging.

When it comes to stories like that I'm not mad that every emotion is not described in micro detail, we have a bag that we can judge and this is how things are.

RATE: 4,75/5.

[NOVEL] Lady Darling Inquires After a Killer by Colleen Gleason

Leave Sherlock Holmes alone ahaha

The widowed marchioness of Darling has successfully married off all of her children, and her son’s wife is the new marchioness—making her the dowager, and giving her absolutely no responsibilities. As a woman who was not born into the peerage, but, against the mores of Victorian London society wed Lord Darling in a love match thirty years ago, Lady Darling chafes at the restrictions of the gentility and is looking forward to her “retirement” to the country—at least until the grandchildren come along.

Unfortunately, fate has other plans for her. When an old friend implores her to sponsor her daughter into society, Lady Darling agrees. Not long after she commences with this project, Lady Darling and her charge, Miss Bedwith, attend a dinner party where a man is found dead.

Lady Darling, an aficionado of Sherlock Holmes (and friend of Arthur Conan Doyle) and Wilkie Collins’s work, dives into the investigation simply because she can.

During her investigation, she employs the assistance of her housekeeper and butler—the Josephs, who are also her close friends (another impropriety! being friends with servants!)—as well as her favorite modiste, Monsieur Claude—to help her track down clues to the killer. When the investigation takes her into the dingy streets of Seven Dials, she encounters a mysterious and dangerous man who seems to know an awful lot about her. Maybe too much. Still, even at her so-called advanced age of fifty, Lady Darling finds him interesting and titillating. But can she trust him?

Lady Darling Mysteries. Book 1

I would have edited some parts for sure.

Well, I really wish Arthur Conan Doyle would be left alone, but this author just stuck with the idea of making Lady Darlking into Sherlock Holmes wannabe where she often mentions his name. I could understand the sentiment, I really do, for example in times of something "trending" like the peak of fashion you can see the splurge in popularity of certain things, it's the same as trendy fashion nowadays. I have a basic example, when a manga about basketball like Slam Dunk became popular, there was a rise of basketball being the most popular among Japanese teens as a result (same with other popular manga and sports).

For example, when a certain book became popular it dictated a popular trend when it comes to genre, so you can see more dystopia, romantasy, books about vampires for the next few years.

I mean people could have copied a limp, because someone from a royalty had it and it was considered trendy.

But there is still a limit to how many times you can mention Sherlock in your story. Not to mention one thing is to just mention the fictional character, but the whole fantasy about our FMC being acquainted with ACD, not to mention the hint of Irene being a prototype of one of the characters i beyond the limit for me.

I don't like the use of real people in books. Of course it's harder to create an author for your own universe for reader to care, but others did it splendidly, I have no idea why Gleason decided otherwise.  And this is why I shaved off stars for that. 

I know historical fiction is possible without involving real people to this extent, as I previously reviewed Patrice McDonough who used some real events to her advantage, but did not impose too much on it.

Otherwise Lady Darling was an interesting woman of certain age. With her own perks of course.

She is 50 and her aching hip won't let you forget the fact.

She also fairs quite well for her age, but being of certain age I can relate to some of the things she says.

Though some of it does sound quite modern-thinking.

I'm not sure if author wanted us to remember how Lady Darling was once a travelling girl who crossed the seas and is so daring and saw/experienced a lot or we should see her version that also switches back to marchioness, although eccentric but quite haughty if you ask me, who knows her status and uses it to her advantage, even if it sounds snobbish of her.

By this I mean the fact that she decided to investigate the case, because she wants to and because she can (as if it's a common thing to do). I know some people might be upset because her approach and others act as if it's not something gruesome that happened. But actually not everyone mops around all day, especially people who were not close. This happens a lot more than you think. The only thing that is off-putting for real is how she calls herself intelligent and smart etc. Truly smart people don't do it. But the thing is she has no prior experience of solving cases, it's good this one was rather simple for her. Even if she absolutely excluded the work of Scotland Yard as inadequate (in attempts for it to sound like Sherlock Holmes) and after it was over considered her own work done brilliantly.

Another part is how she had no qualms in basically facing off everyone she suspects of doing it. It's like she interrogates people in public and asks all the questions and waits for the reaction. "Did you do it?" As a person with experience of reading people she might have done it, but again, she has no experience in solving cases. It'd be silly to wait and see whose facade will crack from unexpected questioning. In the end it was the conclusion of both murders that had a natural exclusion to help her solve the case, if it was just a singular case, who knows how long she'd waste on it.

