#daisy darker

[sapphiretears444]

i love the feeling of starting a new book! 📖

[the---hermit]

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

I am writing this right after I have finished the audiobook, and I have yet to understand how I feel about this book. I am actually writing this review right away in the hopes it will help me figure out how to rate this novel. This is a thriller book that was inspired by And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (which is my favourite murder myster novel), I picked it up knowing only this and to be honest going in blind was a great choice. Of course knowing very well the book it takes inspiration from made a few things predictable, but it was overall enjoyable.

In case you don't want to be like me and want to know a bit more about the plot here it is: the Darker family is a pretty disfunctional family, most of them have been ignoring each other for years, but they all come together for Nana's 80th birthday. Nana was a very successful children's books author, she is an eccentric lady who lives on a small tidal island. This means that on certain moments of the day the island is totally cut off from the rest of the courntry. As the night unfolds things will get pretty scary for the Darker family as they have to deal with who they are and their secrets.

I have a lot to say. Firstly if you know anything about me, you'll know that probably my favourite trope for this kind of books is when a small number of characters are isolated in some way from the rest of the world. It's surely an obsession that started with Christie's novel, and for some reason I just love the vibe. I must say it was done pretty well in this novel, you can see the increasing panic of the characters as things progress during the night. I was a bit intimidated by the fact that this book is inspired by one of my favourite novels, I didn't want to read it with a bias and not appreaciate it. But overall the book is self aware enough of this bond with the classic, and I appreciated it. As I said I saw a few twists coming, but a couple of things I really couldn't tell and I was pleasently surprised, because I didn't think this book could shock me as it did (more in the spoilery section below the cut). My main criticsm is that the characters felt very flat. They are really one dimentional, there's no growth for any character in the past or present, and I feel like each one of them has one or two characteristics and that's it, nothing more. There's the self obsessed mean sister who feels like a middle school bully trapped in the body of a 30-something year old, the divorced parents who hold grudges of past decades, and so on. Daisy, the main character, spends the entire book whining about how no one loves her, and it's honestly really annoying after a while. It gets too repetitive on that point, so much that you start not to empathize with her but being very much annoyed. The book started a bit slowly for my taste, but when it picked up its pace it was really intiguing, and I feel like the audiobook helped a lot. It was definitely the right way for me to enjoy this book. I am not sure yet about how I feel about the big twists, but I overall enjoyed it. I don't feel like giving a super high rating to this book because of what I said about the characters, and I would definitely recommend the audiobook version of this novel.

I read this for the thirller prompt of the jumbo reading challenge.

spoilery thoughts under the cut!

This section contains spoilers so read at your own risk.

I feel like writing a spoilery section to talk about how I felt about the twists, I don't always do this, but I am in the mood for it today. So, knowing And Then There Were None very well I knew I had to look out for a character that only pretended to die, and I got the feeling it was Nana very early on. I will admit my main suspect for the murders was Daisy until the very end, but I also had a feeling about Trixie hidying something, especially after she was saved (as well as the fact that she's a kid, so for the entire book I had a feeling the author would find a way not to have her murdered). The two twists that actually got me were the fact that Conor is actually Trixie's father, I was shocked by it. You definitely have all the hints to get it but I didn't see it coming at all. And the fact that Daisy was actually killed. This is the main thing I don't know how to feel about, I wasn't expecting anything supernatural and the whole I have been a ghost all along thing sometimes feels a bit cheap? As I said I am not sure yet whether I like this twist or not. I didn't love how everyone in this family is obsessed by Conor, but that also has a lot to do with what I was saying about the characters feeling really flat. As you can tell I am still a bit torn on my opinions of this novel.

[cheyconicbookreviews]

I just listened to Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney and needed to make a piccrew of how I saw them. Obsessed.

[bangbangwhoa]

books I’ve read in 2022 📖 no. 080

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

“Pity fades with age, hate is lost and found, but guilt can last a lifetime.”

[libertyreads]

May TBR--

Thanks to my newly minted library card, this is not all of my TBR for the month of May. Just the books I currently physically own. I’m so excited for the reads for the month of May. I get to start my Murderbot Diaries reread and I get to check out some books that have caught my eye but not held enough interest for me to actually go out and purchase them for myself.

1. Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney (Library)-- This is a Murder Mystery set on an isolated island. Daisy Darker’s family has never been what one would call functional. After years of avoiding each other, the family is assembling for Nana’s 80th birthday at the crumbling gothic house on a tiny tidal island. When the tide comes in, they’ll be cut off from the rest of the world for eight hours. Each family member arrives while harboring secrets and then at the stroke of midnight, as a storm rages, Nana is found dead. And an hour later the next family member follows. This is a retelling of sorts of the Agatha Christie story ‘And Then There Were None.’

2. Rookie Move by Sarina Bowen (Library)-- Leo Trevi has spent the last six years trying to do two things: get over the girl who broke his heart and succeed in the NHL. But, on the first day he’s called up to the show, Leo gets checked on both sides. First, by the team’s coach who has a grudge; second, by the team’s sexy, icy publicist--his former girlfriend Georgia Worthington.

