Just a side note: Technically my copy is still an ARC one, but, this book is officially available today!
My rating, wait for it, you’re gonna be fuckin’ freakin’ shocked……
3.5/5
I read this in a few hours, and can only say I found it really charming (and I was happy to have something to read that suited my mood lol). Bianca Blythe has set us up with a protagonist who takes people unawares with her sleuthing abilities as they think her only a silver screen darling. [Note: This is book 2 in her; A Sleuthing Starlet Mystery series. I have not read book 1]
Cora Clarke is charming and a bit adorable if I’m honest, flaws and quirks and all, and I enjoyed the voice Bianca has given her. I had not read book one in this series but found it wasn’t necessary which I find to be a huge bonus when you pick up a book that seems up your alley. I mean there were a couple of things in relation to the romance where you were able to know from context clues that you’d missed something but that was about it.
She kind of harkens back to a Shirley Temple vibe, the whole child actor unable to transition into an adult actor, she also has a best friend who is the pinnacle of seductive Hollywood star/all superior celebrity and their relationship is cute and fun and it fits for the novel….and I can’t help it, I LOVE books set between 1900-1945. Bianca’s writing is simple and clean (any Kingdom Hearts fans out there start jammin’ to the theme song in your head? No? Just me? Pffffft) and I really enjoyed that, sometimes when an author gets too heavy with their vernacular in a novel like this it just makes it stuffy and overly ridiculous and not in a good parody way, but she kept it on a nice easy read level and it was enjoyable.
The style is a bit reminiscent of Agatha Christie, a dinner party, no one else in or out which means its one of the guests or servants and it is a fun game of guess who. Some of you may find you’ll know who did it right off the bat, but, she still provides enough twists and turns to divert you if you aren’t sleuthing yourself for the real culprit. Overall if someone is not into grisly murder mysteries but want a good ‘whodunnit’ novel with some adorable romance… they’ll find this one truly a delight, the sleuthing starlet is definitely a series I look forward to keeping an eye out for.
I read a free ARC of this that I accessed from Netgalley, I was not paid or enticed to give anything but an honest review. Seriously guys,
I make no money, off of anything, I’m writing this to you from a box under a bridge. It just happens to have spectacular wifi.
The Caffeinated Reader 