mooglenina.bsky.social

One of my favorite things about this book was the depth of the setting. On the surface, a cute, unassuming town, but the side characters and the sense of the village itself really grew on me. It made sense that that’s also what happened with one of the main characters, Leo Page, as he came to understand the town better. I thought that sense of growing familiarity on the reader’s part matching that of Leo’s was really effective. I was looking for a cozy little mystery and I’d say I *mostly* got that. It was a little difficult for me to put together the full story of what happened even during the moments of more direct explanation; I had to reread most of those parts at least once. Even though I think I’ve got down what happened, there’s elements of different characters’ motivations that I wish were more explicit. As for the main couple, Leo and James, I really enjoyed their dynamic; that would be my other favorite thing about the book. Right from the start, they call each other out in a way where there’s no games, just a bit of sideways honesty. They’re each a unique presence in the other’s life and it’s clear to see why they would find value in that and grow closer. By the end of the book, their relationship might only be in the beginning stages, and they might each feel nervous about it, but as a reader, I could definitely see all the evidence of how they fit together and all the ways they work. Overall, an enjoyable read with only a few hiccups when it came to my understanding of the mystery, and that could easily be reader’s error.