The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (Disclaimer: NOT a parody of the 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo)

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                              Come on it seems like it should be a parody

Ahem, ahem.  Anyways, uh yeah I gave up on that hope pretty quickly once I read the blurb. Though vaguely disheartened, I proceeded to read the book. Why? Well, um because it seemed unusual and it was on kindle unlimited and uhm, it was on kindle unlimited. And the best things in life are free right?

(Considering changing the name of this channel to One Broke Book Reviewer)

So basically, it seems like a very Christie murder mystery. Plush mansion, dysfunctional family, bunch of equally dysfunctional guests. But there's a twist. Our protagonist Aiden Bishop wakes up in the body of a different guest each day, and will continue to do so for eight days before the loop starts again and he wakes up with no memory. To stop the loop, he must solve the mystery of who killed Evelyn Hardcastle. Or else he'll be stuck in this crumbling (but still plush) mansion forever.

I didn't like it. I LOVED IT. It was just so... classy, and stylish, and chic. And Brit. (Remnants of childhood Harry-Potter-instigated-Anglophilia coming to the fore.)

The plot is just OMG.  ( The less alphabets is sometimes the more descriptive .) It keeps churning. Just when you thought it couldn't get any better-it gets better. It keeps you mentally engaged, and you keep having to balance the shifting perspectives, and mentally rebalancing for every plot twist, so it's not really a beach read. (Unlike Beach Read, which I will be reviewing shortly. Yes, I do stoop to romcoms sometimes)

The finale was really good even though it kind of relied on the psychopathy of one of the characters, which is sort of a cheat move. (I wince upon rereading  that sentence)

The writing is really nice, even though it's set in the 1920's. It doesn't have the stiffness of Christie's writing and has the kind of easy flow that characterizes today's writing, without any modern slang.

It's moderately descriptive, crisp and cool.

The main character Aiden is very sympathetic. Though not a lot is said about him as a person, fair enough considering he can't remember anything, he is your classic Chivalrous Brit. Which all said and done, is a much loved archetype, and for a reason.

Overall 4.5.  In deference to the time period of this novel, you should probably listen to jazz with this, but I will have mercy on you and you can listen to this with Dua Lipa. 

Yeah, um the disclaimer is because I actually did think that