What do you think?
Rate this book
These Shallow Graves
Jo Montfort is beautiful and rich, and soon—like all the girls in her class—she’ll graduate from finishing school and be married off to a wealthy bachelor. Which is the last thing she wants. Jo secretly dreams of becoming a writer—a newspaper reporter like the trailblazing Nellie Bly.
Wild aspirations aside, Jo’s life seems perfect until tragedy strikes: her father is found dead. Charles Montfort accidentally shot himself while cleaning his revolver. One of New York City’s wealthiest men, he owned a newspaper and was partner in a massive shipping firm, and Jo knows he was far too smart to clean a loaded gun.
The more Jo uncovers about her father’s death, the more her suspicions grow. There are too many secrets. And they all seem to be buried in plain sight. Then she meets Eddie—a young, brash, infuriatingly handsome reporter at her father’s newspaper—and it becomes all too clear how much she stands to lose if she keeps searching for the truth. Only now it might be too late to stop.
The past never stays buried forever. Life is dirtier than Jo Montfort could ever have imagined, and the truth is the dirtiest part of all.
Wild aspirations aside, Jo’s life seems perfect until tragedy strikes: her father is found dead. Charles Montfort accidentally shot himself while cleaning his revolver. One of New York City’s wealthiest men, he owned a newspaper and was partner in a massive shipping firm, and Jo knows he was far too smart to clean a loaded gun.
The more Jo uncovers about her father’s death, the more her suspicions grow. There are too many secrets. And they all seem to be buried in plain sight. Then she meets Eddie—a young, brash, infuriatingly handsome reporter at her father’s newspaper—and it becomes all too clear how much she stands to lose if she keeps searching for the truth. Only now it might be too late to stop.
The past never stays buried forever. Life is dirtier than Jo Montfort could ever have imagined, and the truth is the dirtiest part of all.
482 pages, Hardcover
First published October 27, 2015
About the author
Jennifer Donnelly
30 books7,984 followersJennifer Donnelly is the author of fourteen novels - Beastly Beauty, Poisoned, Stepsister, Lost in a Book, These Shallow Graves, Sea Spell, Dark Tide, Rogue Wave, Deep Blue, Revolution, A Northern Light, The Tea Rose, The Winter Rose and The Wild Rose - and Humble Pie, a picture book for children. She is a co-author of Fatal Throne, which explores the lives of King Henry VIII's six wives, for which she wrote the part of Anna of Cleves, Henry's fourth wife.
In 2023, she published Molly's Letter, the first in a series of novella-length stories called Rose Petals set in the world of her three-volume Tea Rose series -- followed by Where Roses Fall in August, 2024.
Jennifer grew up in New York State, in Lewis and Westchester counties, and attended the University of Rochester where she majored in English Literature and European History.
See Jennifer's full bio on Wikipedia.
In 2023, she published Molly's Letter, the first in a series of novella-length stories called Rose Petals set in the world of her three-volume Tea Rose series -- followed by Where Roses Fall in August, 2024.
Jennifer grew up in New York State, in Lewis and Westchester counties, and attended the University of Rochester where she majored in English Literature and European History.
See Jennifer's full bio on Wikipedia.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,825 reviews
September 19, 2015
“The truth can be a hard thing, Jo. It’s often best left hidden,” Phillip said quietly.
I just had so much fun reading this book. It's very compelling and easy to read, but it's also full of more and more surprises as the book moves along. It's the kind of historical mystery that opens up more and more doors, so even if you guess one reveal, there are many more in store.
I love this kind of historical fiction, especially when it focuses on women (Cat Winters also does this very well). These Shallow Graves is set in 1890s New York and the author does a fantastic job of portraying life as it was then. The main character - Jo - is a high society girl who mustn't bring shame on her family, but the book also looks at what women from all walks of life had to deal with.
There is a lot of great female friendship, humourous hushed discussions about the things ladies shouldn't know (like the existence of brothels), and a sad look at the lack of freedom women had. Also, it was chilling to read about how easily a woman could be deemed "mad" or "hysterical" for acting in a passionate or rebellious way.
I think Donnelly got the balance just right with Jo. She's spirited and strong-willed, but her personality still feels true to the time. She's naive and ignorant of many things - something that changes as the story moves along and I love good character development. But I also really liked the secondary characters: Fay is such a badass, Eddie is charming, Oscar is adorable, and others who might be too spoilery to mention.
For the first half of this book, I was merely enjoying it. Lots of upper class angst and a murder mystery to keep me entertained. But somewhere in the middle, this novel became so much more than that. I love the direction the story took and how just when you think all the exciting reveals have happened, new surprises emerge.
Everything about the ending was perfect.
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube | Pinterest
October 31, 2016
3.5 stars! I really liked this book!
November 3, 2015
Josephine Montfort stared at the newly mounded grave in front of her and at the wooden cross marking it.I love historical romances. The best ones aren't solely focused on romance, but instead, have an underlying storyline. Something extra for the reader that keeps the book from being pure brain candy. This book is an YA version of HR, but it has so much more depth. It's like, a Lisa Kleypas YA, if you will, and if you understand my reference to that wonderful and legendary romance author.
How did this happen? How did I get here? Jo asked herself. She didn’t want to do this. She wanted to be home. Safe inside her Gramercy Square town house.
“Wait by the vault. Go back,” Eddie said. Not unkindly.
Jo laughed. Go back? How? There was no going back. Not to her old life of drawing rooms and dances. Not to Miss Sparkwell’s School. Not to her friends, or to Bram. It had all gone too far.
This was a really enjoyable read. It really hit all the right notes. There's a wonderful amount of female friendship, a strong, believable heroine. The plot involves a possible murder, and that is the central element...and rightly so, cause I ain't here for your romance-novel-disguised-as-a-mystery.
Set in the late 19th century, this is quite a feminist book. A young lady of the main character's wealth and social stature was bred to be a wife, a mother. Someone who stays behind in the shadows and becomes the vaunted Victorian "Angel of the home." They're not supposed to worry their pretty little heads over anything more complicated than what to wear. They're not supposed to be socially conscious. They're not supposed to worry (or even know) about class issues and working conditions for the poor.
“They suffer, those mill girls,” she said, her voice quieter, but her heart still full of emotion. “They are so terribly unfortunate.”Right.
Trudy took her hand. “My darling Jo, there is no one more unfortunate than we ourselves,” she said. “We are not engaged yet, you and I. We’re spinsters. Pathetic nobodies. We can go nowhere on our own. We must not be too forward in speech, dress, or emotion lest we put off a potential suitor. We are allowed no funds of our own, and most of all”—she squeezed Jo’s hand for emphasis—“no opinions.”.
Jo's sheltered world crumbles when her father dies - of suicide - or is it?! It's never that simple, of course. Otherwise, we wouldn't be reading these books. With that momentous event, Jo's life changes tremendously, and not necessarily for the worse. Jo sets out to do everything she's NOT supposed to do. Clandestine trips into dark alleys and encounters with mysterious men are intertwined with dresses and balls. I loved every moment.
October 8, 2015
Do I need to add it to my TBR? YES.
Do I need to pre-order it? YES.
Do I need to take it out on a romantic date as soon as it's in my hands? DOUBLE YES.
Do I need to put it in a special shelf dedicated to special books? THE UNIVERSE SAYS YES.
Do I need to read it... AS SOON AS POSSIBLY POSSIBLE?!?!?!
It's been a while since I've read this book but it still feels like I read it yesterday. I can still remember how engrossed I was, flying through the pages with such vigor; how it was so immersive and how it completely made me feel like I was in the middle of the hustle and bustle of New York during the 1890s; how the characters were so well-done, so well-characterized and developed that it felt like they were my old friends; and how the mystery was so nicely done, and the tension, suspense, and clues were nicely placed all over the book. Fine, the mystery was a bit predictable (called it from the very first page the mystery started), but the journey of the characters to getting there? HECK. YEAH. You don't always get a YA Historical Thriller novel with amazing gender equality themes, and a strong steadily-written-romance with an unexpected-yet-heartwarming ending. HECK. TO. THE. INFINITE. LEVEL. YEAH.
The picture above is pretty much what I felt upon finishing this book - a sense of triumph and victory that this book was able to accomplish so many things and it did them so spectacularly.
Meet Josephine Monfort (nickname "Jo"), a girl who came from a highly prolific family who considered herself anything but a lady. She wanted to be a journalist - go on undercover field work and write about the struggles of women in questionable situatons - but such ambition was unheard of for ladies back then. Then one day, her father "died". He accidentally killed himself, but Jo knew her dad, and she knew that he wasn't the sort to go through something like that, and she knew that she had to find out the truth, even if it meant going against so many cultural norms that were prevalent at the time.
Let it be known far and wide, to the clouds and beyond, that this girl kicked ass. She was so cool that I would have loved to be her friend. Jo was strong-willed, resolved, and bold; she knew what were expected of women and she knew how much she was capable of, and thus she went against the waves without fear because for her it felt right and for her, this was what she wanted, and no patriarchal society should take that away from her. She resonated with me so much because of her fierce and strong personality that shined so brightly wherever she went. Yes, she wasn't the smartest girl on the block, considering she was heavily sheltered, but she had the passion and the willingness to learn and to get dirty if the situation called for it, and I really admired that about her, and I have no doubt y'all would admire that aspect of her, too.
Plus, her drive to find out the truth, even if it meant seeing the darker parts of her family's history? So respectable. She was someone who was born into wealth and nobility, and yet, in this book, to find out what truly happened to her father, she went to the slums, went to morgues, and faced absolute danger itself with her life on the line.
And the best part?
NONE OF IT EVER FELT EASY.
Remember all the mystery thrillers out there where every clue, every hint to the end-goal, was given to our heroes and heroines on a silver platter? Where there was absolutely no tension and urgency at all because "WHOOP-DEE-DOO, THEY GO TO THIS STREET RANDOMLY AND LOOK! A MAJOR CLUE! AMAZING!"? It never felt that way here. That's why, even though the plot and mystery was predictable and nothing we haven't seen before, it still felt fun and refreshing and nerve-wracking because the execution, the pacing, the suspense - they all were handled amazingly and cleverly.
You bet I was on my toes.
You bet I held my breath (I was aware of it, of course).
You bet that I was at the cliff's edge a lot of times BECAUSE DUDE, THE SITUATIONS THEY END UP GETTING INTO CAN GET A BIT CRAZY.
Add to that the well-written setting. It was incredibly immersive. I've had a taste of what this era was like with Libba Bray's THE DIVINER series (which I recommend 101%), and THESE SHALLOW GRAVES does not disappoint in this aspect at all. You could really see how awfully patriarchal society was back then, treating women likee they were a delicate flower, as if they would break easily. It's just so amazing how the book was aware of the societal norms then, incorporated it, and then strived to go against it at the same time through Jo's character and ambition.
Plus, did I mention the romance? THAT SWEET, SWEET, SWEET ROMANCE THAT LEFT ME CLUTCHING MY HEART. It was a ship that I totally shipped, the mast and sails fully down and ailed not by the wind but by a bloody typhoon - THAT WAS HOW AMAZING IT WAS. It had everything that I wanted - a flawed love interest whose personality and background made him endearing, someone who didn't let his life revolve around the heroine but instead made her his inspiration to do the things he wanted to do.
AND THAT ENDING. God. I still can't get over how beautiful and melancholic and right it was.
This book achieved so many things, guys. PLEASE DO GET IT.
FOLLOW ME ALL OVER THE INTERWEBZ!
The Social Potato | Xpresso Reads | Youtube | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Ask.fm
Do I need to pre-order it? YES.
Do I need to take it out on a romantic date as soon as it's in my hands? DOUBLE YES.
Do I need to put it in a special shelf dedicated to special books? THE UNIVERSE SAYS YES.
Do I need to read it... AS SOON AS POSSIBLY POSSIBLE?!?!?!
It's been a while since I've read this book but it still feels like I read it yesterday. I can still remember how engrossed I was, flying through the pages with such vigor; how it was so immersive and how it completely made me feel like I was in the middle of the hustle and bustle of New York during the 1890s; how the characters were so well-done, so well-characterized and developed that it felt like they were my old friends; and how the mystery was so nicely done, and the tension, suspense, and clues were nicely placed all over the book. Fine, the mystery was a bit predictable (called it from the very first page the mystery started), but the journey of the characters to getting there? HECK. YEAH. You don't always get a YA Historical Thriller novel with amazing gender equality themes, and a strong steadily-written-romance with an unexpected-yet-heartwarming ending. HECK. TO. THE. INFINITE. LEVEL. YEAH.