3. Greenglass House by Kate Milford (Library)-- This one seems to be a Middle Grade Mystery/Fantasy novel about a place called Greenglass House. It’s a creaky smuggler’s inn that’s always quiet during the wintertime. While Milo, the innkeepers’ adopted son, planned on relaxing during his holidays, things get thrown off course by the ring of the guest bell. It rings again and again. Soon, Milo’s home is bursting with odd and secretive guests who each bring a strange story that’s connected to the old house.

4. Demon in the Wood by Leigh Bardugo (Library)-- This one seems to be a graphic novel version of the Darkling’s history and backstory. I think it’s the only Grishaverse thing I have yet to read. I was never interested in buying it so I’m glad I finally have my library card and can read it for free.

5. Neverworld Wake by Marisha Pessl (Kindle)-- This is a YA Mystery following a group of friends a year after the death of their friend Jim. His girlfriend Beatrice has questions she wants answered and their meeting again gives her that chance. And then a mysterious man knocks on the door and announces the impossible: time for them has become stuck, snagged on a splinter that can only be removed if the former friends make the harshest of decisions.

6. A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid (NetGalley)-- A Fantastical Dark Academia novel that looks like it will be everything fans of Dark Academia could ever want. Since childhood, Effy Sayre has been haunted by visions of the Fairy King. She’s found solace only in the pages of Angharad--author Emrys Myrddin’s beloved epic about a mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King and then destroys him. Effy’s tattered copy is all that keeps her afloat through her stifling first term at Llyr’s prestigious architecture college. So when Myddin’s family announces a contest to design the late author’s house, Effy feels certain this is her destiny. 

7. The Marriage Act by John Marrs (New Release)-- From the author who brought us the insanity that was The One, comes a new Mystery/Thriller. What if marriage was the law? Dare you disobey? In near-future Britain, a right-wing government believes it has the answer to society’s ills--the Sanctity of Marriage Act, which actively encourages marriage and punishes those who choose to remain single. But four couples are about to discover just how impossible relationships can be when the government is monitoring every aspect of our personal lives and will use every tool in its arsenal to ensure everyone will love, honor, and obey.

8. All Systems Red by Martha Wells-- I’m finally starting my reread of The Murderbot Diaries! I cannot explain my excitement. I’ll just quote the GR synopsis since there’s so much I could just burst forth with already. “In a corporate-dominated space-faring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. For their own safety, exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids. But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern. On a distant planet, a team of scientists is conduction surface tests, shadowed by their Company supplied ‘droid--a self-away SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module and refers to itself as ‘Murderbot.’ Scornful of humans, Murderbot wants to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is, but when a neighboring mission goes dark, it’s up to the scientists and Murderbot to get to the truth.”

9. The Beauty and the Beast (Minalima edition) by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve-- I’m so excited to read this interactive, illustrated version of the original story. The epic love story follows a beautiful young girl imprisoned in the magical castle of a monstrous beast.

10. The American Roommate Experiment by Elena Armas-- This is a standalone romance novel that is set after The Spanish Love Deception. But I’ve been reassured that I don’t need to read that one first. In this novel, we follow aspiring romance author Rosie Graham whose life is a little up in the air following her quitting her well paying job. But through a misunderstanding Rosie and Lucas both end up staying at her friend Lina’s apartment. They end up trying to break Rosie’s writer’s block in some unexpected ways.

[adowryofblood]

I just finished reading Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney and holy shit that was one of the best books I've ever read. Truly a top tier thriller.

[pipperoni32-blog]

Monsters don’t always hide in the dark. Some walk around in broad daylight, happy to be seen by anyone foolish enough to look in their direction.

- Daisy Darker

[annafromuni]

Daisy Darker - The Thrilling Suspense Novel That Threw Me Into 2023

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney was one of the first books I read this year and I feel confident in saying that it’s been a kick in the right direction for my reading as both a reader searching for new genres to enjoy and a writer wanting to learn new techniques and storytelling methods. I got hooked on the first page and felt myself hanging onto every word. Now it’s time to convince you to read it…

[princessofbookaholics]

24 hour readathon

I'm doing a 24 hour readathon starting right now because we are 10 days into the month and I have only read one book which is very unusual for me and I just want that reading routine back! i have no tbr so i'm just going to mood read 🤞

i'll be staring my readathon with daisy darker by alice feeney since i'm already in the middle of it. It's an and then there were none retelling so it's going good ✨

[titsthedamnseason]

just started the book daisy darker and it’s about three sisters named rose, lily, and daisy (IN THAT AGE ORDER???)

[drackiszunk]

I thought I had this mystery solved and I was partially right haha.

[is-this-how-it-is-now]

jo... Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney... oh. my. god. that ending fucked me up real bad.

[superhero--imagines]

Just finished Daisy Darker, it was pretty good! I loved the Agatha Christie references.

Though I did catch the plot twist super early on—still a good read though

[ijustreadthisbook]

I started Daisy Darker with high expectations.

It almost became a DNF but it's turned into a hate read.

I can't believe how bad it is, Alice Feeney I know you can do better than this!!

Why am I 2/3rds through and you're still telling me about how awful these completely one note characters are instead of telling me about the fucking murders PLEASE

[eachpage]

(via Daisy Darker)

Mystery Books to Read 📚💖

[thecreatureoftheshadows]

“A mother’s least favourite child always knows that’s what they are.”

- Daisy Darker | Alice Feeney