I honestly liked the lively beginning and her eccentric personality, but then Conan Doyle appeared in a picture and she couldn't stop bringing him up. Not to mention she had some not appealing thoughts about other people around her. Even her ward - Priscilla Bedwith. Pris actually was also a bit annoying at the beginning, but then I realized it's a bit like a caricature and not a character with how she was scared of the feelings of her childhood friend and decided she will strive for a man with the highest title, this included her delulu as if she's going to be a sensation. As if she's supposed to be this young delulu girl. She also served as a constant reminder at first how different and shocking Lady Darling is.

The consequent haughtiness and the feeling of superiority and constant reminder "I'm brillian, I'm the smartest" also toned the excitement down. Which otherwise would have been a nice character.

The mystery itself was not that impressive. Maybe because it got lost at the constant mention of Holmes. If you isolate it, it might sound not that bad, but again it was overshadowed by everything else.

RATE: 2,75/5.

[NOVEL] Murder at the Mayfair Hotel by C.J. Archer

Why a character can't just be smart when sleuthing?

December 1899. After the death of her beloved grandmother, Cleopatra Fox moves into the luxury hotel owned by her estranged uncle in the hopes of putting hardship and loneliness behind her. But the poisoning of a guest on Christmas Eve throws her new life, and the hotel, into chaos.Cleo quickly realizes no one can be trusted, not Scotland Yard and especially not the hotel’s charming assistant manager. With the New Year’s Eve ball approaching fast and the hotel’s reputation hanging by a thread, Cleo must find the killer before the ball, and the hotel itself, are ruined. But catching a murderer proves just as difficult as navigating the hotel’s hierarchy and the peculiarities of her family.Can Cleo find the killer before the new century begins? Or will someone get away with murder?

A Cleopatra Fox Mystery. Book 1

Fell flat. And I have a lot to say.

The plot is too obvious and also too convenient. A lot of forced parts. There is a biggest plothole in there. The establishment of characters is flat. And the main character despite impressive name did not impress me. Although a lot of things happened it left me with the feeling like I don't care.

Also the story is told from 1st person POV, which I dislike.

Let's dissect.

Part 1. Arrival. Character introduction. 

Cleopatra Fox is a "poor relation" of her uncle and aunt Ronald and Lillian Bainbridge. Here she finds out that uncle sponsored her for all these years and she had no idea (why establish this fact, who knows). Her two cousine Florence and Floyd are people who are the most basic youth among the wealthy, quite carefree and positive.

Cleopatra meets several main figures of the hotel that will play a role in the consequent development. The manager Mr Hobart, his nephew Mr Harry Armitage (whose father is a detective inspector of Scotland Yard). She also witnesses how Mrs Kethering, a housekeeper reprimands a maid Edith who wasn't supposed to go to 5th floor. I have no idea how more obvious you should be to establish that one of the characters has illicit relationship with one of the guests. 

I hope I didn't butcher their names, because this is how some of the characters are forgetful.

because Cleo is now part of the family she is given room to occupy on the 4th floor with the rest of the family. Her maid is called Harmony.

Part 2. Murder.

The one murdered is called Mrs. Warrick. We have to rewind back to introduction of this character. I had no idea how old she is actually, they say she is old enough. Cleo first met Mrs Warrick in passing in front of the lift, where Mrs Warrick turned back and commented to herself that "this person shouldn't be here". Meaning she recognized someone, but who for some reason couldn't be here in the hotel in her opinion. This is what I call convenent, it works for the story, but if we were in the universe that comment might mean nothing at all and can't be used as a solid lead, but will be used as such.

The other convenience that happens is that there are only 3 men that she could have talked about - Mr Armitage, Mr Hookly and Mr Duffiled.

This happened on Christmas Eve and the next morning Mrs Warrick is found dead, poisoned in her own room.

Honestly, if Poirot was here he'd crack this case in a nanosecond if I'm being honest, but what followed is what got on my nerves the most - the false lead. While to readers I think it becomes apparent who is at fault.

The circumstances of Mrs Warrick death: The door locked, found by maid Edith around 7 AM, all signs of poisoning, she did not dine the previous evening and only consumed hot chocolate (which was taken for testing). For a reader it becomes obvious that the two points of her recognition of someone and her death are connected. Which leaves three suspects, which can be reduced to one because of the two following scenes.

Part 3. Investigation.

It is known that police interviewed the staff and especially one footman who brought the chocolate. Now they need to establish what contained poison, time of death etc. All under the wing of Armitage's father who is brother to Manager Mr Hobard.