The picture above is pretty much what I felt upon finishing this book - a sense of triumph and victory that this book was able to accomplish so many things and it did them so spectacularly.
Meet Josephine Monfort (nickname "Jo"), a girl who came from a highly prolific family who considered herself anything but a lady. She wanted to be a journalist - go on undercover field work and write about the struggles of women in questionable situatons - but such ambition was unheard of for ladies back then. Then one day, her father "died". He accidentally killed himself, but Jo knew her dad, and she knew that he wasn't the sort to go through something like that, and she knew that she had to find out the truth, even if it meant going against so many cultural norms that were prevalent at the time.
Let it be known far and wide, to the clouds and beyond, that this girl kicked ass. She was so cool that I would have loved to be her friend. Jo was strong-willed, resolved, and bold; she knew what were expected of women and she knew how much she was capable of, and thus she went against the waves without fear because for her it felt right and for her, this was what she wanted, and no patriarchal society should take that away from her. She resonated with me so much because of her fierce and strong personality that shined so brightly wherever she went. Yes, she wasn't the smartest girl on the block, considering she was heavily sheltered, but she had the passion and the willingness to learn and to get dirty if the situation called for it, and I really admired that about her, and I have no doubt y'all would admire that aspect of her, too.
Plus, her drive to find out the truth, even if it meant seeing the darker parts of her family's history? So respectable. She was someone who was born into wealth and nobility, and yet, in this book, to find out what truly happened to her father, she went to the slums, went to morgues, and faced absolute danger itself with her life on the line.
And the best part?
NONE OF IT EVER FELT EASY.
Remember all the mystery thrillers out there where every clue, every hint to the end-goal, was given to our heroes and heroines on a silver platter? Where there was absolutely no tension and urgency at all because "WHOOP-DEE-DOO, THEY GO TO THIS STREET RANDOMLY AND LOOK! A MAJOR CLUE! AMAZING!"? It never felt that way here. That's why, even though the plot and mystery was predictable and nothing we haven't seen before, it still felt fun and refreshing and nerve-wracking because the execution, the pacing, the suspense - they all were handled amazingly and cleverly.
You bet I was on my toes.
You bet I held my breath (I was aware of it, of course).
You bet that I was at the cliff's edge a lot of times BECAUSE DUDE, THE SITUATIONS THEY END UP GETTING INTO CAN GET A BIT CRAZY.
Add to that the well-written setting. It was incredibly immersive. I've had a taste of what this era was like with Libba Bray's THE DIVINER series (which I recommend 101%), and THESE SHALLOW GRAVES does not disappoint in this aspect at all. You could really see how awfully patriarchal society was back then, treating women likee they were a delicate flower, as if they would break easily. It's just so amazing how the book was aware of the societal norms then, incorporated it, and then strived to go against it at the same time through Jo's character and ambition.
Plus, did I mention the romance? THAT SWEET, SWEET, SWEET ROMANCE THAT LEFT ME CLUTCHING MY HEART. It was a ship that I totally shipped, the mast and sails fully down and ailed not by the wind but by a bloody typhoon - THAT WAS HOW AMAZING IT WAS. It had everything that I wanted - a flawed love interest whose personality and background made him endearing, someone who didn't let his life revolve around the heroine but instead made her his inspiration to do the things he wanted to do.
AND THAT ENDING. God. I still can't get over how beautiful and melancholic and right it was.
This book achieved so many things, guys. PLEASE DO GET IT.
FOLLOW ME ALL OVER THE INTERWEBZ!
The Social Potato | Xpresso Reads | Youtube | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Ask.fm
Read
January 27, 2023"Morality is a luxury, my darling. A very expensive one."
AGGGGGGGHHHHH. SO, SOOO GOOD. A freaking hidden gem. So much realness (it doesn't skirt it, either) and so much girl power and I just loved the way this whole book played out -it could have gone the dopey old-fashioned historical romance route but instead it turned into utter brilliance where you literally can't stop smiling like a nut as you read (or maybe that's just me).
I cheated and read this in one whole sitting last night. The funny thing? I only added this to my TBR because I was in love with the cover (how amazing is it, seriously?) but then after the first chapter I was sucked in and never let go.
"What can I say? I merely wish to smoke. Sparky can forgive that. You, on the other hand, wish to know things. And no one can forgive a girl that."
This is the book we've been waiting for to take a historical romance where the heroine still has romance but rescues her own damn self. Yes, it was a bit predictable in the villain-side of things, but who cares? This book had an amazing character cast. Fay and Jo had so much girl power near the end I almost dropped my kindle to cheer them on. I want everyone's daughter to read this book. This is the kind of girl power we need.
And Eddie: "Stay with me, Jo... No, I meant stay with me today. Tomorrow. And every day after."
Seriously. So much swoonworthy-ness. And that freaking last scene. Ohmygosh I want to scoop up Eddie & Jo and tell them how precious and perfect that ending was. THAT is how you write a book ending.
June 3, 2022
I thought this was a good young adult historical mystery novel.
Having said that, if you're an adult reading this you probably won't feel satisfied with the mystery aspect of the story. I'm an old adult. This is a young adult novel. Plus, I've read my fair share of mysteries.
Still.
I correctly guessed the bad guy from the first meeting.
I'm not exactly sure how he could have looked more obviously like the killer?
Well...ok.
And I also correctly guessed all of the other plot twists as soon as they popped up and I'm pretty far from genius.
There was a lot of time spent on the mysteries that weren't mysterious. And that part sucked.
But I liked the setting and I liked the characters.
Jo was a good heroine and I mostly enjoyed seeing her eyes open to the great wide world and all of the possibilities.
I did find it tiresome that it took almost to the end of the book for her to understand when people were talking about prostitution, madams, and brothels.
She's naive. We get it.
It had a great ending that was realistic and hopeful at the same time.
Overall, this was a good story, and I'd recommend it to anyone who has a tween or teen that likes mysteries.
Having said that, if you're an adult reading this you probably won't feel satisfied with the mystery aspect of the story. I'm an old adult. This is a young adult novel. Plus, I've read my fair share of mysteries.
Still.
I correctly guessed the bad guy from the first meeting.
I'm not exactly sure how he could have looked more obviously like the killer?
Well...ok.
And I also correctly guessed all of the other plot twists as soon as they popped up and I'm pretty far from genius.
There was a lot of time spent on the mysteries that weren't mysterious. And that part sucked.
But I liked the setting and I liked the characters.
Jo was a good heroine and I mostly enjoyed seeing her eyes open to the great wide world and all of the possibilities.
I did find it tiresome that it took almost to the end of the book for her to understand when people were talking about prostitution, madams, and brothels.
She's naive. We get it.
It had a great ending that was realistic and hopeful at the same time.
Overall, this was a good story, and I'd recommend it to anyone who has a tween or teen that likes mysteries.
September 15, 2018
Παρά πολύ καλό!!!
4, 5 και όχι 5 γιατί είχα μαντέψει από πολύ νωρίς τον εγκέφαλο της υπόθεσης. Αλλά δεν περίμενα με τίποτα, με τίποτα όμως, την αποκάλυψη που με άφησε με το στόμα ανοιχτό 30 σελίδες πριν το τέλος. Όσοι το έχουν διαβάσει θα καταλάβουν τι εννοώ. ;)
+ ήμουν στο τσακ να κλάψω με τη σχέση Τζο-Φέι. Γιατί όσο μακριά κι αν είναι δύο άνθρωποι, μπορούν να είναι οι καλύτεροι φίλοι.
Ευχαριστώ Μαριλένα!!! <3
4, 5 και όχι 5 γιατί είχα μαντέψει από πολύ νωρίς τον εγκέφαλο της υπόθεσης. Αλλά δεν περίμενα με τίποτα, με τίποτα όμως, την αποκάλυψη που με άφησε με το στόμα ανοιχτό 30 σελίδες πριν το τέλος. Όσοι το έχουν διαβάσει θα καταλάβουν τι εννοώ. ;)
+ ήμουν στο τσακ να κλάψω με τη σχέση Τζο-Φέι. Γιατί όσο μακριά κι αν είναι δύο άνθρωποι, μπορούν να είναι οι καλύτεροι φίλοι.
Ευχαριστώ Μαριλένα!!! <3
July 11, 2015
After a beautiful start, Donnelly and I have had a very rocky last two years. I fell in love with Revolution and A Northern Light, which always seemed to me like gorgeously written and very sensitive books about realistically complex girls. I ached for those two main characters, different from each other but equally compelling and believable, and I believed their pain and their world and the things they had to do to overcome their circumstances. Donnelly conveyed their lives with a sensitivity that showcased amazingly human emotions and made it really easy for me to connect with them, to root for them and believe their every emotion. I think those two are extraordinary novels that speak to YA audiences like mature, intelligent persons capable of understanding the nuances of a life full of tragedy and difficulties, lives that shaped young women into heroines, not always understandable and certainly flawed, but strong and worth caring about.
And then Deep Blue happened, a huge disappointment that I let slide because the book was aimed towards the middling line between Middle Grade and YA. Still, my faith of Donnelly was shaken enough that I was wary of These Shallow Graves, but not enough to dissuade me from reading it. I already knew she could write beautifully, that historical fiction is certainly her forte, and that writing once more for a strictly YA audience, I could trust her to deliver another tough, strong and realistic heroine fighting her way through everything. As it turns out, Donnelly brought the general gist of story to YA standards again, she just forgot to bring the rest of her craft, including the main character.
First off, there is absolutely no reason for this book to be 500 pages long. Absolutely NONE. I understand that the purpose behind this was to deepen the mystery, which admittedly worked somewhat, and to show the way this situation affected all aspects of Jo's life, both her life as a NY socialite and her more private life, but what it lend itself to was for a very repetitive and often uneventful narrative. Something was consistently happening in the novel, which saved it from being dreadfully boring, but the same things would happen over and over with just the smallest of differences. We got Jo pondering the same things over and over, engaging in the exact same actions and interactions with other characters, and, in the end, it was all extremely unnecessary, for it didn't add anything to the actual core and quality of the story and only padded the book far beyond what was needed. Moreover, this also had the unfortunate effect of making the story predictable. I appreciated the effort into making the mystery a lot more complicated and complex, but it made the twists evident since the very start. This was all the more frustrating because of how unbearably naive the main character was.
Jo is an exasperating, willfully ignorant, reckless and irritating main character. She was a study in contradictions, and not the good kind. Jo is 17 years old, and yet she behaves, thinks and speaks like she's 12. Everybody around her treated her like she was such a smart woman, so mature and intelligent, but nowhere did she ever act like anything more than a child. She was outstandingly ignorant, jaw-droppingly naive and frustratingly slow to catch everything that went on around her. She constantly needed someone else to spell things out for her, and that would've worked with her characterization of a sheltered socialite groomed to be nothing but a proper wife and mother, but the story itself attempted to sell her as a sensitive, knowledgeable, intelligent, driven and conscious girl that wanted to break with social norm, find herself, pursue a career that most society would frown upon and fight social injustices. Needless to say, Jo failed to uphold any of that.
Jo was competent sometimes simply because the story forced to be. As a main character, she lacked complexity and profundity, and she wasn't even interesting. Unlike previous Donnelly heroines, Jo lacked the strength to carry the book by herself, whereas the first two books I read by Donnelly could well afford to take away from the strength of the plot because reading about the main character made it all worth it. This resulted in Jo becoming simply a placeholder, a figured needed to make things happens, but not someone anybody would glance twice at, nor someone anybody would care about, which, needless to say, makes for a very poor main character and heroine.
My three biggest complaints about YA are: the rampant girl on girl hate, the shallow standard for heroines, and insta-love. My problem with insta-love in YA is not so much that it may happen quickly - I can certainly understand two people feeling an immediate connection or the strong bonding of people after a particularly strong and emotionally taxing event. Heck, I experienced that myself, as my boyfriend and I pretty much fell in love in the course of one week when I was 17 and we've been together for 8 years now. Is not so much a matter of quantity as it is of quality. You want me to believe your two characters loved each other almost instantly? Okay, I can handle it, but you have to give it something that gives meaning to the connection, you have to make me believe that something happened so strongly between these two that time doesn't matter. That's exactly what didn't happen in this novel.
