The Housesitter by J.E. Rowney

Genre: Suspense

Format: ARC - Digital

Pages: 295

Start Date: July 25th, 2023

End Date: July 27th, 2023

Overall: ★★

Character Development: ★ 

Ending: ★ 

Recommend: No

 🚨 May Contain Spoilers, Continue at Your Own Risk 🚨

I received this an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I struggled with this book, while the overall idea was interesting I just don’t think it was executed well. I felt like the characters talked in circles. Saying the same thing over & over, backwards & forwards. I should have skipped to the end since not a single thing remotely interesting happened until the last 5% of the book & even that was incredibly underwhelming. While the final twist was unexpected, by the time I got to it I was so over the story completely that it couldn’t save it. I ended up leaving with more questions than answers.

Also there were some specific flaws that I just couldn’t unsee:

1. Chapter 10 Jude says she made the sandwich & the plate she’s put it on makes it “picture perfect” which is how she realized she didn’t have her phone with her - then in Chapter 14 she said that sandwich hadn’t been made.

2. Chapter 20 Jude ‘“blackmail” I replied, deadpan’ - then in Chapter 24 says she’d never been bold enough to call out her caller & accuse them of blackmail. She literally did.

3. Overuse of the word “opulent” - honestly you could have made it a drinking game & maybe the book would have been better because I would have been fairly tipsy. Frankly, a lot of the vocabulary here was a little outlandish, I figured it was supposed to be a trait of the character, but as time went on I started thinking it just must be this authors writing style.

With all of this said, I do not like to bash books or their authors because I couldn’t write a book to save my life. I took a peek at other reviews & people seemed to like it, so don’t let what I say deter you from giving it a try - it just wasn’t the style for me.