Shady Hollow by Juneau Black
Series: Shady Hollow #1
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 224
Published By: Hodder and Stoughton on 3rd February, 2022
Format: Paperback
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Book Synopsis:
A MURDER TO SOLVE. A REPORTER ON THE CASE.
CAN YOU SPOT THE SECRETS IN SHADY HOLLOW?
In the woodland community of Shady Hollow, you’ll discover a secret. Moose and mice, owls and bears live side by side in civilized harmony. Shady Hollow has a coffee shop and a bookshop, a haberdasher and a bank. All is well . . . until the town’s querulous toad shows up dead. It’s something this village haven’t seen before: a murder.
Vera Vixen is new in town. She has a nose for news and catches the scent of a story, one that leads her to dark places. As she stirs up the still waters, the fox exposes more than one mystery, and the folks in Shady Hollow learn that some of their neighbours are lying, while others are downright dangerous. It will take all of Vera’s cunning and quickness to come out alive.
Book Review
I have had my eye on this book for ages so when I received it as a birthday present, I knew I had to dive in immediately and I’m so glad I did. Think Agatha Christie and the Wind in the Willows combined — this book is a murder mystery set in a cosy village with talking animals and yes, it seems bonkers but it was so much fun!
This book did not take me long to read at all and I was sucked in right from the very first page. The writing style is easy to follow and the book has a great pace all the way through. I really like the mix of murder mystery with a fantastical element, it really elevated the book for me. Now I love a good murder mystery anyway but I had not read anything like this before so this was a nice change.
I absolutely loved all the characters and how they interacted with each other throughout. Learning about the characters whilst trying to solve the murder was so much fun. I wasn’t really trying to figure out the suspect because honestly the vibes is what I was there for and this did not disappoint. You know that meme… “just vibes, no thoughts” ? well that was me while reading this and I loved every minute of it! Even when I got to the end I couldn’t really say who I thought it was but I was happy with the ending and pleasantly surprised by who it ended up being.
This was such a quirky, clever and funny read that I just couldn’t put it down. It has all the ingredients you’d expect from this genre with some surprises along the way. The plot twists are nothing jaw-dropping because of it being a cosy book but they felt right for the story. I did enjoy them and they were a nice little touch.
I’d honestly say that this can be a book for any age group. Middle grade, young adult and adult readers would enjoy this in my opinion. I was in a HUGE reading slump before I got to this book but it definitely got me out of it. It’s also a nice palate cleanser to read between more heavier books. I’m so excited to get to the next book in this series… I just need to buy it first!
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