Jo and Eddie's connection came pretty much out of nowhere. There was not a single aspect of this novel that made their relationship believable. Realistically speaking, these two people would never fall in love. Maybe Jo could develop a crush on Eddie, but he would never return it, and so it never felt natural when these two started proclaiming their love for each other. First of all, like I mentioned before, Jo's naivety made her come across as a child, whereas Eddie always felt like very much an adult. That he, in his maturity, was able to be sexually and romantically attracted to Jo, who was essentially a 12 year old in all aspects but physical to the point that I often forgot that she was 17, was nothing short of creepy. Moreover, there was no spark, no sincere connection between them except for the fact that the author willed it so. From one moment to the other, poof!, love. And the worst part is that it took over the plot and made it so irritatingly melodramatic, which also led to the series of cliched and ridiculous scenes I've read in dozens of other YA novels.
In this novel you can find the classic "we accidentally got stuck together in a tight, confined space and we are forced to be extremely close together, close enough to kiss and feel each other's breaths on our faces, and just as we are about to kiss, somebody lets us out", also the tragic "I saw you with someone else that I immediately thought was a beautiful lover but was really family and so I'm going to make a horrible decision out of anger that will ruin our relationship because confronting you about it just won't do", and the much beloved "we are just too different, we come from different worlds, go with that other guy you don't love because this relationship needs some angst".
The romantic relationship in this novel isn't the only one that's not believable in the slightest. Jo developed friendships out of nowhere and for no other reason than because the plot required it. People just don't go around forming instant bonds with others, bonds strong enough you'd risk your life for, simply because you talked to each other once for a couple of minutes and you didn't kill or rob each other. Secondary characters would swoop in and out of the plot wherever it was required. Longtime friends would be mentioned once and then discarded, family members would disappear when convenient, and characters that were built up in the novel, would just never show up again for anything.
This novel tried to be so many things, to include so many different aspects of that society, that it failed to keep hold of any of them. I appreciate the message of female empowerment, of a girl fighting against the ridiculous constraints imposed on all women that would have them being nothing but gloried and submissive servants to the whims of men - hell, I love that, but it was so heavy-handed in this novel, that it was exasperating. Unsubtle and ham-handed, the sexism of the times was thrown at the reader's face at every opportunity, regardless of how appropriate it was at the moment, because the only thing that mattered is that the reader understood that Jo had to suffer through SEXISM, even though it was fairly obvious since the beginning and without the need of having it thrown at my face with all the subtlety of a jackhammer. The worst part is that the book would hammer that on the reader's face, along with some issues like poverty and crime, and then did absolutely nothing about it.
The mystery itself was interesting enough to keep me reading well past what my patience allowed, but it was predictable. Had it been a shorter novel, it would've probably gotten a better rating. The writing was okay, the mystery engaging enough, the epilogue surprisingly satisfying, the historical background perhaps the best thing in the entire novel. But this story was stretched far beyond what it could, and what would've been an unremarkable but decent reading experience got turned into a constant struggle with frustration and a fight to finish. I think this is where I part ways with Donnelly. Maybe in the future I can give some other book of hers a chance, but for the moment, I've gotten all the disappointment I can handle.
And then Deep Blue happened, a huge disappointment that I let slide because the book was aimed towards the middling line between Middle Grade and YA. Still, my faith of Donnelly was shaken enough that I was wary of These Shallow Graves, but not enough to dissuade me from reading it. I already knew she could write beautifully, that historical fiction is certainly her forte, and that writing once more for a strictly YA audience, I could trust her to deliver another tough, strong and realistic heroine fighting her way through everything. As it turns out, Donnelly brought the general gist of story to YA standards again, she just forgot to bring the rest of her craft, including the main character.
First off, there is absolutely no reason for this book to be 500 pages long. Absolutely NONE. I understand that the purpose behind this was to deepen the mystery, which admittedly worked somewhat, and to show the way this situation affected all aspects of Jo's life, both her life as a NY socialite and her more private life, but what it lend itself to was for a very repetitive and often uneventful narrative. Something was consistently happening in the novel, which saved it from being dreadfully boring, but the same things would happen over and over with just the smallest of differences. We got Jo pondering the same things over and over, engaging in the exact same actions and interactions with other characters, and, in the end, it was all extremely unnecessary, for it didn't add anything to the actual core and quality of the story and only padded the book far beyond what was needed. Moreover, this also had the unfortunate effect of making the story predictable. I appreciated the effort into making the mystery a lot more complicated and complex, but it made the twists evident since the very start. This was all the more frustrating because of how unbearably naive the main character was.
Jo is an exasperating, willfully ignorant, reckless and irritating main character. She was a study in contradictions, and not the good kind. Jo is 17 years old, and yet she behaves, thinks and speaks like she's 12. Everybody around her treated her like she was such a smart woman, so mature and intelligent, but nowhere did she ever act like anything more than a child. She was outstandingly ignorant, jaw-droppingly naive and frustratingly slow to catch everything that went on around her. She constantly needed someone else to spell things out for her, and that would've worked with her characterization of a sheltered socialite groomed to be nothing but a proper wife and mother, but the story itself attempted to sell her as a sensitive, knowledgeable, intelligent, driven and conscious girl that wanted to break with social norm, find herself, pursue a career that most society would frown upon and fight social injustices. Needless to say, Jo failed to uphold any of that.
Jo was competent sometimes simply because the story forced to be. As a main character, she lacked complexity and profundity, and she wasn't even interesting. Unlike previous Donnelly heroines, Jo lacked the strength to carry the book by herself, whereas the first two books I read by Donnelly could well afford to take away from the strength of the plot because reading about the main character made it all worth it. This resulted in Jo becoming simply a placeholder, a figured needed to make things happens, but not someone anybody would glance twice at, nor someone anybody would care about, which, needless to say, makes for a very poor main character and heroine.
My three biggest complaints about YA are: the rampant girl on girl hate, the shallow standard for heroines, and insta-love. My problem with insta-love in YA is not so much that it may happen quickly - I can certainly understand two people feeling an immediate connection or the strong bonding of people after a particularly strong and emotionally taxing event. Heck, I experienced that myself, as my boyfriend and I pretty much fell in love in the course of one week when I was 17 and we've been together for 8 years now. Is not so much a matter of quantity as it is of quality. You want me to believe your two characters loved each other almost instantly? Okay, I can handle it, but you have to give it something that gives meaning to the connection, you have to make me believe that something happened so strongly between these two that time doesn't matter. That's exactly what didn't happen in this novel.
Jo and Eddie's connection came pretty much out of nowhere. There was not a single aspect of this novel that made their relationship believable. Realistically speaking, these two people would never fall in love. Maybe Jo could develop a crush on Eddie, but he would never return it, and so it never felt natural when these two started proclaiming their love for each other. First of all, like I mentioned before, Jo's naivety made her come across as a child, whereas Eddie always felt like very much an adult. That he, in his maturity, was able to be sexually and romantically attracted to Jo, who was essentially a 12 year old in all aspects but physical to the point that I often forgot that she was 17, was nothing short of creepy. Moreover, there was no spark, no sincere connection between them except for the fact that the author willed it so. From one moment to the other, poof!, love. And the worst part is that it took over the plot and made it so irritatingly melodramatic, which also led to the series of cliched and ridiculous scenes I've read in dozens of other YA novels.
In this novel you can find the classic "we accidentally got stuck together in a tight, confined space and we are forced to be extremely close together, close enough to kiss and feel each other's breaths on our faces, and just as we are about to kiss, somebody lets us out", also the tragic "I saw you with someone else that I immediately thought was a beautiful lover but was really family and so I'm going to make a horrible decision out of anger that will ruin our relationship because confronting you about it just won't do", and the much beloved "we are just too different, we come from different worlds, go with that other guy you don't love because this relationship needs some angst".
The romantic relationship in this novel isn't the only one that's not believable in the slightest. Jo developed friendships out of nowhere and for no other reason than because the plot required it. People just don't go around forming instant bonds with others, bonds strong enough you'd risk your life for, simply because you talked to each other once for a couple of minutes and you didn't kill or rob each other. Secondary characters would swoop in and out of the plot wherever it was required. Longtime friends would be mentioned once and then discarded, family members would disappear when convenient, and characters that were built up in the novel, would just never show up again for anything.
This novel tried to be so many things, to include so many different aspects of that society, that it failed to keep hold of any of them. I appreciate the message of female empowerment, of a girl fighting against the ridiculous constraints imposed on all women that would have them being nothing but gloried and submissive servants to the whims of men - hell, I love that, but it was so heavy-handed in this novel, that it was exasperating. Unsubtle and ham-handed, the sexism of the times was thrown at the reader's face at every opportunity, regardless of how appropriate it was at the moment, because the only thing that mattered is that the reader understood that Jo had to suffer through SEXISM, even though it was fairly obvious since the beginning and without the need of having it thrown at my face with all the subtlety of a jackhammer. The worst part is that the book would hammer that on the reader's face, along with some issues like poverty and crime, and then did absolutely nothing about it.
The mystery itself was interesting enough to keep me reading well past what my patience allowed, but it was predictable. Had it been a shorter novel, it would've probably gotten a better rating. The writing was okay, the mystery engaging enough, the epilogue surprisingly satisfying, the historical background perhaps the best thing in the entire novel. But this story was stretched far beyond what it could, and what would've been an unremarkable but decent reading experience got turned into a constant struggle with frustration and a fight to finish. I think this is where I part ways with Donnelly. Maybe in the future I can give some other book of hers a chance, but for the moment, I've gotten all the disappointment I can handle.
December 11, 2016
Actual rating 4.5She felt like a fairy-tale princess woken by a kiss to a new world, new people, new emotions.
Before I start this review I have a confession to make. I am a big fan of Sherlock Holmes. The adventures of Sherlock Holmes is one of my favorite books ever. I love a thorough mystery, I love when the author allows readers be a part of investigation. Also, I am a big fan of Nancy Drew games *gasp*. Yep, it's my guilty pleasure. I love these computer games, I love to snoop and sneak with Nancy, digging and turning secrets step by step. I am a huge mystery geek. These shallow graves is a mix of best Sherlock Holmes tradition and Nancy Drew adventures. It's a perfect combination for me and it was delightful to read this book and to follow its twists from the first page till the last one. I loved it. Also, I have to add that this book is more than a mystery - it's a multi-layered cake, and is not subtle in its message, but rather forward and frank. It was a pure joy and entertainment to read. All was mixed together so perfectly that I can't really imagine a person who wouldn't like this book at least for one of the many reasons. And I can give you some:
- this book has a headstrong, resilient heroine;
- this book has a solid mystery with a very yummy clues for readers to follow with MCs;
- this book has a strong reliable romance (absolutely sexy one);
- this books is a historical fiction displaying the life of New-York city in the late 19th century - high society, labor class, social issues;
- it is a pure aesthetic pleasure to read this book and to follow its directions.
The story is about Josephine/Jo Montfort, an American aristocrat. She comes from an old-money and is bound by conventionalities and expectations of high society. She can't move without being noticed and observed and she can't be her own person and do as she wishes.“My darling Jo, there is no one more unfortunate than we ourselves,” she said. “We are not engaged yet, you and I. We’re spinsters. Pathetic nobodies. We can go nowhere on our own. We must not be too forward in speech, dress, or emotion lest we put off a potential suitor. We are allowed no funds of our own, and most of all”—she squeezed Jo’s hand for emphasis—“no opinions.”
“You know the rules: get yourself hitched, then do what you like. But for heaven’s sake, until you get the man, smile like a dolt and talk about tulips, not mill girls!”
Jo wants to be a reporter, but she is expected to marry as soon as possible, and she will have to say adieu to her dreams. But then a tragedy strikes, and for the first time in her life Jo's got an opportunity to pursue her dreams. Jo is a highly likable, headstrong heroine. She knows what she wants and what she's allowed to have. She is not ready to give up on her dreams, and I loved Jo for her stubbornness in following her goals. “Need I remind you that she’s a scandalous lady reporter who meddles in other people’s business and has no hope of marrying a decent man? You, in contrast, are a Montfort, and Montforts marry. Early and well. And that is all.”
“Well, this Montfort’s going to do a bit more,” Jo declared. “Like write stories for newspapers.”Jo knew she shouldn’t sit at the edge of her seat, her face pressed to the glass—Eager young ladies aren’t ladies at all, her mother would’ve said—but she couldn’t help it. The New York before her now was so much more interesting than the one she knew, and alone in her carriage, away from the oppressiveness of her mother’s rules, she could give free rein to her insatiable curiosity.
This book has a strong feminist message. Women from high society are nothing without men, they can't run a business or pursue a career. Women from labor class are forced to work from young age; they have to endure hard labor. Every one of these women from different social circles are slaves and often are perceived as trophies and objects for trade.“But she’s a human being,” Jo protested, heartsick at the thought of Fay’s fate. “You can’t just buy and sell her. That’s slavery. Have you no sense of morality?”
