Rashika, The Book Owl

***This review has also been posted on The Social Potato

Immediate reaction after finishing book

(Look at that beautiful smile though. #brb #dying)

What I liked

1. The mystery. I love me a good mystery and that is exactly what this book offers. It is brain candy, food for my soul and so so soothing. Sometimes, a girl just need to lay back with a good mystery that will turn the wheels in her head and keep her guessing.

2. The setting. This book is set in Turkey and the author does a really good job of making that atmosphere come to life for a reader who has never been to Turkey. She also includes terminology and while I cannot say with certainty whether or not she represents the Turkish culture authentically, I didn't think she was offensive at any point and painted a very pretty picture (if one filled with a lot and lot of crime.)

3. The way she weaved in modern day issues. The mystery in this book revolves around an antiquities smuggling ring and the author really brings to light how horrible this issue is. It's not something you would normally think about but these are crimes against our history and its heartbreaking to think that there are so many important archaeological pieces that have been stolen from their countries and hiden in personal collections where the public cannot access them. Renn also asks a lot of important questions like to whom an artifact belongs.

4. The Relationships. The relationships in this book are a complicated mess but I love the way Renn develops them. Families are not perfect and sometimes it takes a while to realize that. Sometimes your mom might suck at listening to you but it doesn't mean she is secretly evil or out to get you (even if it might feel that way.)

What Didn't Work As Much

1. The main character. I don't necessarily want to include her here because I did like her, I just wasn't okay with some of the assumptions she made. For starters she isn't perfect which is cool. She is also diverse! She is part Jewish (although not really religious but hey, it still counts since she was raised that way) and she also suffers from vitiligo (I thought it was worth mentioning because that doesn't come up that often in books.) She also tends to have the kind of attitude that assumes that Americans are better than foreigners. I get wanting to trust people from your own country but she doesn't ever question the Americans she is surrounded by and chooses to not trust everybody else. It was kind of a major pain in the butt. At one point when someone does something questionable, her reaction was "but they're AMERICAN" and I was like NOPE.

2. The conveniences. As much as I adore the mystery and the fast paced nature of the plot (which is right up my alley) I also thought there were a lot of conveniences within the pages of the book. Especially in terms of ways the bad guys got things done and I found myself going ??? really??? can there be no other explanation?

Book in Three Words

Fast paced, thrilling, adventurous.

Note that I received an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review