#her perfect revenge

[prose-mortem]

Book Review: Her Perfect Revenge by Lesley Sanderson

Rating: 5/5 stars

Her Perfect Revenge is a murder-mystery/thriller that I struggled to put down, even while traveling to Scandinavia from the U.S. I loved it!

Felicity and Alex are due to be married, but on the night of their wedding after the ceremony, Alex drowns during a celebratory group swim. This is incredibly strange since Alex, Felicity, and all of their friends are accomplished swimmers who are part of the same swimming group. Felicity is a heartbroken widow after only being married for a few short hours. A few years before Alex's death, his fiancee, Beth, drowned in a similar fashion. Felicity, Alex's co-worker at the time, helped him work through his grief, which led to the start of their romantic relationship together. As the police investigation unfolds and authorities delve into the mystery of how a well-trained swimmer drowned on his wedding night, new information emerges about a mistress, a battered wife, and the woman who knows most of Alex's secrets.

Things I loved:

Her Perfect Revenge was paced perfectly. It was fast right from the start!

The cast of characters with perspectives shifting from past to present, with an anonymous character every now and then to ramp up the mystery was awesome.

Alex's character has that ominous aura that every woman has seen in a man at least once in her life. We know it because it is scary, and my heart was pounding through many of his scenes throughout the book.

All of the twists and turns near the end were chef's kiss!

I love it when a book isn't necessarily a police procedural, but we get to be part of the investigation through the lens of the authority figures conducting it.

The fact that technically this could all happen in real life really kept me engaged. I think the best thrillers are the ones that tap into realistic potentials.

I appreciated how Felicity's character kept me guessing right up until the very end.

The interrogation scenes were really good and helped me stay afloat in terms of what was going on. Sometimes thrillers can derail if twists aren't properly structured, but this was not an issue at all.

What I didn't like:

I didn't like the fact that this book made me angry whenever someone tried to interrupt me while I was reading it haha! I have no complaints. Her Perfect Revenge has everything I want to experience while reading a thriller!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Bookouture for sending me an e-ARC to read. I really appreciate receiving this so close to the publishing date. Since this book had me on the edge of my seat, it was easy to get my review back in on time! In the future, I will be sure to request books by Lesley Sanderson, because I am addicted!

[littlefeltsparrow]

Schrödinger’s Feyre: Where Feyre is simultaneously a cunning and badass girlboss with a mind of steel and a fragile little lamb who doesn’t know any better. When they’re proud, she’s a skilled strategist and competent High Lady, but when it comes to facing the consequences of her actions and the implications of her power, suddenly she’s a little baby waddling through fairy land.

[storge]

That… That was not enough.

Perfect Marriage Revenge (2023)

[kateknowsdramas]

We're so similar.

[purpleguitar]

Perfect Marriage Revenge EP 6

[wisebeth]

why does the pjo series have to unnecessarily villainize goddesses (hera & athena) or show them as silly ladies (aphrodite & demeter) BUT posiedon and apollo are somehow shown as the coolest/most likeable gods, even though arguably, they're right after zeus on terms of corruption?

ares shown as the worst god after zeus and hera amuses me. last time i checked, he was the patron god of amazons and literally killed a man for attempting to rape his daughter but guess who cursed women for rejection? apollo. guess who raped women when they said no (aside from zeus)? posiedon.

[sofiarostova]

home by now or just one long extended game of tag, you decide

[freakova]

World’s silliest girl

[charlesemersonwinchesteriii]

Julian tells Miles he should give his wife a present and immediately suggests the exact same gift that he and Garak famously give each other, which could mean nothing

[bethanydelleman]

One of my favourite relationship dynamics is Person A is relatively normal, Person B has all the mannerisms of a terrified stray cat. B is in proximity to A and it becomes the only goal of Person A's life to pet that stray cat. A is going to make B feel safe, and warm, and pet-able (in a very respectful manner) if that is the last thing they do.

Bonus points if A destroys (in whatever fashion) all the people that dared make B that way...

[kdramastuff]

[storge]

😂😂😂😂

Perfect Marriage Revenge (2023)

[penguinkyun]

finally got to read onk 136 and wow. okay.

love the understanding we're slowly getting of just how bad things were in first gen b-komachi! that fight is incredibly real and heartbreaking to witness

nino, in her own way is trying out of sheer desperation and a whole emotional cocktail to reach out to ai, to find something, letting loose all her bottled up feelings in one go but all she's getting back are practised perfected smiles and deflecting answers in response to the emotion shes pouring out because ai has no idea how to handle this because shes never had friends nor any major fight before so she's falling back on the "smile and please everyone" tactic but it isnt working here because that isnt what nino wants to hear so she gets even more hurtful but ai doesn't know that so all she can do, all she can try right now is smile and its a slow suffocation of everything that could've been because they were friends but now the cracks go too deep and can't be patched up at all because ai is now dead and nino is left with a bunch unresolved feelings that still affects her more than a decade later

its just so heartbreaking and frustrating to witness just exactly how everything culminated into what it is now because no one who could have did anything about it either, not even their manager which pushed the singular star - everyone else is just a side actor narrative even more