“Morality is a luxury, my darling. A very expensive one,” Esther said.
“But—”
<...>
“You’re engaged to Abraham Aldrich, are you not? No doubt your dear mama—if she’s worth a damn—tallied the fortunes and prospects of every young man of means in the city, weighing their dollars against your assets: beauty and breeding.” She paused to let her words sink in, then said, “One day soon, my darling, you’ll be doing the very same thing the girls here do, only you won’t get paid for it.”
This book stands against women's slavery in any form. Does this issue still actual nowadays? Yes. In modern society some issues are even more acute then they were before; they never vanished, just transformed into something even bigger and scarier than ever.
These shallow graves is a mystery with romance or a romance with a mystery? I can say that it's both. When Jo started to search for truth behind her father's death, she also found love. These two components of the book are intertwined and supplement each other perfectly. I loved that the mystery was presented in detail. I loved the accuracy of investigation and the introduction of forensic medicine and the role it played in the investigation. “How does one practice forensic medicine?” Jo asked, her curiosity overcoming her revulsion.
“Through rigorous observation, my dear,” Oscar said in a professorial voice. “One notes the position of the victim’s body, as well as its stiffness, color, and state of decay. One looks for blood spatter. Determines the absence or presence of powder burns. Differentiates between the cuts of a hatchet and those of a carving knife. Recognizes the chemical actions and reactions of poisons, acids, and solvents.
Well, can I marry this clever boy now?
I loved the dark mood that was enveloping the story from the beginning.Moonlight spilled over the rows of graves and the looming towers of the asylum. A wail rose on the night, high and piercing.
There were gruesome moments, but it made the story more realistic, and made me fidget with unease and worry for MCs. The last 15% were crazy and awesome and absolutely breathtaking. There was also a lot of humor and it helped to balance the dark mood and prevented the story from being gloomy.
The romance was perfect. No insta-love; MCs connected through the mystery: they had the same wish to get to the bottom of the things. And from that wish desire to know each other was born and then love. Absolutely beautifully done. And that scene in the closet... “I want to tail Kinch,” Eddie said anxiously. “I’m going to lose him if we don’t get out of here and he might be tough to find again.”
“I’m going to lose my reputation if we don’t get out of here and that will be impossible to find again,” Jo said.
Uh-huhNow Eddie turned to face the door, his back against the back wall, and Jo wedged herself in front of him, with her back against the door, and there was no room between them at all. Her eyes were blind in the darkness, but her sense of touch was heightened. She could feel every point of contact with his body. One of her legs was between his, and one of his was between hers. Her hips were pressed against his and her breasts were jammed into his chest. Her cheek touched his jaw.
“How dare you!” she sputtered, blushing furiously.
“How could you?”
“Hey, you’re welcome,” Eddie said.“What?”
“I just saved your backside. I think a thank-you’s in order,” he said.
Jo advanced on him, intending to give him what for, but his slow, teasing smile and his eyes, so deeply blue, stopped her cold.
She grabbed his lapels, pulled him to her, and kissed him back.
Lovers of romance will be delighted, trust me!
I wouldn't say that the story was absolutely perfect. No. There were predictable moment, moments when I wanted to kill the heroine for not seeing the obvious. But these were genuine emotions on my part, and when the book makes you feel so much - it means it hit the right spot in your heart and this is your thing. This book was my thing. I with no doubt can name These shallow graves - one of the best books of the year. Read it, people. Read it as soon as possible. This book will give you so much. “This is the best thing, Jo. The city stretched out before you, glittering like a sack of diamonds. Yours for the taking. A drink and a smoke and no one to please but yourself. Freedom. That’s my answer. The freedom to be your own best thing.”
July 27, 2015
These Shallow Graves is Jennifer Donnelly's third historical fiction novel for young adults and, like her previous two, I fell head-over-heels in love with it. Much like A Northern Light, Donnelly's latest features a curious, determined protagonist and a mystery whose secrets threaten the very lives of our characters. Moreover, it is littered with snippets of dialogue and scenarios which serve to distinguish the sharp line between women and men, particularly the hypocrisy and cruelty that kept women from attaining equal rights for so long.
I really, really love Donnelly's work, not only because it's well-written and entertaining, but because these are the types of novels I want young girls to read. I want them to open a book and find a heroine who is ambitious and driven, yet finds herself held back by society and still manages to push forward. I want them to read novels where men are supportive of a women's career and interests, even when most other men are not. I want them to find stories that entertain them but also teach them about the struggles women did have in the world and all the opportunities they have now--opportunities they should seize the way Jo Montfort seizes those before her.
These Shallow Graves has so much going for it, from its compelling murder mystery to its terrifying villain to its layers and layers of secrets. It has a slow-burn, swoon-worthy forbidden romance that will make you melt and a heroine who you can look up to. But more than that, it's a perfect snapshot of the lives of multiple women during this time period. Jo, our protagonist, is a wealthy young woman expected to marry well when her father suddenly commits suicide. While her uncle has it reported as an accident, Jo's curiosity and desire to become an investigative journalist propel her to uncover that her father was shot and murdered. While this leads her on a wild goose chase for the killer but it also brings her in contact with the dirty underbelly of the city, crawling with prostitutes whose eyes are dead, and Fay, a female thief who, despite not having family to tie her down, is nevertheless without freedom. A Donnelly novel stays with me long past its last page because of the themes it echoes, reverberating not only through the book but through my own life as well. I think all women can comprehend the situation these young girls are thrown in and the fact that we can still empathize with that, despite the progress we have made, is its own kind of sadness.
Nevertheless, there is much happy within this somber story as well, from Jo Montfort herself to Eddie Gallagher, the handsome journalist she meets and convinces to help assist her in solving this crime. Jo and Eddie are one of my favorite couples and their interactions are laced with a deeper understanding of one another which I truly appreciate. Moreover, their love story never takes away from the personal growth Jo experiences or the plot line but it is the cherry on top, which I appreciate.
These Shallow Graves is anything but shallow; a thought-provoking novel that pushes the boundaries of what YA is currently doing to what it could be constantly doing. Moreover, it's Jennifer Donnelly's latest book. It really needs no more endorsement than that.
I really, really love Donnelly's work, not only because it's well-written and entertaining, but because these are the types of novels I want young girls to read. I want them to open a book and find a heroine who is ambitious and driven, yet finds herself held back by society and still manages to push forward. I want them to read novels where men are supportive of a women's career and interests, even when most other men are not. I want them to find stories that entertain them but also teach them about the struggles women did have in the world and all the opportunities they have now--opportunities they should seize the way Jo Montfort seizes those before her.
These Shallow Graves has so much going for it, from its compelling murder mystery to its terrifying villain to its layers and layers of secrets. It has a slow-burn, swoon-worthy forbidden romance that will make you melt and a heroine who you can look up to. But more than that, it's a perfect snapshot of the lives of multiple women during this time period. Jo, our protagonist, is a wealthy young woman expected to marry well when her father suddenly commits suicide. While her uncle has it reported as an accident, Jo's curiosity and desire to become an investigative journalist propel her to uncover that her father was shot and murdered. While this leads her on a wild goose chase for the killer but it also brings her in contact with the dirty underbelly of the city, crawling with prostitutes whose eyes are dead, and Fay, a female thief who, despite not having family to tie her down, is nevertheless without freedom. A Donnelly novel stays with me long past its last page because of the themes it echoes, reverberating not only through the book but through my own life as well. I think all women can comprehend the situation these young girls are thrown in and the fact that we can still empathize with that, despite the progress we have made, is its own kind of sadness.
Nevertheless, there is much happy within this somber story as well, from Jo Montfort herself to Eddie Gallagher, the handsome journalist she meets and convinces to help assist her in solving this crime. Jo and Eddie are one of my favorite couples and their interactions are laced with a deeper understanding of one another which I truly appreciate. Moreover, their love story never takes away from the personal growth Jo experiences or the plot line but it is the cherry on top, which I appreciate.
These Shallow Graves is anything but shallow; a thought-provoking novel that pushes the boundaries of what YA is currently doing to what it could be constantly doing. Moreover, it's Jennifer Donnelly's latest book. It really needs no more endorsement than that.
November 8, 2015
www.melissa413readsalot.blogspot.com
This was a nice little mystery. I thought Jo was sweet trying to find out what happened to her father. She knew he didn't shoot himself by accident cleaning one of his guns, it's just not something he would have done. Now they are saying suicide or murder..
Jo starts going sleuthing on her own because her family would have a fit if they knew what she was doing. She runs into a man from the newspaper named Eddie. He decides to help her and they also have a little whirlwind romance.
Jo is only seventeen years old and her family is rich. Sometimes she got on my nerves in the book, I'm not sure if it was because she was brought up rich and didn't know too much or what. Most of the time though I just loved her and all the things she did to help women.
Jo's father owned a newspaper and was part owner in a shipping company. They find out the bad stuff is coming from the shipping company. This all has to do with treasure, but it's not the kind we are thinking about, it's a very bad kind. Jo is appalled when she finds out and I don't blame her!
In the end Jo figures out the mystery with the help of a few friends and she helps some girls out of some bad situations. I think Jo is a really good character that does good things for the sake of others. This is set in the 1890's so you can imagine all she goes through to help girls in different situations. Hell, it still does on to this day!
Anyway, I enjoyed this mystery and I have to say I love the book cover, they did really good job on it!
This was a nice little mystery. I thought Jo was sweet trying to find out what happened to her father. She knew he didn't shoot himself by accident cleaning one of his guns, it's just not something he would have done. Now they are saying suicide or murder..
Jo starts going sleuthing on her own because her family would have a fit if they knew what she was doing. She runs into a man from the newspaper named Eddie. He decides to help her and they also have a little whirlwind romance.
Jo is only seventeen years old and her family is rich. Sometimes she got on my nerves in the book, I'm not sure if it was because she was brought up rich and didn't know too much or what. Most of the time though I just loved her and all the things she did to help women.
Jo's father owned a newspaper and was part owner in a shipping company. They find out the bad stuff is coming from the shipping company. This all has to do with treasure, but it's not the kind we are thinking about, it's a very bad kind. Jo is appalled when she finds out and I don't blame her!
In the end Jo figures out the mystery with the help of a few friends and she helps some girls out of some bad situations. I think Jo is a really good character that does good things for the sake of others. This is set in the 1890's so you can imagine all she goes through to help girls in different situations. Hell, it still does on to this day!
Anyway, I enjoyed this mystery and I have to say I love the book cover, they did really good job on it!
May 24, 2016
Η άποψη μου για αυτό το βιβλίο άλλαξε πολλές φορές κατά την διάρκεια της ανάγνωσης. Μου άρεσε από την αρχή μέχρι το τέλος, αλλά κάποιες φορές περισσότερο και κάποιες λιγότερο. Στην αρχή με κούρασαν οι τόσες απανωτές αναφορές στην θέση της γυναίκας στην κοινωνία, με ένα τρόπο που μου θύμισε φεμινιστικό μανιφέστο (όχι ότι έχω κάτι εναντίον τους, άλλωστε οι σουφραζέτες άλλαξαν τον κόσμο, αλλά τόσα πολλά μαζεμένα στην έναρξη του βιβλίου μου φάνηκαν υπ��ρβολή). Βέβαια μετά άρχισε το μυστήριο, η δράση και το ρομάντζο και τότε άρχισε να μου αρέσει πολύ. Μην μιλήσω για τις υπέροχες ατάκες...
Θα προτιμούσα η Donnelly να είχε δώσει περισσότερο βάθος στην αφήγηση. Ξέρετε, να εμβαθύνει λίγο περισσότερο στους δεύτερους χαρακτήρες και λιγάκι παραπάνω στις περιγραφές. Αλλά προτίμησε να δώσει περισσότερη σημασία στην δράση. Όταν συνειδητοποίησα ότι αυτό το βιβλίο δεν είναι αυτό που περίμενα, δηλαδή την ρομαντική αργη αφήγηση, που έχω συνηθίσει στα βιβλία της Donnelly με τις πολλές ιστορικές αναφορές και τις τρελές περιγραφές και την γνωστή της λογοδιάρροια (που πρέπει να πω τα απολαμβάνω), αλλά ένα βιβλίο μυστηρίου και δράσης, χαλάρωσα και το απόλαυσα πολύ πρέπει να πω. Από τη μέση και πέρα δε, μου άρεσε πάρα πολύ. Το τέλος υπέροχο. Εν τέλει πολύ ωραίο βιβλίο!
