A review by sierrasahara
Things in Jars by Jess Kidd

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I really struggled with what to rate this book so I'll start with what I loved. I loved the main story and the characters of Bridie, Cora and Ruby. The start of this book is very slow and it's hard to get into, I told myself if I still wasn't intrigued by pg. 100 I'd give up but by then the mystery and the story really picked up and I knew I wanted to finish it. As others have said, the writing/language used is very hard to understand at times. I would re-read a sentence 3 times trying to figure out what it was trying to say before giving up and moving on. It was hard to keep track of all the characters and sometimes they'd be described with such vague descriptions like you were supposed to know who they were but with so many characters I had no clue. I was also disappointed in the reveal of who Ruby Doyle was as it seemed like a big plot point at the beginning of the book but after the reveal I was still unsure who he was supposed to be. 
All in all solid 3.75 to balance out the things I liked and what I didn't, maybe I'll re-read it after I finish my reading goal to try to patch some of things I missed.

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