Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Liar's Beach by Katie Cotugno

3 reviews

gwenswoons's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I liked this a lot!! I was digging around all year for something set on MV for the Libro.fm Audiobook Challenge — there was a prompt to listen to an audiobook set in your favorite city! My favorite “cities” are all tiny towns with dirt roads, so I expanded my search a little to the whole Vineyard (this is set in a very different world than the MV my Grandpa and Mom lived on year-round, thankfully, haha)!

It’s interesting this is categorized as YA, and it made me a little wary since I’m not generally a YA reader (except for, like, The Poet X or Firekeeper’s Daughter, which are both such great literature regardless of category!). Liar’s Beach is not some magnificent literature (but it’s not, to my feel, trying to be that) but I found it so effective at what it was, a sort of semi-locked room mystery. I really loved the character of Holiday — the blurb says she’s a recast Hercule Poirot and while I don’t read Agatha Christie (racism) I do feel like I could easily follow Holiday from book to book, which is to me such a great feeling to have about a mystery-novel protagonist!

The class disparities in this and the sort of ambivalence and shame surrounding them — it’s a summer novel, but it’s very much centered on prep school characters, and the narrator is in a totally different socioeconomic bracket than his peers — often reminded me of The Secret History, which, again, great compliment for a thriller or mystery I think! Somehow it evokes dark academia despite being set on Martha’s Vineyard.

Overall I thought this was super effective and I’ll for sure (in 2025, I think! Have to finish up a few more December reads first!) read the second novel Katie Cotugno set in this universe.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

savreads28's review

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

2.75

Boy was the MC an ass! Ugh! He was such a jerk, he kind of ruined the whole book! That and they kinda gave away part of the solution to the mystery a bit too soon, though I did like how it ended. Overall, a very meh book. If the MC had been better, I would have enjoyed the book more. I did like the mental health aspect of the romantic interest though. I assume there's going to be some sort of follow-up book as well. 


Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Accept and close

By using The StoryGraph, you agree to our use of cookies.
We use a small number of cookies to provide you with a great experience.

Find out more