4,5/5 αστεράκια.
«Εσύ, από την άλλη, θέλεις να μάθεις πράγματα. Και κανείς δεν μπορεί να συγχωρέσει σε μία κοπέλα ένα τέτοιο παράπτωμα».
σελ. 17.
«Ένα ποτό, ένα τσιγάρο, καμία υποχρέωση να ευχαριστήσεις οποιονδήποτε άλλον εκτός από τον εαυτό σου. Ελευθερία. Αυτή είναι η απάντησή μου. Η ελευθερία να είσαι εσύ το καλύτερο πράγμα που σου συνέβη».
σελ. 334.
Θα προτιμούσα η Donnelly να είχε δώσει περισσότερο βάθος στην αφήγηση. Ξέρετε, να εμβαθύνει λίγο περισσότερο στους δεύτερους χαρακτήρες και λιγάκι παραπάνω στις περιγραφές. Αλλά προτίμησε να δώσει περισσότερη σημασία στην δράση. Όταν συνειδητοποίησα ότι αυτό το βιβλίο δεν είναι αυτό που περίμενα, δηλαδή την ρομαντική αργη αφήγηση, που έχω συνηθίσει στα βιβλία της Donnelly με τις πολλές ιστορικές αναφορές και τις τρελές περιγραφές και την γνωστή της λογοδιάρροια (που πρέπει να πω τα απολαμβάνω), αλλά ένα βιβλίο μυστηρίου και δράσης, χαλάρωσα και το απόλαυσα πολύ πρέπει να πω. Από τη μέση και πέρα δε, μου άρεσε πάρα πολύ. Το τέλος υπέροχο. Εν τέλει πολύ ωραίο βιβλίο!
4,5/5 αστεράκια.
«Εσύ, από την άλλη, θέλεις να μάθεις πράγματα. Και κανείς δεν μπορεί να συγχωρέσει σε μία κοπέλα ένα τέτοιο παράπτωμα».
σελ. 17.
«Ένα ποτό, ένα τσιγάρο, καμία υποχρέωση να ευχαριστήσεις οποιονδήποτε άλλον εκτός από τον εαυτό σου. Ελευθερία. Αυτή είναι η απάντησή μου. Η ελευθερία να είσαι εσύ το καλύτερο πράγμα που σου συνέβη».
σελ. 334.
October 21, 2015
I loved this book so much. I loved everything about it. I loved the writing, the plot, the characters and, get ready for it, the romance. That's right. As someone who always complains about romance in YA, I was blown away. Jo and Eddie are the real deal. Their relationship was well written and developed and real. And intense. I loved their bantering. I was so emotionally invested in this book. I can't even begin to explain how this book made me feel. Jennifer Donnelly is an incredible writer.
Overall, this is a short review because I just loved everything about this book. It was amazing and I'm still out of my mind about the characters. This book took my breath away. I can't wait for this book to be released because I need a hardcover to hold and hug. Definitely one of my top favorites of 2015.
Overall, this is a short review because I just loved everything about this book. It was amazing and I'm still out of my mind about the characters. This book took my breath away. I can't wait for this book to be released because I need a hardcover to hold and hug. Definitely one of my top favorites of 2015.
September 12, 2017
Ενα από τα καλύτερα και απολαυστικότερα βιβλία που έχω διαβασει. Δε μπορο��σα να το αφήσω απο τα χέρια μου.
Αυτό το βιβλίο έχει τα πάντα.Δράση, μυστήριο, ανατροπές, έρωτα και παράλληλα με τη κινηματογραφική περιγραφή της Donnelly νομίζεις πως βρίσκεσαι και εσύ στη Νεα Υόρκη του 1890. Το συστήνω ανεπιφύλακτα σε όλους.
«Ένα ποτό, ένα τσιγάρο, καμία υποχρέωση να ευχαριστήσεις οποιονδήποτε άλλον εκτός από τον εαυτό σου. Ελευθερία. Αυτή είναι η απάντησή μου. Η ελευθερία να είσαι εσύ το καλύτερο πράγμα που σου συνέβη.»
Αυτό το βιβλίο έχει τα πάντα.Δράση, μυστήριο, ανατροπές, έρωτα και παράλληλα με τη κινηματογραφική περιγραφή της Donnelly νομίζεις πως βρίσκεσαι και εσύ στη Νεα Υόρκη του 1890. Το συστήνω ανεπιφύλακτα σε όλους.
«Ένα ποτό, ένα τσιγάρο, καμία υποχρέωση να ευχαριστήσεις οποιονδήποτε άλλον εκτός από τον εαυτό σου. Ελευθερία. Αυτή είναι η απάντησή μου. Η ελευθερία να είσαι εσύ το καλύτερο πράγμα που σου συνέβη.»
Read
March 1, 2018on-hold
I don't know if I'm not in the mood for this book or if this book isn't in the mood for me.
y'all it hurts to stare at it every time i come on goodreads so it's got to go.
I don't know if I'm not in the mood for this book or if this book isn't in the mood for me.
y'all it hurts to stare at it every time i come on goodreads so it's got to go.
May 31, 2016
4.5* This was fantastic!! I was gripped instantly simply from the prologue. Brilliant characters, an immersive setting and a page turning plot. I enjoyed this a lot. Definitely recommended!!
Read my full review on my blog ~ http://girlreading.co.uk/bookreviews/...
Read my full review on my blog ~ http://girlreading.co.uk/bookreviews/...
January 6, 2016
this book had EVERYTHING I was hoping for and more! it was my first book by Jennifer Donnelly, and I'd heard about all her lovely books--so I picked this one up at the airport on the way back from my own book tour....and, wow. Beautifully told, creepy, with a PERFECT, believable romance and an amazing, strong female lead. I'm so impressed!!!
March 13, 2019
Από τα καλύτερα στο είδος του.
Αν και δεν ξέρω κατά πόσο το συγκεκριμένο είναι αντιπροσωπευτικό δείγμα της γραφής της Jennifer Donnelly, αφού ακόμη δεν έχω καταφέρει να διαβάσω την τριλογία Tea Rose.
Μου άρεσε πολύ..
Αν και δεν ξέρω κατά πόσο το συγκεκριμένο είναι αντιπροσωπευτικό δείγμα της γραφής της Jennifer Donnelly, αφού ακόμη δεν έχω καταφέρει να διαβάσω την τριλογία Tea Rose.
Μου άρεσε πολύ..
August 2, 2016
“An uneasiness had descended on her, as cold and ominous as a winter night.”
4 1/2 stars. Let's get this part out of the way: The mystery was good. I had no problems with it. It was a mixture of frighteningly atmospheric, brainiac detective sleuthing, and a good dosage of humor like the kind in Jackaby. I especially loved Jo's first visit to the morgue, when she met the wonderful Oscar Rubin and was appalled by his offer of a pleased-to-meet-you bloody handshake.
But then the romance was introduced, and it blew the mystery out the door. This was the swoony kind of stuff that I'm even going to compare to The Wrath and the Dawn. Yes, it was that level of intensity. There was such amazing, powerful chemistry between Jo and Eddie. I loved their smart-mouth bantering, and my goodness, the simple scene where they were looking into each other's eyes alone had my heart pounding like a twelve year old girl.
“Eddie didn’t spare her. He made her work. He made her think. It was not what she was used to from a man, and she liked it.”
There's more to this book, though. The author addresses the way women were treated like livestock at the time, either sold off to rich husbands they didn't love or to poor men for a dollar for the night.
Jo is a high society girl with a burning desire to know things, which of course warrants her family's disapproval. Girls of her class aren't expected to know about finances or trade, let alone be running around behind their mother's back solving a murder mystery. They are expected to snag the richest man possible and live out the rest of their lives wealthy and comfortable.
“The moment a girl learned how to talk, she was told not to.”
But Jo is considering trading all her money and comfort if it means she can fulfill her dream of becoming a reporter, solve her father's mysterious death, and be with Eddie, the poor, blue-eyed newsboy.
These Shallow Graves is a fast-paced, thrilling mystery and a luscious romance between two characters that made my heart ache. I loved this gorgeously written gem of a book.
4 1/2 stars. Let's get this part out of the way: The mystery was good. I had no problems with it. It was a mixture of frighteningly atmospheric, brainiac detective sleuthing, and a good dosage of humor like the kind in Jackaby. I especially loved Jo's first visit to the morgue, when she met the wonderful Oscar Rubin and was appalled by his offer of a pleased-to-meet-you bloody handshake.
But then the romance was introduced, and it blew the mystery out the door. This was the swoony kind of stuff that I'm even going to compare to The Wrath and the Dawn. Yes, it was that level of intensity. There was such amazing, powerful chemistry between Jo and Eddie. I loved their smart-mouth bantering, and my goodness, the simple scene where they were looking into each other's eyes alone had my heart pounding like a twelve year old girl.
“Eddie didn’t spare her. He made her work. He made her think. It was not what she was used to from a man, and she liked it.”
There's more to this book, though. The author addresses the way women were treated like livestock at the time, either sold off to rich husbands they didn't love or to poor men for a dollar for the night.
Jo is a high society girl with a burning desire to know things, which of course warrants her family's disapproval. Girls of her class aren't expected to know about finances or trade, let alone be running around behind their mother's back solving a murder mystery. They are expected to snag the richest man possible and live out the rest of their lives wealthy and comfortable.
“The moment a girl learned how to talk, she was told not to.”
But Jo is considering trading all her money and comfort if it means she can fulfill her dream of becoming a reporter, solve her father's mysterious death, and be with Eddie, the poor, blue-eyed newsboy.
These Shallow Graves is a fast-paced, thrilling mystery and a luscious romance between two characters that made my heart ache. I loved this gorgeously written gem of a book.
February 20, 2020
Despite the predictability of the story, I actually enjoyed the book a lot. This was after all the first book after ages I could properly review with all my notes and such. For me to go that far with a book shows that I enjoyed it enough.
First of all the book does fall in the historical genre which is one of my favorite genres. As a matter of fact it is in a constant battle with New Adult for my favorite. The fact it was based in New York during a time that history was taking a turn for the best was an added bonus.
Second was the characters. I won’t go as far as saying that Jo was a character I really loved. Yes, she was likeable. I liked her enough but sometimes her naivety really did throw me off. I wanted to scream at her. Maybe it was to show the people her up bringing. But really if she keeps up with that attitude she would make a poor journalist. Eddie did not make that much impact on me either. From the beginning I wished there was less romance (yes, I actually said less romance) and more thriller aspect. Still he was after all the person to give Jo that push. So for that he would be redeemed. OSCAR RUBIN. Can I just say that he’s my favorite? From the beginning I knew I would like his character but he just totally captured my heart. A boy well beyond his time and age. He had the ability and natural talent of a modern doctor. Alas he’s not given the proper glory and fame he deserves. If Ms Donnelly thinks of writing this as a series, I would highly recommend this trio back only if Oscar is included.
Thirdly. The plot. It was very predictable. From the beginning I suspected the killer and I was right. So no major developments there. And no major twists either.
Still like I mentioned the story was good. Many say it was feminist but I’ve seen better feminist books. This book manages to slightly dabble in that area. If further developed as a series I’m sure we can make Jo into a better and stronger woman.
I would highly recommend this to anyone who loves historical romance with thriller added to it but whoever gave this a paranormal tag should be kicked. This had no paranormal elements in it at all.
“We who have means and voice must use them to help other who have neither”
First of all the book does fall in the historical genre which is one of my favorite genres. As a matter of fact it is in a constant battle with New Adult for my favorite. The fact it was based in New York during a time that history was taking a turn for the best was an added bonus.
Second was the characters. I won’t go as far as saying that Jo was a character I really loved. Yes, she was likeable. I liked her enough but sometimes her naivety really did throw me off. I wanted to scream at her. Maybe it was to show the people her up bringing. But really if she keeps up with that attitude she would make a poor journalist. Eddie did not make that much impact on me either. From the beginning I wished there was less romance (yes, I actually said less romance) and more thriller aspect. Still he was after all the person to give Jo that push. So for that he would be redeemed. OSCAR RUBIN. Can I just say that he’s my favorite? From the beginning I knew I would like his character but he just totally captured my heart. A boy well beyond his time and age. He had the ability and natural talent of a modern doctor. Alas he’s not given the proper glory and fame he deserves. If Ms Donnelly thinks of writing this as a series, I would highly recommend this trio back only if Oscar is included.
Thirdly. The plot. It was very predictable. From the beginning I suspected the killer and I was right. So no major developments there. And no major twists either.
