I requested this for consideration for Book Riot's All the Books podcast for its release date. After sampling several books out this week, I decided to go with a different book for my review.

In a crowded genre, you have to appreciate a serial killer book with a unique hook. A recommended purchase for collections where thrillers are popular.

This was a very interesting mystery and frankly super weird & creepy. Preserving the scents of the serial killers victims to make perfumes was just too much for me.

I continue to be frustrated by Lara Elena Donnelly’s world building (the concepts are so creative and unique but the execution is….not great), and for a book like this, it affects the whole reader experience pretty significantly. That said, I liked this better than Amberlough, and it’s an interesting meditation on the power of scent and of the senses in general

Comparisons to Patrick Suskind’s Perfume are both inevitable and unfortunate for this book, though it’s certainly a less difficult read and of a lighter and more adventurous spirit. It’s an interesting imagining of a kind of underworld that is still very much rooted in reality, and that works better for plot than for setting in this one.

I was hoping for something more evocative in terms of sense of place since the concept had such great potential in this area, and the plot (like Donnelly’s
other work) is much too muddled and meandering, but the pacing was decent and the educational scent and perfume related content was fun.

I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2023 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2023/01/2023-reading-list-announced-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">

This was a tough one. It was too slow and I feel like I was wading through mud trying to finish it. I kept picking it up, putting it down, and dreading picking it back up again so I put it off for a long time and finally decided to give up.

This book has some shining moments and some tougher moments. I appreciated the approach, the representation, the fresh take on the storyline, but it was hard to read and slow-moving.

Base Notes is unlike any books I've ever read. Its psychological thriller vibes kept me interested, and while it felt sort of slow paced to me, it had all the charm I could want from this type of story. Vic pulled me in from the start, especially because the author uses no pronouns for them, so you get an idea of who they are independent from preconceived notions that might come with gendered language. Vic breaks so many gender roles and conducts themself so consciously and carefully that it's hard to get a read on them at first, but once you sink into the story, Vic becomes a compelling and fascinating character. Their motivations make their choices understandable, even as you watch them slip down this road and want to yell at the page that there has to be another way to do things. It's sort of painful to watch, and it builds suspense with every chapter as you wonder what the outcome will be.

What stood out to me most about this story, along with Lara Elena Donnelly's exquisite writing and storytelling style, really was the intentional smashing of gender roles, not just for Vic but every character. I kept picking out things that were decidedly unexpected or interesting or nontraditional, for lack of a better word, and each character's choices, roles, preferences, and personalities made the story that much more compelling. The characters are so unpredictable and they keep you guessing, even when you think you know what they'll do next. Even when you DO know what they'll do next, it doesn't detract from the story or the suspense.

A smaller detail that I loved was the scent notes at the beginning of each chapter. They acted both as foreshadowing to some degree, but also, in some ways, threw me off when I thought I knew what would happen. Some of the notes that I'd associated with one character were used for a completely different purpose entirely, and I enjoyed the surprise that came with that. The scent notes added an extra dimension to the book, allowing me to use another sense to experience the story and characters along with Donnelly's sensual descriptions.

Finally! I've finished this book, I thought it would never end. This dragged on and on and none of it was interesting. It was a pretentious thriller from the point of view of the killer who's a perfumer and who makes perfumes out of their victims. EXCEPT that despite having killed before they decided to hire strangers they barely know (like their barber and a couple they have a kinky threesome with) to do their dirty work and leave a mess of loose ends behind. Like unprofessional much. The first half was definitely the worse : I had no idea what was going and what even was the point and the writing just made me want to give up so many times.

I did like the inclusion of scents and the perfume world and it was original but this did not outweigh the flaws of this book.

I did pick it up because I had heard it had LGBT characters : the narrator is either a gender non-conforming woman or a genderfluid/genderqueer person. They describe their appearance as androgynous and talk about their search for masculinity through a previous male lover. They also have a relationship with a woman.

Not what I was expecting but a lot of good in this book. It was a challenge to find any characters who were likeable and, while that can make it hard to engage, it is a skill to create characters who evoke negative feelings as much as to create those who readers will love. The perfume industry and associated processes sound fascinating and this was a major highlight for me - I love learning new things while reading fiction. It is critical that diversity and inclusion are featured in all forms of entertainment so was pleasing to see this captured in this novel.

This book is definitely an acquired taste. The writing overall is good (I mean there were times I felt I could smell the descriptions). I also very much appreciated the LBGTQI+ representation presented. I just couldn’t connect with the main character. I saw what the writer was trying to do but it just didn’t play for me. I didn’t read this all the way through… stopped at about 30% and then skimmed to the end to see how it would be resolved. This wasn’t for me but others might find this right up their alley.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, Thomas & Mercer and by #NetGalley. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

I couldn’t get into this one no matter how hard I tried.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book!

I DNF'd this book around 15% due to the somewhat confusing notion about notes, scents, and confusion with the characters, who was speaking, and what was happening. This seems like a good read for someone who enjoys keeping up with vague and mysterious characters, but not sure it's for me.

Oof. I think there could have been an interesting storyline hidden in there somewhere. Unfortunately, it was a chore to dig through the long rambling prose and I quickly grew bored of the whole thing. Go ahead and skip this one - you aren't missing anything.

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

As a scent aficionado I especially loved this book. Was happy to include it in my latest “Thrills and Chills” round-up for Zoomer magazine, highlighting winter’s best suspense and mystery reads. (see mini-review at link)

Base Notes by Lara Elena Donnelly is told from the point of view of Vic Fowler, a perfumer with the special ability to craft perfumes that evoke specific memories using an unconventional resource: the corpses of the people involved in said memory. It’s a sexy, atmospheric thriller, but also a very realistic depiction of the pressures of capitalism, specifically as experienced by artists in NYC.

I really thought I would like this, but couldn't get into it, and didn't really like the main character. I gave it a few chapters and finally gave up.

A good book but one where the "protagonist" is a serial killer. I liked the basic story but most of the characters were not very nice people.

This book is very well written which kept me from abandoning it completely. My three stars are for quality craftsmanship not content.

The writing is top notch. The plot itself has promising qualities. It wasn't my favorite but it had some good parts to it. Didn't connect with the characters but it may be something you may enjoy. So definitely take a look and see if it's something you can connect with. Happy reading!