BUY or PASS? An anniversary post for the #FridayFiveChallenge

Welcome to the ‘Friday Five Challenge.’

Would you BUY or PASS if you had only a thumbnail image and five minutes to decide?

Welcome to the #FridayFiveChallenge. The original idea comes from Rosie Amber, and you can join up at https://rosieamber.wordpress.com

The rules are laid out at the end of this post if you fancy having a go.

Here is my contribution for this week:

I’m excited about today’s #FridayFiveChallenge as it’s my 10^th contribution to the challenge, and my 50^th WordPress post. Today is also my brother and sister-in-law’s 10^th wedding anniversary (Well-done guys). Sticking with that theme, I chose to search for the word ‘anniversary’ on Amazon. Unfortunately, there were pages and pages of classic books celebrating their ‘tenth/twentieth/one-hundred-and-fiftieth-anniversary editions’. I didn’t want this, so I kept scrolling down the list until I came to this one:

The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty

BLURB:

One abandoned baby. Two sisters with a secret. One chance to rewrite the past.

Over seventy years have passed since sisters Rose and Connie Doughty found an abandoned baby near their home on the island Scribbly Gum. With no one to take care of it, Rose and Connie took the baby in as their own. Since then the ‘Munro Baby Mystery’ has brought fame and fortune, putting Scribbly Gum on the tourist map, especially for the island’s annual celebration.

But now, with Connie dead and outsider Sophie Honeywell about to move into her home, Rose begins to wonder if they made the right decision all those years ago. How much longer can they cover up the lie that has sustained their community for generations? And what other secrets are about to be revealed?

My Analysis:

I love the cover as it’s simple yet eye-catching. Unfortunately, the image doesn’t give me any insight as to the genre. As Liane Moriarty is a best-selling author, I assume her fans would know to expect a mystery, unfortunately as a newbie mystery reader I had to dig a little deeper.  I do like the tagline; ‘Not all mysteries are meant to be solved. Not all secrets are meant to be told.’

The storyline is intriguing, and I would be tempted to buy so that I can say Scribbly Gum over and over in my head!

The book has 407 pages, and the Kindle price is £3.66. It is also available as a paperback (£3.85) and MP3 CD (£23.28). There are 402 reviews, 367 of these are between three and five stars. I read over a couple of the reviews, and the author is held in high regard. Many reviewers are established fans who have read the authors previous books.

There were some overlapping comments; a large group of characters, enthralling mystery, starts off slowly but sets the scene well, absorbing and exciting.

One reviewer gives us a little bit more information about the plot; following the death of Connie, a surprise left in her will brings someone back to the Island of Scribbly Gum (sorry, just had to say it again!).

I can understand why this would be popular with fans of mystery, but for me it wasn’t quite dark enough, bloody enough or fantastical enough to hit the buy button. It’s a PASS from me.

The Last Anniversary – buy your copy from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00MC6YI2Q

See who else has taken part in the #FridayFiveChallenge

Rosie Amber checks out a Cook Book with a compelling cover! – https://rosieamber.wordpress.com/2015/07/31/would-you-buy-or-pass-fridayfivechallenge-how-to-bake-by-paulhollywood/

Cathy looks at ‘Histfic’ – https://betweenthelinesbookblog.wordpress.com/2015/07/31/friday-five-challenge-5/

Liz searches for the ‘sea’ – https://lizannelloyd.wordpress.com/2015/07/31/friday-five-challenge-7/comment-page-1/#comment-156

Terry Tyler looks at Family Saga –  http://terrytyler59.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/would-you-buy-or-pass-10.html

 

What is the Friday Five Challenge?

In today’s online shopping age, readers often base their buying decisions on small postage stamp size book covers (thumb-nails), a quick glance at the book description and the review. How much time do they spend making that buying decision?

AUTHORS – You often only have seconds to get a reader to buy your book, is your book cover and book bio up to it?

The Challenge is this… IN ONLY FIVE MINUTES…

1) Go to any online book supplier,

2) Randomly choose a category,

3) Speed through the book covers, choose one which has instantly appealed to your eye,

4) Read the book Bio/ Description of this book,

5) If there are reviews, check out a couple,

6) Make an instant decision, would you BUY or PASS?

(then write a little analysis about your decision)