Still like I mentioned the story was good. Many say it was feminist but I’ve seen better feminist books. This book manages to slightly dabble in that area. If further developed as a series I’m sure we can make Jo into a better and stronger woman.
I would highly recommend this to anyone who loves historical romance with thriller added to it but whoever gave this a paranormal tag should be kicked. This had no paranormal elements in it at all.
“We who have means and voice must use them to help other who have neither”
March 27, 2023
rtc! <3
Be careful how deep you bury the past.
Words cannot express how much I loved this book. It was absolutely incredible. The writing style, the plot, the characters, the romance... everything was perfect.
I never thought I liked murder mysteries, but These Shallow Graves hit the spot. It was creepy, enthralling, and full of twists and turns that I never expected. Also, I LOVED the main character sm! It important to me that MCs aren't annoying bc it tends to ruin the book for me, but Jo was anything but.
Thank you, Jennifer Donnelly, for this amazing book!
Cheers! 🍻
(Content warnings:
Sexual content: Medium-while there were no explicit scenes, there was much talk/references to how badly girls were treated in this time period. One of the side plots is Jo saving her friend from being sold to a prostitute house.
Violence: Medium
Language: Medium)
Be careful how deep you bury the past.
Words cannot express how much I loved this book. It was absolutely incredible. The writing style, the plot, the characters, the romance... everything was perfect.
I never thought I liked murder mysteries, but These Shallow Graves hit the spot. It was creepy, enthralling, and full of twists and turns that I never expected. Also, I LOVED the main character sm! It important to me that MCs aren't annoying bc it tends to ruin the book for me, but Jo was anything but.
Thank you, Jennifer Donnelly, for this amazing book!
Cheers! 🍻
(Content warnings:
Sexual content: Medium-while there were no explicit scenes, there was much talk/references to how badly girls were treated in this time period. One of the side plots is Jo saving her friend from being sold to a prostitute house.
Violence: Medium
Language: Medium)
July 3, 2017
Με καθήλωσε απ΄την αρχή και δεν ήθελα να το αφήσω απο τα χέρια μου(είχα καιρό να το πάθω αυτό).
Δράση,αγωνία,μυστήριο,με πολλά ερωτήματα,που σε βάζουν σε σκέψεις για το ποιος λέει αλήθεια ή ψέματα, ή ποιον πρέπει να εμπιστευτεί η Τζό για να ανακαλύψει τον δολοφόνο του πατέρα της.
Γενικά υπάρχει ένας χαμός αλλα μέσα σ'ολα αυτά που συμβαίνουν,γεννιέται μια αγάπη αθώα αλλα αυτόχρονα τόσο δυνατή,που θα ήθελα και εγώ να ζήσω κάτι παρόμοιο!!
Αγάπησα τα πάντα σε αυτό το βιβλίο,τους χαρακτήρες,που τους παρουσιάζει έξυπνους,δυναμικούς και με πολύ χιούμορ,ακόμα και τη γραφή της Donnelly όπου ήταν καλύτερη απο άλλες φορές και δεν με κούρασε.
Το συστήνω ανεπιφύλακτα σε όλους!!!
Δράση,αγωνία,μυστήριο,με πολλά ερωτήματα,που σε βάζουν σε σκέψεις για το ποιος λέει αλήθεια ή ψέματα, ή ποιον πρέπει να εμπιστευτεί η Τζό για να ανακαλύψει τον δολοφόνο του πατέρα της.
Γενικά υπάρχει ένας χαμός αλλα μέσα σ'ολα αυτά που συμβαίνουν,γεννιέται μια αγάπη αθώα αλλα αυτόχρονα τόσο δυνατή,που θα ήθελα και εγώ να ζήσω κάτι παρόμοιο!!
Αγάπησα τα πάντα σε αυτό το βιβλίο,τους χαρακτήρες,που τους παρουσιάζει έξυπνους,δυναμικούς και με πολύ χιούμορ,ακόμα και τη γραφή της Donnelly όπου ήταν καλύτερη απο άλλες φορές και δεν με κούρασε.
Το συστήνω ανεπιφύλακτα σε όλους!!!
January 31, 2016
I'm a huge fan of period pieces, in fact, historical fictions are actually what solidified my love for reading at a very young age. Yeah, I know it's a genre far from Harry Potter (which I embarrassingly still have yet read, and I fear I may have outgrown the excitement for), but there has always been something enchanting about venturing into the past and experiencing the world (the people, the culture, the customs, the language, etc) in a different age that has always appealed to me. Sadly, These Shallow Graves did a poor of job of transporting me into the times of the main character, Josephine Montfort, and instead beat me over the head with repetitive themes (pointedly the randomly and haphazardly placed sexism) that screamed the era without really ever showing it. Furthermore, I was disappointed at how grim the setting was painting, without none of the elegance, or any of the beauty. Sure times weren't all rainbows and ponies in the late 1800's/Victorian Era, but there was also a refinery to it that just seemed to be misplaced or lost altogether in the text, which is surprising because the main character is a part of the affluent class!
And while we're on the subject of the main character, Josephine Montfort, let's just say she wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed. I found her to be outstandingly and unbelievably ignorant and naive. She seemed so cluelessly to the world and the happenings around her, once again surprising, because get this: she is a journalist at her schools with dreams of becoming a reporter. How could she not know what prostitutes are, or that people on the streets thieve to survive, or that the world can be so corrupt (including officers), and well, that there's a lot of bad guys on the very same streets that she roamed? I find it hard to believe that women were completely ignorant to the cruelties of the world just because their gender excluded them out of propriety, as the author redundantly suggested. And for a mystery book, this book was entirely way too predictable. I'm no Sherlock Holmes, but when I say I had this book figured out within the first fifty pages--and to think I had over 400 more pages to go! Gah!--nothing surprised me after that. So why is this book almost 500 pages long? There seriously was no need, as it only allowed for the book to drone on uneventfully (at times melodramatically) while I suffered in boredom to the foreseeable ending.
Besides the painfully obvious twists, also included is a very faulty and unconvincing romance. I get the picture that Mrs. Donnelly was painting between Josephine and Bram, because, sure, marriages back then were more of a business transactions than it was a love affair, and just like a business transaction (maybe I should use a bounced checked as the analogy here) there was no excitement to be had there. But thething romance between Josephine and Eddie was completely lost on me. It was just so unsubstantial, and thrown together... I just didn't buy it.
I think if this book was condensed, I would have enjoyed it more, but even still, These Shallow Graves was missing a spark that this plot desperately needed to set it apart from other books in the genre. In turn, it's pretty forgettable, and despite all the rave reviews, I stand unimpressed.
And while we're on the subject of the main character, Josephine Montfort, let's just say she wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed. I found her to be outstandingly and unbelievably ignorant and naive. She seemed so cluelessly to the world and the happenings around her, once again surprising, because get this: she is a journalist at her schools with dreams of becoming a reporter. How could she not know what prostitutes are, or that people on the streets thieve to survive, or that the world can be so corrupt (including officers), and well, that there's a lot of bad guys on the very same streets that she roamed? I find it hard to believe that women were completely ignorant to the cruelties of the world just because their gender excluded them out of propriety, as the author redundantly suggested. And for a mystery book, this book was entirely way too predictable. I'm no Sherlock Holmes, but when I say I had this book figured out within the first fifty pages--and to think I had over 400 more pages to go! Gah!--nothing surprised me after that. So why is this book almost 500 pages long? There seriously was no need, as it only allowed for the book to drone on uneventfully (at times melodramatically) while I suffered in boredom to the foreseeable ending.
Besides the painfully obvious twists, also included is a very faulty and unconvincing romance. I get the picture that Mrs. Donnelly was painting between Josephine and Bram, because, sure, marriages back then were more of a business transactions than it was a love affair, and just like a business transaction (maybe I should use a bounced checked as the analogy here) there was no excitement to be had there. But the
I think if this book was condensed, I would have enjoyed it more, but even still, These Shallow Graves was missing a spark that this plot desperately needed to set it apart from other books in the genre. In turn, it's pretty forgettable, and despite all the rave reviews, I stand unimpressed.
April 7, 2017
*4,5/5 stars*
“If you're going to bury the past, bury it deep, girl. Shallow graves always give up their dead.”
Such a dark, haunting and deviously intelligent book! All of these characters - good or bad or as it mostly happens: somewhere in-between - were wonderfully crafted and complex. The main heroine Jo was admirable, driven to the point, with great mind.
“You, on the other hand, wish to know things. And no one can forgive a girl for that.”
There is also deliciously slow burning romance which does not overwhelm the story in the slightest - while it is there and it's amazing, the romance is not the most important point of this book. There are very impactful and empowering messages behind this story, it's wonderfully feministic. There's also a great female friendship which starts just somewhere along the way of this journey.
“Headstrong is just a word, Katie - a word others call you when you don't do what they want.”
These Shallow Graves is a breathtaking mystery - with splendid little clues all throughout the book for us to catch - full of bloodshed, murder, conspiracies, surprises, heartbreak, morgues and asylums. It sends a great message and makes for one hell of an exciting ride! Cannot recommend highly enough.
“As a child, she’d thought all the noise and commotion was the most wild, wonderful game, but as she’d grown older, she understood why everyone rushed around so: they were chasing a story.”
P.S. This totally needs a sequel! Or at least some short story. Pretty please. I need more Eddie and Jo in my life.
“If you're going to bury the past, bury it deep, girl. Shallow graves always give up their dead.”
Such a dark, haunting and deviously intelligent book! All of these characters - good or bad or as it mostly happens: somewhere in-between - were wonderfully crafted and complex. The main heroine Jo was admirable, driven to the point, with great mind.
“You, on the other hand, wish to know things. And no one can forgive a girl for that.”
There is also deliciously slow burning romance which does not overwhelm the story in the slightest - while it is there and it's amazing, the romance is not the most important point of this book. There are very impactful and empowering messages behind this story, it's wonderfully feministic. There's also a great female friendship which starts just somewhere along the way of this journey.
“Headstrong is just a word, Katie - a word others call you when you don't do what they want.”
These Shallow Graves is a breathtaking mystery - with splendid little clues all throughout the book for us to catch - full of bloodshed, murder, conspiracies, surprises, heartbreak, morgues and asylums. It sends a great message and makes for one hell of an exciting ride! Cannot recommend highly enough.
“As a child, she’d thought all the noise and commotion was the most wild, wonderful game, but as she’d grown older, she understood why everyone rushed around so: they were chasing a story.”
P.S. This totally needs a sequel! Or at least some short story. Pretty please. I need more Eddie and Jo in my life.
May 26, 2016
Написана по впечатляващ начин, „Тези плитки гробове” връща читателя в далечната 1890 г., Ню Йорк, където той, заедно с Джо и Еди, тръгва по следите на един безмилостен убиец. Загадъчни и шокиращи разкрития за семейния бизнес, тайни, които са способни да унищожават, невъзможна любов, готова да промени завинаги цели родове – Дженифър Донъли за пореден път ме изуми с поглъщащ стил на писане, увлекателен сюжет и забележителни персонажи.
Цялото ревю тук -> http://justonebooklover.blogspot.bg/2...
Цялото ревю тук -> http://justonebooklover.blogspot.bg/2...
Read
May 8, 2017DNF
Mini review:
I was looking forward to reading this! I have read the authors Waterfire Saga series and I love murder mysteries. Unfortunately I did not enjoy it.
I found it really boring. The beginning bothered me rather than pulling me in. And I didn't enjoy the talk about marriages in the beginning.
Still recommend.
Mini review:
I was looking forward to reading this! I have read the authors Waterfire Saga series and I love murder mysteries. Unfortunately I did not enjoy it.
I found it really boring. The beginning bothered me rather than pulling me in. And I didn't enjoy the talk about marriages in the beginning.
Still recommend.
December 5, 2023
✰ 3.5 stars ✰
“If you’re going to bury the past, bury it deep, girl.
Shallow graves always give up their dead.”
Well-written and fast-paced with a strong-willed, free-spirited and determined protagonist at the helm, Shallow Graves is an engaging YA mystery-thriller that I enjoyed reading. Set in nineteenth-century New York City, Jennifer Donnelly writes of one young woman's fight to uncover the truth behind her father's supposed suicide and the risks she takes to reveal some family secrets that are better left buried.
“We who have means and a voice must use them to help those who have neither. Yet how can we help them if we don’t even know about them?
And how can we know about them if no one writes about them? Is it so wrong to want to know things?”
