The Woman in the Library was a well written, but I had a hard time with the story within a story set up. Usually, I enjoy the structure immensely, but this left me confused at times. I also felt that the correspondence between Hannah and Leo were on the weak side and took me out of the story.

✨𝗤𝘂𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀✨
• story within a story
• suspect pool is narrowed quickly
• friends made in tragic circumstances
• quick lite spice

✨ 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪 ✨
The story framework of this novel was interesting and different, I don’t want to give anything away. There are a few surprising twisties and red herrings. The only reason I didn’t give this book a higher rating was because I figured out the “whodunit” extremely early on since the suspect pool was narrowed in like the second chapter. Some of the other “twists” I’d also already figured out ahead of time, so I wasn’t sufficiently shocked at the wrap up.

I started this an audio book and was so confused. It was read by a woman and even though she did a great job with the voices there seemed to be more male characters than female. When I switched over to print things seemed a bit clearer.

There are letters from Leo in Boston to the author in Australia ostensibly helping her with the scene and some of the American lingo. In the book Winifred is one of four people in the reading room at the Boston Public Library when they hear a woman scream. They start talking and become friends over the bonding experience. Honestly I don't even know how to describe the book within a book within a book. None of the characters seemed really developed and I didn't feel invested in the outcome or really even care who was the murderer. While the end was exciting it just seemed to wrap up too quickly and I never understood the reason why or what the last line even meant.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Poison Pen Press for providing me with a digital copy.

Four strangers. The Boston Public Library. A SCREAM! And, yep, I was hooked! I love a good mystery and I was sure this would be my cup of tea. I would call this one a mystery upon a mystery, kind of 3 in one. The four end up becoming friends, but one person is NOT who the others think because one of them is a killer! For the most part I thought the plot progressed quite nicely, but my only problem was that I felt parts of it were overkill, making it less believable for me.

This is the type of mystery that I love because it expertly makes you suspect every single person. It's got twists and excitement and a story within a story that just serve to make it all the more enrapturing. It honestly kept me guessing until the very last page. I don't think that I could recommend this one enough.

A chance encounter of 4 strangers at the Boston Public Library forges friendships as they attempt to discover who murdered a woman while they were in the reading room. The more they dig into this mystery, the more it becomes clear that one of them was at the center of it all. At times this was confusing due to the story within the story. I actually found this entire book quite disturbing. The "beta reader" in the story gave off red flags from the beginning. This is outside of genres I usually read and was not fully prepared for the thriller aspect.

The Woman in the Library was a decent mystery and I enjoyed the dual storyline.  Most books can't pull that off but this one did it in a nice way, though I am not quite sure what the point of it was.

I got this book a long time ago and really wanted to love it. It just didn't capture my attention despite being the type of book I usually enjoy. I didn't appreciate the writing style and found it a bit hard to follow. It's too bad because the concept was fantastic. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing the ARC and apologies for taking so long to review.

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC. 

As per usual, I am mega late in reading this, but decided it was a decent time to start since I typically gravitate towards mysteries and thrillers more this time of year. 

I do think it is always best to go into thrillers as blindly as possible, so I won't be going into the synopsis or plot at all. All I will say is this: This book was okaaaay. I don't want to rate it too low because there was parts that I didn't mind as much, but there were also parts that I definitely skimmed over and I felt like made this book drag on. I think the biggest thing that ruined it for me here was the whole "story in a story" we had going on. Which is a shame because that is something that typically works really well for me in books. This one just felt like a waste time in an already short book with bland and underdeveloped characters where that attention could have potentially been spent improving the actual book. 

If you're interested in a "whodunit" type book, then maybe pick this up. It may work for you and it does have plenty of raving reviews. I just couldn't get into the extra story and I found none of the characters to be particularly likable so my investment was super low.

Unfortunately this book was not for me. 

The prose was lacking and I found it a little difficult personally to follow along. The concept however was absolutely brilliant.

As a librarian, I should have loved this book. A mystery and friendship in the library? Sign me up! Somehow I never connected with any of the characters, and the flipping between the notes and plot really pulled me from the story.

A very cosy mystery - but very slow and complicaed when it could have just been a straightforward story. Modern mystery writers tend to go down the path of the more complicated the better, when it is often the simple explanations that are the most shocking. 
High level of ambition, low level of execution,

In my pregnancy I shifted my reading time to baby research and was not able to review what was on my shelf. I apologize as I know the number of copies you can give out is limited and would never have intentionally ignored this copy under normal circumstances. I am rating this as 5 stars as it is not the author or publishers fault I was not able to meet this timeline, and hope that you will give me another chance in the future to review as I am back into my regular reading schedule this year after adapting to the newborn life!

This was like book inception. It was a book about a book, about a book....about a book. Although it took me a little to get into it, once this book hooked me, it really hooked up. Kept me guessing and on the edge of my seat!

I loved the premise and concept of this book and think the library setting was really well done. Parts of the book were too slow and could have been cut down a bit. But I enjoyed the characters and the resolution to the mystery surprised me and was really well done. I will definitely pick up more from this author.

Wow, hold on! There are enough twists in this story and story within a story to leave you reeling. You might think, knowing that one is the story and the other a sub-story, that Gentill might ease up on the latter giving it less time, less attention, less to cause knuckle biting. Yet, the opposite is true. The sub-story is the center of focus with well developed plot, intriguing characters, and enough suspense to keep you wrapped in a blanket in a corner hoping no one knocks at the door. You might even wonder why she bothered with the outer story through the first half of her novel. -But there is nothing wasted here, nothing extraneous. The two stories build together weaving a web that leaves you dangling with possibilities even as the main questions are resolved.

I very much enjoyed this book. Having read books by Gentill in the past, I was not at all disappointed with this story.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this book! 

The cover art is the first thing that grabbed my attention. I know you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, but this one caught my attention! And I wasn't disappointed. I enjoyed the plot and thought the main character was relatable.

This book was not what I expected - in a good way! It was a story within a story...within a story? I think. Overall, I was entertained and intrigued. 

Freddie is an author and she happens to be at the library working on her book when a scream is heard throughout the building. As a result of this scream, she bonds with three strangers who are sitting near her when the scream happens. Was their proximity during this scream planned or just a coincidence? You'll find out sooner or later. 

Freddie decides to incorporate these three strangers, who have quickly become close friends, into her book. On top of that, she's falling in love with one of them. And best of all, she's quickly thrust into a murder investigation. Could her new love interest be the killer? How does she incorporate this into her book? 

In addition, there's another layer to this book where the author is sharing her new manuscript with a beta reader online. He soon becomes adamant about changes she needs to make in her book - some pretty gruesome. Why is he obsessed with violence and killing? 

So many questions to answer. I enjoyed the back and forth between reading Freddie's storyline and the "other" author's storyline and correspondence with her beta reader. 

Thank you to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an ARC of this book in return for my honest opinion.

Thank you for the free ARC as always....

This was a fun cozy mystery but I didn't draw me in the way I like my mysteries to do. I am realizing I like a more hard core mystery and this just wasn't what I wanted to read. That is no fault to book or story though and do think this book will find its readers in those who like a more cozy time when they read a mystery novel.