Juliette goes to a summer writing seminar in London. One days while hanging out with a classmate. She vanishes. Juliette with the help of two of her other classmates work together to see if they can find the classmate. On the way they stumble upon a century long mystery..,,why is Sherlock Holmes and John Watson still walking around?

This book was cute, but didn’t fully keep my interest the full time. It definitely forced a romance that wasn’t really necessary on all the other plot lines they had going on.

I want to thank NetGalley, the author and publisher for the ARC of this book

A Short Synopsis
A teen writer is determined to discover what happened to a missing classmate. She teams up with detectives Watson and Holmes to crack the case. Attending a prestigious writing seminar in London, Jules faces challenges with her hearing loss. When their teacher and the police show little concern about the missing student, Jules, and her friends take matters into their own hands. As they unravel the mystery, they encounter a man who claims to be Sherlock Holmes. Now, they need to find their missing classmate and figure out how these fictional characters are alive and well in the 21st century. Despite her hearing impairment, Jules may have the observational skills needed to solve this extraordinary case.

My Thoughts
I recently requested an audiobook ARC because I found the synopsis intriguing, but I felt it was lacking. I have realized that I am not a fan of YA or middle-grade mystery thrillers, and I think this book should be categorized more as middle-grade than YA. The main character, Jules, is a recent high school graduate attending a writing seminar before college and has a hearing impairment using hearing aids. Seeing this representation in a YA book was excellent, as it's not something I often come across.
I was not a massive fan of how the mysteries were handled in the book. They were mainly solved off-page by Percy, making it hard for me as a reader to speculate on the mysteries since there weren't many on-page clues to put together. Despite this, I enjoyed the narration of the audiobook by Khristine Hvam, who had a distinct voice for each character.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an audiobook ARC of this book. My thoughts are my own.

A fun supernatural mystery in which Homes and Watson are not only real people, but still alive in the 21st century.

I’m surprised to see this listed as a YA mystery, as it reads a lot more like Middle Reader, and is very age appropriate for a slightly younger audience. I enjoyed it as an adult reader too as a clever mystery and a fun spin on an updated Sherlock Holmes novel.

The backstory for why Holmes and Watson are still hanging about in 21st century London (or indeed, actually alive at all) is a bit clunky and probably could have been better-conceived and executed, but the story is fun enough that it doesn’t matter all that much, and their run-ins with the modern characters are enjoyable and clever.

As of now this appears to be a standalone, but the ending leaves the possibility of a sequel open. I hope it gets one.

I love the narrator and the deaf representation! I also love the developing friendships. The characters are absolutely lovely! I just enjoyed this one very much.

I loved this narrator! The book was very interesting. I thought the characters were well developed, and the plot was unique. The plot twist at the end took me by surprise. I really like the author’s use of old journal entries to tell the story.

For any book that is taking a beloved IP and reworking it into something new, there are always bound to be a number of reasonably disappointed readers. It is, as they say, a hazard of doing business. All that said, there are often many who do it incredibly well, thus mitigating the quantity of those who will fall into that camp. As I started <i>A Game Most Foul</i> I had genuinely believed that this might be one of those sorts.

But, ugh! For a minute there, I was actually substantially impressed with Alison Gervais’ rework of our beloved Sherlock Holmes stories. But then that ending…

I get an odd sense that Gervais was somewhat influenced by the 2009 Sherlock Holmes film—which I loved, by the way—when she was writing this. The thing is, there are aspects of that film that worked really well largely due to the way in which it was presented. The fact that the film did not go too far in one direction, but rather left it somewhat up to interpretation with a slight leaning in both directions depending on how you looked at it, is why (at least, in my mind) the film was successful.

Gervais just jumps off the cliff of a single direction, leaving absolutely nothing to interpretation. I didn’t exactly hate this about the book since there had to be some sort of explanation and, up to that point, the characters were actually written fairly well.

But then there’s the mystery that began everything, a question to the fate of a classmate. Now, there’s usually much satisfaction in the answer to Sherlock Holmes’ mystery questions. We have a lot of fun trying to suss out what the answer will be and we genuinely enjoy being right or wrong when we do. Gervais’ book really didn’t leave much for us to guess at, unfortunately, which admittedly takes a lot of the fun out of it.

And, perhaps most unfortunate of all, the answer was awful. I was so painfully disappointed in the route Gervais went with this mystery. The big twist reveal at the end was monumentally disappointing and not at all in line with the source material she’s pulling from. Desperation may cause desperate acts, but even then I could not justify the choices she took with this book.

My dear Watson and Holmes, I am truly sorry.