For some unknown reason, the above-mentioned maid Harmony asks Cleo to investigate. Absolutely no clue why, because Cleo just arrived, she had no prior cases to solve etc. Just because she is a relation and also does not believe the footman did it, or at least wants to prove the innocent.

What baffled me is how she discussed the details with all the staff, while being naively sure that none of them could have done it. Amateur mistake.

Now about the two scenes and why Mr Armitage couldn't have been the culprit but Cleo still took this false lead anyway.

Firstly, I was under the impression that Mrs Warrick stayed in the hotel not once. Proof: they talked about her "routines" about the time when she drinks her hot chocolate or tea, which means she stayed at this hotel several times and because Mr Armitage is a visible figure she should have noticed him on her prior visits if he was at fault. And Cleo followed this false lead for half a book, digging the past of Harry and actually exposing it to her uncle, which eventually led to his dismissal and she regretted it horribly, but honestly.. She felt so stupid at that time. Her leads were so flimsy, she thought that everyone would cover up for him (because of his relationship with his father). Anyway, her imagination got the best of her.

Edit:  I cam back to the book and found this quote, which proves why I was under the impression Mrs. Warrick was a regular:

"I was delivering her tea at seve this morning, as I have done ever since she arrived. She has a regular order, you see; tea delivered at seven by a maid, not a footman. She doesn't want men seeing her in her nightgown." Explained by Edith about Mrs. Warrick's usual order.

It felt forced because now Harry can do what he wanted to do, he found himself attracted to being a private detective type. Because the reason he was shifty and Cleo suspected him is that he was also trying to find who was steling the silver from the hotel. Honestly so forced just to make your two character do the investigative work later on.

Other two suspects:

Scene 1. Mr Duffield who dined with Cleo because she needed to ask him questions or at least hear his story of what and why. She finds he is dressed in worn clothes despite telling her he had an estate. Later we find out tha 1) he indeed lied about his estate; 2) he was a neighbor to Mrs Warrick; 3) he sold gossip to paper for a reward. None of which are a solid motive.

Scene 2. Smoking room with Mr Hookly. Again Cleo was just talking and hears a story from Mr Hookly that he just returned from Africa after selling his mine. She noticed he has no tan and was rather pale but thought he wore a hat *facepalm*. Later on she learns from the post that Mr Hookly receives a lot of parcels from different places. Very early on she also found that he orders from different places in bulks, without paying the bill, the only thing he has is a letter from some noble or smth.

It becomes obvious that he is a fraud. And they find out later that he is a fraud because real Mr Hookly died months ago. At least this is suspicious. I don't say the characters should have connected him to murder right away, would have been too much, but at least thought that guy is a fraud. Could have been connected to murder later. But no.

I don't deny that some of the suggestions by Cleo were solid. Because no poison was found in chocolate or in her items, meaning she somehow digested it. She found who ordered a portion enough for two. Even if it led to nothing, but it connected her and Mr Hookly who is not Mr Hookly. It also meant that someone from the staff was indeed responsible and the first to raise questions is of course - Edith, who found the body. Because the spare keys that could have been taken from senior staff were all locked and there was no sign of breaking, which means only maids could have done it. One who was also present when they discussed theories and what police found etc. Conveniently only later Cleo remembered the first meeting with Edith and Mrs Kethering. Connected it to the fact that fake Mr Hookly was living on the 5th floor where Edith was found. And when they all came to these conclusions Edith was nowhere to be seen.

If you put it together and put the pieces apart it's not a bad idea, but I just felt like the order to reveal things was odd.

Part 4. Conclusion.

Fake Mr Hookly was apprehended and his identity was out. He was a footman of real Mr Hookly and his idea was to get all the things and money and leave.

Edith was a woman madly in love (though honestly we don't care because it suddenly is revealed at the very end) and believed all those sweet nothings how they're going to be together. The reasoning of this fake Mr Hookly to involve Edith is a story that Mrs Warrick was his past lover who threatens his life and hers too, so she believed it's kills or be killed. We absolutely don't care as readers and it sounds ridiculous. Because Edith was a nobody among other staff so far.

Characters.

Honestly, I wish Cleo would give me more. She is quite basic to me. She is said to be intelligent, but one thing is to say rather than show. Same as when she mentions her parents and suddenly has tears in her eyes. Honestly, I couldn't care, there were no bits and pieces to showcase at least something that would make her emotions more vivid, like even if it's a jealousy of the warmth others have while she lost it and it'ss till raw as she says. Sometimes these moments were a miss, sometimes they hit.

