Title: Lock & Mori (Lock & Mori #1)
by Heather W. PettyPublishing Info: September 15, 2015 by Simon & Schuster
Source: Edelweiss
Genres: Mystery/Thriller, Retelling, Young Adult
Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon // GoodreadsDate Completed: September 11, 2015
In modern-day London, two brilliant high school students—one Sherlock Holmes and a Miss James “Mori” Moriarty—meet. A murder will bring them together. The truth very well might drive them apart.
Before they were mortal enemies, they were much more…
FACT: Someone has been murdered in London’s Regent’s Park. The police have no leads.
FACT: Miss James “Mori” Moriarty and Sherlock “Lock” Holmes should be hitting the books on a school night. Instead, they are out crashing a crime scene.
FACT: Lock has challenged Mori to solve the case before he does. Challenge accepted.
FACT: Despite agreeing to Lock’s one rule—they must share every clue with each other—Mori is keeping secrets.
OBSERVATION: Sometimes you can’t trust the people closest to you with matters of the heart. And after this case, Mori may never trust Lock again.
LOCK & MORI was really interesting and quite the fun book! Sherlock Holmes is one of the classics that I truly appreciate (I’m a mystery girl. What can I say?) and I’ll always hold a special place in my heart for Sherlock Holmes because A STUDY IN SCARLET was the first book review that I ever posted on my blog (and what an embarrassing review it is)! Though I’m not Sherlock-obsessed (no TV shows for me and yes, I know I need to read Ellie Marney’s books soon), I still try to jump onto the Sherlock adaptations that I see because it seems that they’re always just so enjoyable!
LOCK & MORI really hooked me right from the beginning! It was just such a fun read and I really appreciated how the characters, their personalities, and their roles in the books were adapted to fit a more contemporary setting and for the young adult age range. I usually have a hard time not picking YA mysteries apart because I feel like there are so few situations where a teenager wouldn’t turn to authorities for assistance so I really liked how LOCK & MORI handled how that all played out! It was fairly logical how Mori and Sherlock ended up on the case and kept it hush-hush between them.
The mystery itself was interesting as well! I’m always guilty of trying to solve a mystery and sniffing out the culprit so it was great to read about a plot that really kept me guessing and kept just enough clues hidden so that I was still interested but the secret wasn’t handed to me. I was on the edge of my seat trying to figure out why these murders were happening and how it tied into the characters. I really love when the mystery ties back into the main story line so that was a lot of fun to see how it all connected!
The romance between Mori and Sherlock was cute but I wasn’t totally sold on it. I felt like it just sort of happened and I didn’t really feel the chemistry before it did. They had some nice banter which I always love but it didn’t charge the chemistry for me so when the characters started getting romantically involved, I wasn’t totally feeling it. Throughout the book I started to feel a bit more connection to their romance and I looked fondly upon their time together and how their relationship evolved but I couldn’t shake the fact that it just didn’t quite feel natural. I am excited that this is just the first book in a series (I’m not sure how many yet?) and that I’ll get to see more of their relationship in future books because I was really enjoying it in the last quarter!
I really did forget that this wasn’t a stand alone so the ending was shocking in its own right and also left me hanging a bit… but not enough to be a cliffhanger! I love endings like this where the plot resolves but the book leaves you wanting more. Just perfect! I think it could have done really nicely as a stand alone but I’ll definitely be looking forward to the next book! Now that I know the characters and their personalities, I’m excited to explore relationships a bit more — especially after how the book ended — and I’m always up for more mysteries!
“The View from Goodreads” is a featured section in my reviews that I decided to incorporate! I tend to update my Goodreads status a LOT when I read — reactions, feelings, notes — so I thought it would be fun to share the sort of “reading process”! All status updates are spoiler-free (no specific plot points will be revealed) but will contain reactions to certain pages and/or characters!
Mori // Character Obsessions: Her brothers, intelligence, protecting.
Mori has a lot going on with her family and I really admired her strength and tenacity! My heart broke for her several times over and the abusive scenes were just so hard to read (as they always are). She was a great female lead and I really enjoyed her character overall!
Sherlock // Character Obsessions: Science, logic, mysteries, resolutions.
I really enjoyed this adaptation of Sherlock! I liked how he really was not suave — he’s so intelligent and shows little regard for emotion in the beginning until he comes to care for Mori. Even then, it’s emotion in a much different and less conventional way. It was really interesting to see and I think it made his emotional moments and strong moments that much more flooring.
Kept Me Hooked On: Sherlock Holmes. I feel like I always love a good Holmes retelling or adaptation! I’m excited to continue this series and it makes me want to sink my teeth into even more.
Left Me Wanting More: Platonic… ness. Is that a word? I don’t know what the proper word is… but I did wish that Lock & Mori were more of just friends instead of their romantic feelings happening so fast. I would have loved to see them learn how to be friends in this book and then start to develop feelings over time.
Addiction Rating
Read it
This was a nice, solid read for me. I really enjoyed it from start to finish and it had a wide range of feelings from serious to light, shocking to funny. It was a really fun book and I’m excited to read more of the series!
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6 thoughts on “Lock & Mori (Lock & Mori #1) – Heather W. Petty”
This is going to be a series? Even I didn’t know that myself! I am looking forward to reading this one as well because I do have a copy which I should really be getting around to starting in on soon. Oh, and I like the sound of the mystery being secretive and hard to guess, although it is a shame about the romance not being all too convincing.
The ending of this book killed me a bit! I’m super nervous about where their relationship is going, especially since we know how the ‘real’ characters actually end up…
I still have to read Every Breath myself (if my library ever buys it!) but I really enjoyed this one as well. I thought the ways Petty stayed true to the original source material while also updating her characters and setting were very well-done and fun to read. I also really liked the romance and saw it as stemming from instance fascination which made sense to me since both Lock and Mori are so used to being the smartest person in the room when suddenly they find a true peer in the other. I’m excited to see where the rest of this trilogy goes!
I bought this at the Anderson’s YA Lit Conference, but I haven’t had a chance to read it yet! Your review inspires me to move it up on my list though 🙂
I am a sucker for anything Sherlock! But while I’ve heard so much about this book, it hasn’t sounded so good. But your review actually makes me want to check it out, bummer on the romance though >.< (Banter, though :D) I'm glad you enjoyed this!
If you loved this book, you must read Locked by Eva Morgan! Character development in that book is amazing. If you love Sherlock Holmes as much as I do, Locked is the book for you.