I did really enjoy the narration, though. Khristine Hvam was an excellent choice for this story and did a phenomenal job of portraying the voice of our main character. I truly felt as though I were listening to an account from Jules herself.

ARC REVIEW: A Game Most Foul by Alison Gervais

Genre: YA Mystery
Format: Audiobook
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Book # for 2024: #55

SYNOPSIS: Teen writer, Jules Montgomery, is spending the summer attending the prestigious writing seminar at Ashford College in London. While on a trip with her classmates in Oxford, her classmate, Ashley, goes missing. The police and her professor, who just happens to be the Dr. John Watson, do not seem to be taking the disappearance seriously. So, Jules and two of her friends from class, Suruthi and Percy, began investigating themselves with a little help from Sherlock Holmes.

MY THOUGHTS: I really enjoyed the narration of this audiobook. Khristine Hvam is the narrator. She had a very distinct voice for each character.

I liked all of the main characters, especially the main character, Jules Montgomery. Jules is a recent high school graduate attending a writing seminar during the summer before she begins college. She is also hard of hearing and uses hearing aids. I don’t often see a character with hearing loss in books, much less in a YA book, so it was nice to see the representation.

I enjoyed the dynamic between Jules and her friends, Percy (also her love interest) and Suruthi. They all have very different personalities, but they become fast friends. It was also fun to see them work with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson.

I wasn’t a huge fan of how the mysteries were handled. They are solved mostly off page by Percy. So, as a reader, it was hard to speculate on the mysteries as there weren’t many clues on the page to put together.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This story is well written and easy to follow, even if it initially feels a little bit slow. Though the characters were out of high school, it was easy to forget that because at times they felt more juvenile to me. Despite that, I did enjoy their friend group dynamic. Khristine Hvam did a very good job making the character voices distinct from each other, which made the audiobook more enjoyable. Overall, it was a fun read.

It was ok. I think it was more middle grade than YA.

It was a nice addition to the Sherlock Holmes universe it just didn't really hit the mark for me. I expected something along the lines of Enola Holmes, which I actually enjoyed. I must admit however, there were a few twists that raised my eyebrows in surprise due to happenings I did not expect other than that, it sort of fell flat for me. I also was a thrown by the state of Watson and Holmes, simply because this has never been a situation for them that I can remember. Plus, Watson and Holmes in this story switched up personality wise, that I did not like.

With all of this being said, it is a well written story that is easy to follow and for a young reader, this will be a great Sherlock Holmes introduction book.

This was such a fun, twisty YA murder mystery that features a hard of hearing American teen girl in London for a summer writing semester where she makes new friends, falls in love and helps solve a decades old Sherlock Holmes mystery (plus the case of her missing fellow student).

With supernatural elements, great #ownvoices disability rep and excellent audio narration by Khristine Hvam. Highly recommended for those who enjoy something a little different and classic murder mystery authors like Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

The mystery part of the story was 3/5. I liked the friendship and the romance 4/5. The fantasy part was a bit confusing 2/5. First, it did not even come up until at least 2 hours into the book. Then I feel we don't get a real satisfactory explanation of the cause. I did like the depiction of the min character's disability and how she dealt with it 5/5.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing access to this audiobook in return for a review!
This was a bit of an odd book. I think it’s supposed to be YA and indeed, the characters are barely-adults, newly graduated from high school and about to start college. It makes kind of a big deal about this at the start of the book. But it is written in a very juvenile manner. The dialogue and the overall story are absolutely middle grade. This would likely not appeal to many teens/young adults past about 13/14. Perhaps it is meant to make middle graders “feel more grown up” reading about college kids, while retaining the cleanliness of a juvenile book? Moving on, the story was ok. Overall it was just kind of an ok book. The characters were a little flat, one dimensional, stuck in their stereotypes. But still likable. I don’t understand why a certain character did what he did and don’t think that was necessary. This was fantasy yes, but that bit went too far. It did keep me guessing because I never would have thought the author would have dipped to that level to solve the main mystery of the book. It was an interesting idea, but I don’t think it belonged in a juvenile book. If this could have been an adult book, very macabre, gothic, intense, more of a sophisticated thriller- then all of it could have worked out much better, in my opinion, and it would have been “worth” tainting the character of the character, if that makes sense. Trying not to spoil anything! Or, the simpler way to fix this book without a total rewrite since it is close to publish date or maybe already there, is to change the ages of the characters to be about 14. At least then the juvenile feel could be retained and not feel out of place.