She said she wanted to prove herself, well, she got ahead of herself too.

Mr Armitage who will be the main lead later is also not that interesting, sure described as handsome, but basically they have little interactions with Cleo and it's always different in her impression from good to bad. We had no idea he was investigating something just to make him suspicious. How do they manage to make a character present and so background at the same time.

The only thing that was nice to me is how united the staff were in the face of this incident, they wanted to solve it, they felt close, they were rather interesting.

Cleo's family is okay, instead of her worst nightmares they're pretty close to her, though I agree it feels weird that they were not present in her life for all these years, but now they're close and it might have been to do with her grandparents, but who knows, not explained, left for later..maybe.

Well, yeah, I don't regret just spoiling the whole thing, could have been better, but it is what it is.

I really need a smart female lead, but not someone who is too boastful.

RATE: 3/5.

[NOVEL] Manners and Monsters by Tilly Wallace

I was surprised to find it was such a fun read.

A lady never reveals the true extent of her decay...

Hannah Miles lives a quiet existence, helping her parents conduct research into a most terrible affliction - until a gruesome murder during her best friend's engagement party pulls her from the shadows. With her specialist's knowledge and demure disposition, Hannah is requested to aid the investigation.

Except Hannah discovers her role is to apologise in the wake of the rude and disgraced man tasked with finding the murderer. The obnoxious Viscount Wycliff thinks to employ Hannah purely as a front to satisfy Whitehall, but she'll have none of that.

The two must work together to find the murderer before the season is ruined. But the viscount is about to meet his greatest challenge, and it's not a member of the ton with a hankering for brains.

Manners and Monsters. Book 1

Alternative history where magic is present. Imagine timeline past 1812, war between England and France, Napoleon is defeated, but it all sprinkled with supernatural.

As a plan for England's demise from within a batch of snuff and facial powder was stopped from the spread among the ton, but part of it still foound its way to the vanities of aristocratic ladies, this is how few hundred people were cursed to die, but not be dead.

It took me a moment to realize that I'm reading about zombies while they're not called such in the book. Despite the cover being obvious haha It's just the angle this book takes on living dead is really interesting.

Back to the story. Since few years back all cursed were called Afflicted. New rules were made for them (like they can't legally marry since they can't produce a heir, they can't inherit etc. because they're practically dead), so there was a substantial shift in lives of many ladies who found themselves victims of such a vile curse. These are same women (and men) but their hearts don't beat, they live among others and some are obviously Afflicted, but others can be masked among others, it all depends on how well they're "fed". The point is, there is no full list of people who are Afflicted, the information can be acquired partially only through the supplier of "pickled cauliflower".

It's just to express few points in short, while the book to me was much more.

So Hannah's mother is one of the first Afflicted, since she is a mage (former, since her death), she partially siffered from the effects of this curse (decay), but her family works tirelessly to find how to reverse the process.

Hannah is the type of wallflower, her family is now nothing much, her mother is now in the past for others and her father stopped being a famous surgeon and concentrated on Afflicted and how to cure his wife. An exception among many men who either discarded their spouces or broke off engagements with loved ones who became Afflicted.

Then at the beginning of the book a murder happens and the victim was found with their brain missing, something only a deprived and very hungry Afflicted would do.

Viscount Wycliff is appointed to solve the case and also he was present at the scene. Hannah found herself tagging along because 1 - this topic concerns Afflicted and 2 - someone dared to spoil the engagement ball of her friend (honestly this is the worst part that was mentioned, because at the beginning it was said that they're great friends etc. although some of the details rubbed me the wrong way, but throughout the whole book no sign of her friend was present). Hannah found herself a mediator between those who were baffled by Wycliff's rudeness.

Having a list of people present at the ball the list of suspects is narrowed down. Some seem suspicious, but some feel as if they have no reason to commit anything.

You can read the Afflicted as an allegory to something else too. Because partially it does not directly comment on Afflicted, but while the two of our protagonists interview people we meet different women and listen to their different situation, like Mrs Albright, very much walking and talking but tossed aside by her husband for younger wife (I reeeaaally have a strong feeling that he might have found about the powder and used it to get rid of his wife, I have no proof, but the things he said). Like Lady Emma whose fiance ditched her, but her parents do everything for their child. Or mean Lady Gabriella whose outlook completely changed after losing the shackled of being preceived as a woman.