Sixteen-year-old Jo Montfort was an admirable protagonist; taking faith in the Latin motto inscribed on her family's coat of arms, 'fac quod faciendum est - do what must be done', investigative journalism is in her blood, even if her family is horribly opposed to it. And the more she denies her father's suicide, the more she is led to believe that it wasn't; and revealing the truth behind it, is truly where she excels her talents. Defying family expectations that befall her gender, she crosses limits and boundaries to investigate the night he died.
She had a lot of gumption - tenacious spirit and fierce determination that really stood out for me. I liked that it never felt out of place, despite how out of place it was to those around her - and her family values and ethics. She wanted to be a journalist - inspired by her hero, Nelly Bly, Jo's voice was a really engaging one and felt authentic to me. 'Most girls are a lot like me. Wanting answers to their questions.' 👍🏻👍🏻 I liked how she narrowed down possibilities, tracked down clues and tried to find logic and reason in the secrets she stumbled upon. She had a strong head on her shoulders when making important decisions, except of those when it was affairs of the heart. 💜💜
“Wish you were a cad, Eddie Gallagher,” she whispered. “Wish to God you’d kissed me.”
“Do you?”
Jo gave a startled gasp. “I thought you were asleep!”
“I was. You woke me up. Can’t you ever stop talking?”
“Sorry! I—I didn’t mean to,” she stammered. “I just…I wanted to—”
“If you want a kiss so badly, come and get one.”
Eddie Gallagher was a welcome addition to the fray; although, rather stereotypical at best, he offered a nice off-set to Jo's tendencies - with a rational and protective frame of mind that made her so very smitten with him. He was strong, confident and also very loyal to his constituents as a reporter and his personal past. 🥺 I liked their witty banter, their push and pull of what works in following a lead, his reluctance and then admittance of Jo's skills and all the while, slowly being drawn to her charm, as well. Every time I see you, it’s an adventure, Jo Montfort. You’re a very unusual girl.' I didn't quite mind the little love triangle that formed, because it was also a stepping stone for Jo to have the courage to decide who she chooses to spend her life with.
It was that social equality and fight that was a prevalent theme in the story; whether it was her fiancé chastising her for her less than lady-like tendencies, or her reaction to entering a coroner's office, or going undercover in less than respectable whereabouts, Jo defied the norms to assert herself on equal footing of any one of them. 'Because I wish to draw back the veil that hides the injustices that surround us'. And while that was a thorn in some people's paths, it made her a much more progressive character, in my eyes, and which ultimately led her to closer to the cause of her father's death.👌🏻
“Do I get credit for saving her life if I’m the one who put her in danger?”
“Just because we don’t know what the reason is doesn’t mean there isn’t one,” Eddie said stubbornly.
“True,” Jo conceded, irked that no matter how many layers of the mystery they peeled back, the answers still eluded them.”
Admittedly, the guilty party was clear to me from the start; I'm sorry, but it was too obvious to me, I wish it wasn't, but yeah, that's on me and my mystery-detecting lens. 😔 I allowed it to slide, though, because well - Jo had to let go of the visors that had blinded her for so long on her own to realize the truth; and for that, I think it was captured realistically so. The build up to her figuring it was done with enough heated tension and action that made me appreciate the balanced and steady pace at which it played out. I never felt a lull in the plot, for each instance described was significant. They were not superfluous scenes, but added weight to the story and her own personality, too.
The author also did a commendable job of breathing life into this time period that fit believably with a set of supporting characters that each had a life of their own, as well. They were unique and interesting, and I liked how each of them were incorporated into Jo's life. I Even though, I was not surprised by the turn of events, I enjoyed seeing Jo's surprise - if that makes sense. ☺️ I liked seeing how she pieced the puzzles together, how the sequence of events became darker and more dangerous as she inched her way closer to the reveal. The way the author heightened the emotions and elevated the risk of danger was also something I appreciated.
“The thing is, you can’t ever really know just how rotten someone will turn out to be,” Oscar Rubin said philosophically. “It’s always a surprise.”
“And who doesn’t love a surprise?” Eddie muttered darkly.”
I had this saved in my e-library for so long, that I'm glad I decided to give it a go - cuz, y'know, how much I love a good mystery. And while it may have not be the strongest of them, the author still maintained a great balance of levity and humor against the more serious and darker tones of the story that made me appreciate it even more. So, for that I am grateful. 🌟🌟
“If you’re going to bury the past, bury it deep, girl.
Shallow graves always give up their dead.”
Well-written and fast-paced with a strong-willed, free-spirited and determined protagonist at the helm, Shallow Graves is an engaging YA mystery-thriller that I enjoyed reading. Set in nineteenth-century New York City, Jennifer Donnelly writes of one young woman's fight to uncover the truth behind her father's supposed suicide and the risks she takes to reveal some family secrets that are better left buried.
“We who have means and a voice must use them to help those who have neither. Yet how can we help them if we don’t even know about them?
And how can we know about them if no one writes about them? Is it so wrong to want to know things?”
Sixteen-year-old Jo Montfort was an admirable protagonist; taking faith in the Latin motto inscribed on her family's coat of arms, 'fac quod faciendum est - do what must be done', investigative journalism is in her blood, even if her family is horribly opposed to it. And the more she denies her father's suicide, the more she is led to believe that it wasn't; and revealing the truth behind it, is truly where she excels her talents. Defying family expectations that befall her gender, she crosses limits and boundaries to investigate the night he died.
She had a lot of gumption - tenacious spirit and fierce determination that really stood out for me. I liked that it never felt out of place, despite how out of place it was to those around her - and her family values and ethics. She wanted to be a journalist - inspired by her hero, Nelly Bly, Jo's voice was a really engaging one and felt authentic to me. 'Most girls are a lot like me. Wanting answers to their questions.' 👍🏻👍🏻 I liked how she narrowed down possibilities, tracked down clues and tried to find logic and reason in the secrets she stumbled upon. She had a strong head on her shoulders when making important decisions, except of those when it was affairs of the heart. 💜💜
“Wish you were a cad, Eddie Gallagher,” she whispered. “Wish to God you’d kissed me.”
“Do you?”
Jo gave a startled gasp. “I thought you were asleep!”
“I was. You woke me up. Can’t you ever stop talking?”
“Sorry! I—I didn’t mean to,” she stammered. “I just…I wanted to—”
“If you want a kiss so badly, come and get one.”
Eddie Gallagher was a welcome addition to the fray; although, rather stereotypical at best, he offered a nice off-set to Jo's tendencies - with a rational and protective frame of mind that made her so very smitten with him. He was strong, confident and also very loyal to his constituents as a reporter and his personal past. 🥺 I liked their witty banter, their push and pull of what works in following a lead, his reluctance and then admittance of Jo's skills and all the while, slowly being drawn to her charm, as well. Every time I see you, it’s an adventure, Jo Montfort. You’re a very unusual girl.' I didn't quite mind the little love triangle that formed, because it was also a stepping stone for Jo to have the courage to decide who she chooses to spend her life with.
It was that social equality and fight that was a prevalent theme in the story; whether it was her fiancé chastising her for her less than lady-like tendencies, or her reaction to entering a coroner's office, or going undercover in less than respectable whereabouts, Jo defied the norms to assert herself on equal footing of any one of them. 'Because I wish to draw back the veil that hides the injustices that surround us'. And while that was a thorn in some people's paths, it made her a much more progressive character, in my eyes, and which ultimately led her to closer to the cause of her father's death.👌🏻
“Do I get credit for saving her life if I’m the one who put her in danger?”
“Just because we don’t know what the reason is doesn’t mean there isn’t one,” Eddie said stubbornly.
“True,” Jo conceded, irked that no matter how many layers of the mystery they peeled back, the answers still eluded them.”
Admittedly, the guilty party was clear to me from the start; I'm sorry, but it was too obvious to me, I wish it wasn't, but yeah, that's on me and my mystery-detecting lens. 😔 I allowed it to slide, though, because well - Jo had to let go of the visors that had blinded her for so long on her own to realize the truth; and for that, I think it was captured realistically so. The build up to her figuring it was done with enough heated tension and action that made me appreciate the balanced and steady pace at which it played out. I never felt a lull in the plot, for each instance described was significant. They were not superfluous scenes, but added weight to the story and her own personality, too.
The author also did a commendable job of breathing life into this time period that fit believably with a set of supporting characters that each had a life of their own, as well. They were unique and interesting, and I liked how each of them were incorporated into Jo's life. I Even though, I was not surprised by the turn of events, I enjoyed seeing Jo's surprise - if that makes sense. ☺️ I liked seeing how she pieced the puzzles together, how the sequence of events became darker and more dangerous as she inched her way closer to the reveal. The way the author heightened the emotions and elevated the risk of danger was also something I appreciated.
“The thing is, you can’t ever really know just how rotten someone will turn out to be,” Oscar Rubin said philosophically. “It’s always a surprise.”
“And who doesn’t love a surprise?” Eddie muttered darkly.”
I had this saved in my e-library for so long, that I'm glad I decided to give it a go - cuz, y'know, how much I love a good mystery. And while it may have not be the strongest of them, the author still maintained a great balance of levity and humor against the more serious and darker tones of the story that made me appreciate it even more. So, for that I am grateful. 🌟🌟
February 16, 2021
AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS GOING TO BE A ZOMBIE NOVEL 😂
◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️
at the end of the day, it didn't matter that the mysteries in this book were super predictable.
jo was such an endearing, determined protagonist, and i adored reading about her escapades in gilded age new york, one of my favourite time periods and settings. jennifer donnelly writes such quick banter, conveying jo's cleverness with cutting quips and witty remarks. she made me laugh out loud!!
and with a bittersweet ending to cap it all off: this was such a solid read.
◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️
at the end of the day, it didn't matter that the mysteries in this book were super predictable.
jo was such an endearing, determined protagonist, and i adored reading about her escapades in gilded age new york, one of my favourite time periods and settings. jennifer donnelly writes such quick banter, conveying jo's cleverness with cutting quips and witty remarks. she made me laugh out loud!!
and with a bittersweet ending to cap it all off: this was such a solid read.
March 11, 2017
Rating Breakdown
Crime/Mystery: 2 stars
Romance: 4 stars
Writing: 5 stars
Characters: 3.8 stars
Historical setting: 5 stars
Note: A read for The Quarterly Book Club's 2017 1st Quarter - Kickass Female Leads
These Shallow Graves is a Historical Crime tale set in 1890 New York, following young Jo Monfort’s journey in finding her father’s murderer.
Josephine “Jo” Montfort was from a family of old money. As a young woman of her age and class, everyone was expecting nothing else from her but to marry soon and to always act properly as a delicate girl should. Her life was envied by many that she shouldn’t have wanted for anything, but Jo dreamed to become a newspaper reporter like Nellie Bly.
Her perfect life started crumbling when she received the news of her father’s sudden death. It was an accident, they said. But Jo was quite certain that her father, Charles, was too intelligent of a man to clean a loaded revolver.
With the help of Eddie, a handsome reporter, Oscar, a morgue assistant, and Fairy Fay, a cunning pickpocket, Jo would have to unearth the most sinister truths, some even concealing themselves right before her eyes.
Jennifer Donnelly’s writing is impeccable. It hooked me from the very beginning and I knew that I was never going to get bored reading through this book. It was rich like golden honey slowly pouring out from a jar.
The world Donnelly created was incredible. She weaved the story neatly into this age of history, making sure that she tied in knots every possible issue to Jo’s polite society clashing with Eddie’s life of poverty and ambition. I was so irritated by Grandmama Aldrich who kept talking about women making babies and comparing their capabilities to that of her spaniel. I knew that women were seen only as wives and home-makers back then and it was so greatly accurate it infuriated me! I didn’t know that it would affect me so much. Another issue that the tale tackled was the matter of ‘old money’. I didn’t even know how important it was to the privileged before until I read this. As a historical fiction, this book is one of the best I’ve ever read.
Honestly, this wasn’t that good of a crime/mystery. It was too predictable. I saw from the beginning which character was the real killer and I was right. I just needed to find out why he did it. It was too obvious that it was I think the author should have given everyone else, including Jo, a motive to murder Charles.
Even though I somehow knew how the story would go, I still absolutely enjoyed it. The characters were charming and pleasing. Jo was a strong female lead for her social class in that era. She was bold but cautious and wasn’t too rebellious. She knew how to blend in. I loved that the author created an imperfect person in her. There were times that she would cry but with reason. She made mistakes, misjudged people. She could be annoying as well, but it was what made her relatable.