I enjoyed this audiobook, The voice actor did an excellent job and becoming these characters. The beginning of the story is quite slow maybe about 20% it start to kick in but from there I just kept listening. The relationship between the 3 main friends Percy, Suruthi and Jules, was so enjoyable they felt real and I really liked them all. The book is very YA/Middle grade

A middle grade Sherlock Holmes and Watson mystery but in today’s world, Jude is attending a writers seminar while staying with her Aunt, as the main character we see her navigating her hearing loss, gain confidence and build great friendships. This was a fun read and I liked the narrator. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the arc

I listened to this audiobook after a very bland and boring read so it was like taking a deep breath. This was not lacking in imagination and I was entertained. Will I pick it up for a reread binge? Maybe, in a few years, I’m in no rush. This was a 3.3 read for me.

Initially, I enjoyed the mystery in the book, but ultimately, it missed the mark for me. The supernatural elements felt out of place, and the characters weren't particularly engaging. The writing seemed geared towards a much younger audience, which diminished my overall enjoyment.

"A Game Most Foul" by Alison Gervais presents an intriguing mystery set against the backdrop of modern-day London, with a unique twist involving iconic characters Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. The story centers on Jules Montgomery, a teen writer attending a prestigious writing seminar who struggles with gradual hearing loss and writer’s block. When a fellow student goes missing, Jules, alongside her friends Percy and Suruthi, takes it upon herself to investigate. The inclusion of Holmes and Watson adds a fascinating layer to the narrative, as these fictional detectives inexplicably appear to assist in the case, challenging Jules to hone her observational skills.

While the novel's premise is compelling and offers a fresh perspective on the classic detective genre, it is not without its flaws. The pacing of the story can be uneven, with moments that drag contrasted by rushed resolutions. Additionally, the characters, though engaging, sometimes lack the depth needed to create a strong emotional connection with the reader. The integration of Holmes and Watson into the modern setting, while intriguing, leaves several questions unanswered, resulting in some plot elements feeling underdeveloped. Despite these issues, "A Game Most Foul" provides an enjoyable read, particularly for younger audiences and fans of mystery stories, emphasizing the value of diverse abilities and perspectives in solving complex problems.

This was fun, a little double mystery, YA adventure. The characters were great, and it was fun with the introduction of Sherlock and Holmes in a modern setting. Loved Jules as our lead, a hard of hearing resourceful girl who has to learn to trust herself and her peers. As well as a sweet little sprinkling of romance, this was a very enjoyable story.

Such fun and unique! Loved the Sherlock and Watson tie. Narrator was perfect. I definitely recommend.

Much thanks to Alison Gervais, Blink YA Books, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Jules goes to London for a writer's workshop and finds out her professor is THE Dr. John Watson. But how? And who is locked in the professor's office binge-watching sitcoms? One of her classmates has gone missing, and Jules and her new friends Percy and Suruthi try to investigate.....but they could use some help.

I adored this book, save for how it ended. It was written with charm and energy, with a steady pace that kept things moving but also gave you time to absorb information. The mystery and intrigue hooked me.

I loved Jules as the lead. Relatable, down-to-earth, girl-next-door. I love when characters are hearing impaired, I find it so fascinating. Percy and Suruthi were decent secondaries, but I'm afraid I didn't find them as endearing as Jules. Percy was bland and dorky and awkward, but not in an endearing way, more like I wince every time he opens his mouth. Suruthi brought the energy, but again, she just struck me wrong. A bit pushy, a bit forward. Unfortunately I felt no chemistry between Percy and Jules; I could see his shy little crush on her, but her interest in him felt more like pity. Their kisses felt cringy and forced, their relationship trite.

As for Holmes and Watson, I liked Gervais's portrayal of them. What I didn't like is how they took over the narrative. It became <i>their</i> story. The worst part? It was very half-assed. They found most information in Watson's journals and made assumptions. I don't remember them hunting down Ashley and demanding answers. I don't remember them finding many answers about Ashley in general. They just wanted to know how to end their stasis and were willing to cut corners to do it. Holmes, not obsess about the whys and hows? Hmm...

They didn't conclude the writer's workshop. We didn't learn if they completed their manuscripts and if they were any good. It's suggested that Jules got over her writer's block, but we don't actually know if she was able to successfully write again. We get almost no conclusion to her story.

And that epilogue. Really? You want the reader's last impression to be that the decayed corpses of the beloved detective duo were found by a stranger because a neighbor complained about the smell? Not a whole lot of dignity in that. I just found it so bizarre that that was how the author killed them. We're to believe they're dead, anyway.

Overall, I loved the promise of this book---the premise, too---but I was left with a bitter taste. Holmes and Watson's plight took over and the investigation into them was underwhelming.