Although it felt like their stories won't mean much, but they still paint a full picture and an interesting take on how society treats those who may be walking and talking, but are partially cast aside.

It's not just a zombie apocalypse where zombies run the streets like mindless menace.

I found that the story is well-paced and well-balanced, it's not an info dump, we get to know about the curse and Afflicted step by step, our characters are not some all-powerful minds that got it all solved, because the study of Afflicted continues. A lot is laced through.

As for the relationship between the two main characters, I do not agree with peopel commenting that someone out of the two is in love with the other, totally don't agree. For the first half they almost loathed each other and later just found the company of each other agreeable enough, they have a long way to go. She finds him so because he may be the one to stir her mind. He is still broody like a heavy cloud, the fact that he finds more sides about her that are better among other women is a common trope. I would cut some of his parts to let him simmer a bit more and so they could develop more in later books, others did this too and  found it quite successful.

Overall was pleasantly surprised.

RATE: 5/5. 

[NOVEL] A Perilious Undertaking by Deanna Raybourn

Why is this novel titled like that is beyond me, they never did any undertaking.

London, 1887. At the Curiosity Club, a ladies-only establishment for daring and intrepid women, Victorian adventuress Veronica Speedwell meets the mysterious Lady Sundridge, who begs her to take on an impossible task--saving society art patron Miles Ramsforth from execution. Ramsforth, accused of the brutal murder of his mistress, Artemisia, will face the hangman's noose in a week's time if the real killer is not found.

But Lady Sundridge is not all that she seems, and unmasking her true identity is only the first of many secrets Veronica must uncover. Together with her natural-historian colleague, Stoker, Veronica races against time to find the true murderer. From a Bohemian artists' colony to a royal palace to a subterranean grotto with a decadent history, the investigation proves to be a very perilous undertaking indeed....

Veronica Speedwell Mystery. Book 2

I would call this an adventure rather than a mystery, even if the sleuthing does take part of it, but honestly, I always feel so detached when reading this.. I'm saying as if I've read ten books and not simply two.

I actually finished it few days ago, but forgot to pour all my frustration out I suppose. So here it is.

Before proceeding with my annual criticism of Veronica and her antics, I must admit, I like Stoker as a character, he is the logic of this team, he gives more sound ideas and when it comes to action he is truly a man to rely on.

Some may point out that he gives way to Veronica a ot, but it does not look good for her that he is basically - let her do whatever she wants, because that girl is stubborn af.

Veronica is the Victorian adventuress-lepidopterist. She is stuck in England with Stoker because their planned expedition was cut short because their patron (and also the man who provides them with shelter) had broken his leg, so instead they use their services of cataloging everything the generations of this family collected.

When suddenly Lady C. asks Veroica to visit the Curiosity club with her where she meets none other than Lady Sunbridge, but who is also Queen Victoria's daughter, Princess Louise.

She tasks Veronica to impossible, figure out the real murderer, because Princess Louise swears she knows the man did not kill his mistress.

I don't know how to feel about involving real people in novels and portraying them as you see fit, but basically Princess Louise is one insufferable ass, considering I think of Veronica the same, I guess it's a family trait then.

Veronica agrees for nothing else but the idea that she might meet her real bio dad, though she knows it's impossible. There are no real ties between Veronica and the man she tries to save, but they portray it as if she is going to do it, as if she suddenly has this just heart and she gives a damn about a man she never even saw in her life.

Soon things become apparent that there is something going on with the murder, because someone sends them a threatening letter not to dig into this matter, which sounded so stupid, the perpetrator could have as well proclaimed it at every corner. Of course this leads our duo to investigate the case with conviction that Ramsworth should be saved. My only matter with such books is that.. there is no feel of urgency, even if they had like a week for solving the case.

And again Veronica and Stoker are not pro sleuths, just both of them reading some detective stories they often mention is not enough. And it shows. They always have a great deal of suspects, but they fail to narrow it down.

The book doesn't make a secret of who did it because author can't help but mention several times that a certain character wore white so it removes them from the list of suspects. Which was the stupidest thing I've heard, because you can change. As it happened, I was right.

I have no idea how these two sleuths have read some books but forget one major point when it comes to solving the case - person of interest. We starts from closest people and those they were involved with. But it always baffled me how two protags just let it slide past them.

Anyway, we have a short but still a list of people we suspect. I found this part like other parts a bit forced, since the above-mentioned Louise did not think of being discreet and announced she gave the go to our main characters, and she said it among countless witnesses in the place which we'll shortly call Art House (which isn't its' real name of course), which lodges and connects people of the ton and artists.