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

continuing on, kana's detachment yet empathy with nino as she observes from a distance while ruby is very much embodying ai, being her instead of keeping herself separate. kana knows herself and now she's able to sort out her hidden feelings easier now that she has an outlet in form of nino (she uses her own emotions for acting after all) but ruby with her years of grief and the sudden understanding of ai...yeah she is Not handling this well at all someone please get her out of there

this movie in terms of Ai Potrayal is getting worse and worse by the second oof

[fangirlforeversthings]

Luna and obi wan

Having to raise, train and parent an (ok just sometimes) irresponsible, reckless, unreasonable and mentally unstable teen that just wants to have a normal life but has to be a brave skilled warrior and save the World*

A thrilling saga

[blueberry-cheese-pizza]

thoughts on 墨雨云间 / 嫡嫁千金

Halfway through ep 18, I couldn't resist anymore and ended up reading the book that the drama was adapted from. I know it's a really 🔥drama atm, but I still find certain parts upsetting. Even though the cast matched the book well, especially the MC, I wish in the drama they didn't jump into the romance so quickly. (Also sometimes the drama makes me feel like the guy is just there for her to use whereas in the book it wasn't like that...) The book was excellent; only a few parts were slow-paced, but everything else was chef's kiss. It reminded me of The Cruel Prince, where the romance was subplot, this was more revenge-focused, and it was epitome of a slow-burn romance. So subtle, yet so brilliant.

Also, I wish the drama had inserted some sort of background info from the book on why Ji Heng (the drama called him Xiao萧 Heng when the book was Ji 姬 instead🤷🏻‍♀) always wears red, and why he noticed Xue Fangfei along the streets (it was not love at first sight lol, in fact *spoilers* he found her pretty, quote '美人', but lacking in spirit).

In the drama, there were many loopholes, but I guess I can understand the reincarnation / inhabiting the body of Jiang Li was censored, so no choice... but aaaaaaaaaahhhhh why change so many storylines in the novel itself.

[bonefall]

longtime dc fan and i think a lot of people are angry because alex is obviously one of the most culturally relevant instances of misogyny in media. that being said being more culturally relevant doesn’t mean it’s the worst instance of misogyny and i think bumble definitely experiences more profound misogyny in the way the actual content is presented, if that makes sense

I get you, and that's a charitable way of looking at it.

I think what's rustling my jimmies is that like, there was a couple of WC fans being mildly dismissive of Alex in that note minefield, after dozens of comments of "fuck you how could you let the fridge woman lose" and "Bumble didn't deserve to win ANY rounds" and "how could A CAT experience misogyny." But then WE get blamed for the toxicity because THEY were butthurt that the Funny Cat People have the 'audacity' to win something they feel entitled to.

Like, we've gotta be endlessly charitable as we get openly insulted because they're upset about Alex losing, a very well-known and culturally relevant character with a legacy so massive we have a whole term named after her. But condemnations of "She's just a cat, letting WC into this poll was a mistake, Bumble can't even be a victim of misogyny" only started coming around once I started talking about it.

as if it's OUR fault people got passive-aggressive or even OPENLY aggressive towards us, and that we're "just as bad" for retaliating

But like you said, it's not a "Most Culturally Relevant Misogyny" tournament, it's a "Canon Misogyny Victims" tournament. And you're not even supposed to give a shit that Bumble died. The fat, woman abuse victim is beaten to death by a dictator, and your takeaway is meant to be, "It's so sad that Clear Sky is being blamed for murdering her, now they're all preparing for self-defense against a homicidal maniac, oh nooo :("

And I think that DOES make her deserve the win here! Alex is a MARTYR. Everyone with a brain agrees what happens to her is bad. It happened in her canon because it was bad. We talk about her and keep her memory alive. Bumble gets dismissed entirely out of hand because she's "just a cat in a kid's book" as if that doesn't make it worse, and as if the kid's book didn't treat a domestic abuse survivor like a moron for even asking for help.

Anyway, just to reiterate, I love DC fans. It's not all of you guys. Alex was done dirty and deserves justice-- and it's even kind of a shame that all she became is "The Fridge Woman." I haven't even heard people talk about how she was a wary, responsible person who was still ready to rock with Kyle's new weird glowstick powers, or that she was a journalist, or that she just got brought back in another edition as a Green Lantern only to be revealed as an illusion and re-absorbed back into Kyle's mind. Nope. Even her fans just remember her as The Fridge Woman.