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A review by sirensaria
By the Time You Read This I'll Be Gone by Stephanie Kuehn
3.0
I'm not entirely sure how to feel about this. It was a good book, not great, but good. There were some problems along the way, like the mystery wasn't very strong, and the character development needed a bit of work. The book just felt very rushed.
The characters weren't very well developed. Considering how the plot seemed to be driven more by the characters, it seemed rather strange. You got a very basic view of the characters. I could understand not getting really into the character development with Carlos, Leif, and Leisl, but even Jackson didn't have a ton of character. Beatrice, the main character, was also really hard to understand. There's this huge focus on her anxiety, but I really didn't see it all that much until she had a panic attack. It was rather disappointing, really.
The whole mystery, which was sort of two mysteries, also didn't make a whole lot of sense. I understood what happened, but it didn't really seem real. Like, none of the mysteries were really well explained and nothing was really in-depth. This was another disappointment. There wasn't enough explanation on the mystery, and the clues were very random and didn't entirely make sense. Also, one of the mysteries was wrapped up WAY too quickly. I was not really satisfied with the end very much, at least not how it played out. This book would have definitely benefited from more pages. It just seemed rushed, and the whole plot suffered for it.
Not entirely sure if I will be reading the second book, but you never know. I really hate leaving a mystery unsolved.
The characters weren't very well developed. Considering how the plot seemed to be driven more by the characters, it seemed rather strange. You got a very basic view of the characters. I could understand not getting really into the character development with Carlos, Leif, and Leisl, but even Jackson didn't have a ton of character. Beatrice, the main character, was also really hard to understand. There's this huge focus on her anxiety, but I really didn't see it all that much until she had a panic attack. It was rather disappointing, really.
The whole mystery, which was sort of two mysteries, also didn't make a whole lot of sense. I understood what happened, but it didn't really seem real. Like, none of the mysteries were really well explained and nothing was really in-depth. This was another disappointment. There wasn't enough explanation on the mystery, and the clues were very random and didn't entirely make sense. Also, one of the mysteries was wrapped up WAY too quickly. I was not really satisfied with the end very much, at least not how it played out. This book would have definitely benefited from more pages. It just seemed rushed, and the whole plot suffered for it.
Not entirely sure if I will be reading the second book, but you never know. I really hate leaving a mystery unsolved.