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Book Review of The Watching Eye (Pimpernelles)

The Watching Eye (Pimpernelles)
esmestohelit avatar reviewed on + 109 more book reviews


**I received a free copy of this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

DNF at 13%. The book may have gotten better after that, but I gave it more then enough chances already.

I had problems with this book from the start. First, the writing. It's doesn't flow nicely at all. It's choppy and caused me to grumbled to myself to the point I lost track of what I was reading. There are run on sentences right from the get go. Also, the writing is too pretentious. I get that the author was going for the style of a classical Gothic novel. The problem is, the writing is too amateurish to pull it off. I honestly thought I was reading a Middle Grade book until there was a mention of Maud possibly having to sell her body to make ends meet.

The few characters I came across were an issue for me also. Again, they may have gotten better as the story went on, but they never should have been this bad from the beginning. Maud is too naive, in by Victorian standards. She meets her cousin, who you can tell is a sociopath as soon as she opens her mouth, and still believes they will have a good relationship. She also has a "poor, poor me" attitude. Your parents are dead. You had to work as a governess for a few awful families. When your Uncle died, he didn't leave anything to your father. You have an awful life. Everything is unfair. I get it. I said I freaking get it! Stop repeating yourself already!! The last straw for me was when she repeatedly referred to a disabled man as a Creature. The only other character I can really say anything about is John. Honestly, I can't even say that much about him. All I will say is his thoughts went full blown stalker as soon as he laid eyes on Maude at the station.

I would not recommend this book to anyone