Eddie Gallagher was the sweetest. He was passionate in fulfilling his dreams and he knew well how he would do it: by taking advantage of every situation he could get to write a story. Like Jo, he was very expressive with how he felt. I hated it when he was hurt a couple of times, especially by Jo. He was so honest and caring that I thought he deserved to be happy at all times.
Fairy Fay was a very interesting character. Both she and Eddie have gone through the hardship that life cruelly placed them in, but the two of them were willing to survive from or in it. She was braver than Jo, and I adored the fighter in her. Without her, this story wouldn’t have ended the way it did. I just wish that I was able to see more of her in the pages for I immensely liked her personality. Her friendship with Jo was also endearing. These two girls found understanding in one another. I would have been more delighted if the author gave them more time to spend with each other.
Then there was Oscar, who fed me with so many interesting facts. He made all the investigation they did very curious scientifically. I was learning so much from him. He was intelligent and helpful. He was always there for Eddie and Jo. He’s the friend that you would utterly want to accompany you on such eerie situations such as the one they’ve been through.
Back to Eddie and Jo, their romance was nearly perfect. Their struggles were so heavy and sensibly hopeless for they belonged in two different worlds. Jo was rich while Eddie was poor. There was a very slim chance for their love to conquer everything. It was so emotional, especially for Eddie. Its pacing was precise. It wasn’t too slow or too fast. I would have given their romance a solid 5-star rating if it wasn’t such a . That was frustrating! If there is a possibility of a sequel, I think the author could elaborate in it Jo and Eddie’s relationship and that would be splendid.
Overall, this would be an unforgettable read for me. This is my first Jennifer Donnelly book and it absolutely won’t be the last. I will definitely check out her other works.
I recommend this to you not as a crime book, but as a historical romance.
Crime/Mystery: 2 stars
Romance: 4 stars
Writing: 5 stars
Characters: 3.8 stars
Historical setting: 5 stars
Note: A read for The Quarterly Book Club's 2017 1st Quarter - Kickass Female Leads
“The truth costs.
Lies cost more.”
These Shallow Graves is a Historical Crime tale set in 1890 New York, following young Jo Monfort’s journey in finding her father’s murderer.
Josephine “Jo” Montfort was from a family of old money. As a young woman of her age and class, everyone was expecting nothing else from her but to marry soon and to always act properly as a delicate girl should. Her life was envied by many that she shouldn’t have wanted for anything, but Jo dreamed to become a newspaper reporter like Nellie Bly.
Her perfect life started crumbling when she received the news of her father’s sudden death. It was an accident, they said. But Jo was quite certain that her father, Charles, was too intelligent of a man to clean a loaded revolver.
With the help of Eddie, a handsome reporter, Oscar, a morgue assistant, and Fairy Fay, a cunning pickpocket, Jo would have to unearth the most sinister truths, some even concealing themselves right before her eyes.
Jennifer Donnelly’s writing is impeccable. It hooked me from the very beginning and I knew that I was never going to get bored reading through this book. It was rich like golden honey slowly pouring out from a jar.
“Murder is not a suitable topic of conversation for a young lady.”
The world Donnelly created was incredible. She weaved the story neatly into this age of history, making sure that she tied in knots every possible issue to Jo’s polite society clashing with Eddie’s life of poverty and ambition. I was so irritated by Grandmama Aldrich who kept talking about women making babies and comparing their capabilities to that of her spaniel. I knew that women were seen only as wives and home-makers back then and it was so greatly accurate it infuriated me! I didn’t know that it would affect me so much. Another issue that the tale tackled was the matter of ‘old money’. I didn’t even know how important it was to the privileged before until I read this. As a historical fiction, this book is one of the best I’ve ever read.
Honestly, this wasn’t that good of a crime/mystery. It was too predictable. I saw from the beginning which character was the real killer and I was right. I just needed to find out why he did it. It was too obvious that it was I think the author should have given everyone else, including Jo, a motive to murder Charles.
Even though I somehow knew how the story would go, I still absolutely enjoyed it. The characters were charming and pleasing. Jo was a strong female lead for her social class in that era. She was bold but cautious and wasn’t too rebellious. She knew how to blend in. I loved that the author created an imperfect person in her. There were times that she would cry but with reason. She made mistakes, misjudged people. She could be annoying as well, but it was what made her relatable.
Eddie Gallagher was the sweetest. He was passionate in fulfilling his dreams and he knew well how he would do it: by taking advantage of every situation he could get to write a story. Like Jo, he was very expressive with how he felt. I hated it when he was hurt a couple of times, especially by Jo. He was so honest and caring that I thought he deserved to be happy at all times.
Fairy Fay was a very interesting character. Both she and Eddie have gone through the hardship that life cruelly placed them in, but the two of them were willing to survive from or in it. She was braver than Jo, and I adored the fighter in her. Without her, this story wouldn’t have ended the way it did. I just wish that I was able to see more of her in the pages for I immensely liked her personality. Her friendship with Jo was also endearing. These two girls found understanding in one another. I would have been more delighted if the author gave them more time to spend with each other.
Then there was Oscar, who fed me with so many interesting facts. He made all the investigation they did very curious scientifically. I was learning so much from him. He was intelligent and helpful. He was always there for Eddie and Jo. He’s the friend that you would utterly want to accompany you on such eerie situations such as the one they’ve been through.
“I meant stay with me today. And tomorrow. And every day after.”
Back to Eddie and Jo, their romance was nearly perfect. Their struggles were so heavy and sensibly hopeless for they belonged in two different worlds. Jo was rich while Eddie was poor. There was a very slim chance for their love to conquer everything. It was so emotional, especially for Eddie. Its pacing was precise. It wasn’t too slow or too fast. I would have given their romance a solid 5-star rating if it wasn’t such a . That was frustrating! If there is a possibility of a sequel, I think the author could elaborate in it Jo and Eddie’s relationship and that would be splendid.
Overall, this would be an unforgettable read for me. This is my first Jennifer Donnelly book and it absolutely won’t be the last. I will definitely check out her other works.
I recommend this to you not as a crime book, but as a historical romance.
August 7, 2016
Το βιβλίο αυτό είναι ένα κοκτέιλ διαφόρων λογοτεχνικών ειδών. Έχει το ρομάντζο του στην πιό καθαρή και έντονη μορφή του, έχει την αγωνία που σε κράταει κολλημένο στις σελίδες του και το μυστήριο που ξυπνάει την περιέργεια μέσα σου. Αν και η ερωτική πλευρά της ιστορίας δεν ήταν για εμένα το ατού της ιστορίας - αυτή είναι μια δική μου προσωπική επιλογή ,να αποφεύγω τα ρομαντικά βιβλία-, στο συνολό του το βιβλίο κερδίζει την συμπαθειά σου.
Η κύρια χαρακτήρας με το όνομα Τζό ανήκει σε μια απο τις "παλιές και καλές" οικογένειες της Νέας Υόρκης και είναι ένας πολύ δροσιστικός χαρακτήρας. Τι εννοώ με αυτό? Είναι ένα πλάσμα που θέλει να σπάσει τους κανόνες της κοινωνίας που την θέλουν να είναι μόνο μια καλή σύζηγος και μητέρα και τολμάει να ακολουθήσει το ονειρό της - να γινεί δημοσιογράφος. Αυτό φυσικά δεν γίνεται κοινωνικά αποδεχτό. Όταν χάνει τον πατέρα της απο ένα ατυχήμα με το όπλο του μόνη της ξεκινάει να ξεδιαλύνει το μυστήριο που σκεπάζει τον θανατό του, κάτι που καμμία γυναικά απο τον κοινωνικό της περίγυρο δεν θα τολμούσε. Στην αρχή του βιβλίου η συγγραφέας μας δείχνει, όχι και με πολύ διακριτικό τρόπο, πόσο καταπιεσμένες ήταν οι γυναίκες εκείνη την περίοδο. Θα προτιμούσα να μας το είχε δείξει μέσα απο τις πράξεις των ηρώων της, παρά να μας το λέει τόσο εμφανέσ��ατα. Απο την αρχή του βιβλίου η Τζο έρχεται σε επαφή με τον Έντι, έναν σέξυ νεαρό δημοσιογράφο που πάντα κυνηγάει το πιο καυτό θέμα και που ξυπνάει στην ηρωίδα μας κάτι περισσότερο απο θαυμασμό.. Η ερωτική ιστορια που διαδραματίζεται στην Γέφυρα των μυστικών ειναι ιδιαίτερη κατα την έννοια ότι δεν περίμενα να καταλήξει έτσι. Παρόλα αυτά είναι αξιοπρεπέστατη και τρυφερά δοσμένη· ακομά και εμένα μου έβγαλε ζεστά συναισθήματα στην επιφάνεια. Το μυστήριο μου άρεσε πάρα πολύ είχε μια νότα απο παλιό βικτωριανό μυθιστόρημα αν είχα υποψιαστεί αρκετά κομμάτια της ιστορίας πριν μου τα εμφανίσει η συγγραφέας.
Μου άρεσε αρκετά. Μου άρεσε ο δυναμισμός της Τζό, κάτι που γινέται πιο αξιοσέβαστο αμα σκεφτείς την εποχή στην οποία διαδραματίζεται η ιστορία. Το μυστήριο ήταν ΟΚ, ευχάριστο και με αρκετές εκπλήξεις. Το ρομαντικό κομμάτι απολαυστικό αν και ειπά οτι δεν είναι του γούστου μου, δεν με ενόχλησε.
Το προτείνω σε όποιον θέλει κάτι διασκεδαστικό για την παραλία, κάτι που θα το ευχαριστηθεί στις διακοπές αλλα και στο λιοπύρι των πόλεων.
Η κύρια χαρακτήρας με το όνομα Τζό ανήκει σε μια απο τις "παλιές και καλές" οικογένειες της Νέας Υόρκης και είναι ένας πολύ δροσιστικός χαρακτήρας. Τι εννοώ με αυτό? Είναι ένα πλάσμα που θέλει να σπάσει τους κανόνες της κοινωνίας που την θέλουν να είναι μόνο μια καλή σύζηγος και μητέρα και τολμάει να ακολουθήσει το ονειρό της - να γινεί δημοσιογράφος. Αυτό φυσικά δεν γίνεται κοινωνικά αποδεχτό. Όταν χάνει τον πατέρα της απο ένα ατυχήμα με το όπλο του μόνη της ξεκινάει να ξεδιαλύνει το μυστήριο που σκεπάζει τον θανατό του, κάτι που καμμία γυναικά απο τον κοινωνικό της περίγυρο δεν θα τολμούσε. Στην αρχή του βιβλίου η συγγραφέας μας δείχνει, όχι και με πολύ διακριτικό τρόπο, πόσο καταπιεσμένες ήταν οι γυναίκες εκείνη την περίοδο. Θα προτιμούσα να μας το είχε δείξει μέσα απο τις πράξεις των ηρώων της, παρά να μας το λέει τόσο εμφανέσ��ατα. Απο την αρχή του βιβλίου η Τζο έρχεται σε επαφή με τον Έντι, έναν σέξυ νεαρό δημοσιογράφο που πάντα κυνηγάει το πιο καυτό θέμα και που ξυπνάει στην ηρωίδα μας κάτι περισσότερο απο θαυμασμό.. Η ερωτική ιστορια που διαδραματίζεται στην Γέφυρα των μυστικών ειναι ιδιαίτερη κατα την έννοια ότι δεν περίμενα να καταλήξει έτσι. Παρόλα αυτά είναι αξιοπρεπέστατη και τρυφερά δοσμένη· ακομά και εμένα μου έβγαλε ζεστά συναισθήματα στην επιφάνεια. Το μυστήριο μου άρεσε πάρα πολύ είχε μια νότα απο παλιό βικτωριανό μυθιστόρημα αν είχα υποψιαστεί αρκετά κομμάτια της ιστορίας πριν μου τα εμφανίσει η συγγραφέας.
Μου άρεσε αρκετά. Μου άρεσε ο δυναμισμός της Τζό, κάτι που γινέται πιο αξιοσέβαστο αμα σκεφτείς την εποχή στην οποία διαδραματίζεται η ιστορία. Το μυστήριο ήταν ΟΚ, ευχάριστο και με αρκετές εκπλήξεις. Το ρομαντικό κομμάτι απολαυστικό αν και ειπά οτι δεν είναι του γούστου μου, δεν με ενόχλησε.
Το προτείνω σε όποιον θέλει κάτι διασκεδαστικό για την παραλία, κάτι που θα το ευχαριστηθεί στις διακοπές αλλα και στο λιοπύρι των πόλεων.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,825 reviews