So we have several people who act suspiciously or catch our attention, but was I disappointed with the outcome, surely I was.

The revelations that followed after we know the whodunnit moment were not impressive to me. Not impressed and don't really care.

As for the characters.

I already said that Princess Louise acted as insufferable b. She basically acted on emotions when they first met to make Veronica yield. Veronica called her bluff, which honestly is one great part about her character. Later she demanded things like report on progress and such, which honestly, you gave the task and gave nothing and thought it's going to be solved in two days or what? Lol might I add that she always said about friendship and loyalty and honor, but honestly, she wanted investigation more for herself imo, because her name was on the ledger, which was a prove that she visited the naughty grotto Ramsforth kept. And she knew he didn't do it because they were there when things happened, but no one could say a word about it.

Veronica doesn't change much from the first book, still stubborn to do her own thing, it's a bit wild how she basically was so THIRSTY in this book, but she was noticing everyone, not only Stoker. Honestly, the girl should have toned it down. It's like she notices every man, but still names them "male species". She is not giving them any respect, but is always ready to use their services. Maybe sometimes she had good moments, but often time I was simply so over with her antics. It always feels like she thinks she is above the rest. She talks so much about freedom, but I am mad at her for basically degrading other women, changes are not something that can be done in a day or two. And I will stand by my previous conviction that she is so freedom-loving for no one's sake. She helps no one. The fact that she is so free to do whatever she wants, how she flaunts her escapades and romantic relationships exists only for herself.

Also I always found it hypocritical how she "does not bed Englishmen", basically because she knows the consequences of that. She can be hush about it, but she basically confessed to multiple characters in this book that she is not a virgin and had multiple lovers.

Poor Stoker, he is stuck with this menace. He is a brooding man, but honestly he is gentlemanly in a good way, has some really good qualities and is always there for the rescue. I felt like I need more of him.

The rest of the cast is.. well, they're there, have no idea what was the point of some characters getting so much attention.

Now the mystery.

[ANIME] Saigo ni Hitotsu dake Onegai Shite mo Yoroshii Deshouka / 最後にひとつだけお願いしてもよろしいでしょうか (2025)

Or - May I Ask for One Final Thing?

Very light, easy on the eye, humorous take on villainess who actually beats everyone's ass. The story is pretty simple, but Scarlet as FMC of this anime is really refreshing. Let me elaborate.

SHE BEATS PEOPLE.

It's not ladylike, but SHE BEATS PEOPLE.

No one knows how frustrating it is to read about some annoying characters and the main character is always like - well, I can't do anything about it or not now. Or another set of female characters who are not keen on revenge through violence. But Scarlet is a different type of girl and this story allows her to drop those shackles that bind with basic development, instead she finds joy in hitting people because they're pieces of crap who deserve it.

The plot starts with the most basic scenes ever, where a second prince and Scarlet fiance declares that he breaks the engagement, after years upon years of Scarlet trying not to send this idiot and abusive scum into space, but he also dares to accuse her of things she never did. This was the last straw that finally unleashed what Scarlet wanted for all these years - give him a good beating.

The most refreshing moment of it all is how she also smashed the mistress, Terenezza, into her pretty face.

Delicious. PEAK OF CINEMA!! I can watch this forever.

Some may find Scarlet and her beatings quite fun at the beginning and might be bored by it, since it doesn't change. But hello?! Wouldn't it be weirder if she changed her ways suddenly, fistfight is her thing after all. And also every time she describes it differently, which adds to the humor of the scene. I mean the way she can delightfully laugh, while spinning someone around by their leg is worth some laughs. At least from me.

The story is simple, Terenezza is a person who can be considered a true villainess, with a power of goddess (where people can be blessed by gods in this universe) she strives to bring chaos to this world.

There are plenty of characters and it plays like a comical reverse harem, I think that was the aim, but I have no proof. Because most of the people are ridiculous.

I have no idea if Scarlet will ever get a second season, because the manga goes beyond that, but there is one thing I'd like to see as a trend in it.

Because the moment Scarlet admitted her feelings for the Prince Julius it felt more like plot needed it, it didn't look great or organic, it was more fun to watch her refusing his advances throughout the whole anime, because that guy is shifty af. At least if the girl ever falls for someone, she can acquaint the face of the person involved with her fists (as she demonstrated).

All in all, a very entertaining and refreshing watch. It gave me hope that there will be fun animes in this genre.