Monday, March 18, 2013

The Tease, Nikki M Pill

UK AMAZON US AMAZON

Anna Zendel is your average 32-year-old therapist, stressing about clinical exams and struggling to recover from an abusive relationship. But at night she transforms herself into the saucy burlesque dancer Velvet Crush, enchanting Chicago audiences with the art of the tease. 

As Anna struggles to keep the therapy and burlesque worlds separate and get over her crush on the troupe's emcee, a new danger threatens women across the city. The papers have dubbed him the Darling Killer, because after strangling his victims, he scrawls the word "darling" on their skin.

When one of Anna's fellow dancers is murdered in the dressing room, she realizes that Darling Killer could be closer than she thought. Could Max, Anna's new therapy client who confessed to fantasizing about dead girls and obsessing over the Darling Killer, have anything to do with the murders?

As more women are murdered, and Anna begins receiving mysterious gifts, this burlesque dancer pits feathers and sequins against foul play in the deadliest dance of all.


It was good and done in a very unique way I think, which was refreshing. The plot is interesting and intriguing. I like the descriptions of burlesque and the way Anna loved her cat even though she was quite detached emotionally. That was nice and made her human. The fact that she was a therapist was interesting too. 

I think the strongest point of the book is that everything felt accurate. I know that sounds quite bizarre but the way everything was put across was totally believable. From the burlesque to the therapy....even the police investigation. I imagine it was researched very well

I liked this but it frustrated me SO GOD DAMN MUCH. It is written wonderfully, I love this descriptive writing style, but my GOD was it descriptive. 
Everything is described, there is a funeral scene and I know every single detail of every single outfit worn by the people there. There is a lot that can be skimmed and you don't miss anything about the plot or character development.

Another issue I had was Anna's internal monologue. It was massively irritating, she questioned everything constantly. It was exhausting to read and not in a good way, I found myself groaning a lot wanting to scream SHUT UP WOMAN. 
 I understand it's because of her past relationships and stuff, but it was still annoying.

It was good but there were too many characters in my opinion, I found myself going Max.....which one is he again? Grant.....so he's which one? And there's also Kevin, and some other guy whose name I can't remember but he's her boss anyway.

Oh I'm upset I didn't love it, I would have done if i could just cut out some description, beef up Anna's background so I get more of idea of why she is the way she is. And warmed her up a little, she isn't very likable to be honest, so detached and clinical- which again I understand because she is a therapist and this is how things are approached but it just didn't make for a nice main character.

But if you're a fan of a good mystery give this a go. It is not a bad book by any stretch, if it could just be tweaked it could be a very good book.

2 comments:

  1. Thank you kindly for the very thoughtful review!!! That you liked the book overall, in spite of a flawed protagonist, is quite a compliment. And truly, saying that it felt accurate is one of the best compliments I've gotten on the book. I worked my butt off to make sure that I was respectful to the different fields and roles I portrayed.

    So I do hear and appreciate your constructive criticism, and I will certainly take it into account for Book 2. I can respect that you liked without loving it. I appreciate your honest and thoughtful review!

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  2. Thank you for taking the time to read and comment on my review, I truly enjoyed the book and I can't wait to find out who the darling killer really is! I also really appreciate you not shouting at me for saying these things, haha. It was a really unique book and I enjoyed it so much, will be keeping an eye out for book 2!!

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