YMMV / Crimes of Passion

• Fan Nickname: Cameron has come to be nicknamed "Sam Rose" and Trystan "Dave/Dana Thorne" due to their personalities being similar to those of Sam and Dave, respectively.
• I Knew It!:
  • Given the bonus scene at the end of Book 1, players have correctly guessed that Book 2 will be about solving the murder of Trystan's fiancee Juliana.
  • Many players correctly guessed that Vasili Thorne would be the killer in Book 2, due to his calm, collected demeanor when most of the Thornes were hotheaded and/or unpleasant and the fact that Sebastyan's murder was committed in a remorseful manner (since the two of them were so close).
  • A lot of people correctly guessed that Trystan would Abdicate the Throne and give it to Lydea, due to the existence of a Book 3 making it nearly impossible for Trystan to remain in Drakovia and still be in a relationship with Cameron.
• Scrappy Mechanic: The sheer fact that Crimes: The Proposal is a VIP-exclusive side story, despite it being mostly integral to the series. While most VIP-exclusive side stories are either non-canon, inconsequential, or set from a different character's point of view, the titular proposal is heavily implied to lead into Book 3's story about Cameron and Trystan's wedding, so locking it behind VIP proved to be a real thorn(e) in the fans' sides.
• Shocking Moments:
  • On September 22, 2023, the release schedule revealed that the last three chapters are set to be released on consecutive days, with Book 2 (and possibly the series) set to end on September 29.
  • Pixelberry's announcement that the series would be getting a Book 3 on September 25, 2023. Between the message in Chapter 2 mentioning a special ending (and not a "bonus scene"), Book 2's status as a Contested Sequel compared to the first book (mainly due to Cameron being relegated to the role of Supporting Protagonist), and the last three chapters airing on the same week (implying that PB wanted to get the series out of the way ASAP), a lot of fans were not expecting a Book 3, but were pleasantly surprised, regardless.
  • On April 24th, 2024, it was revealed that this series would get a special called "Crimes: The Proposal" which indicates that Trystan will propose to Cameron while solving a case and this will lead into Book 3.
• Slow-Paced Beginning: In contrast to Book 1, in which the first murder happens in Chapter 1, and the killer's motive of harvesting hearts to sacrifice to their "goddess" is revealed by the end of the following chapter, Book 2 takes quite a bit longer to get going. The first two chapters of Book 2 are about an unrelated jewel thievery case, Trystan isn't summoned to Drakovia until the end of the chapter, the next two chapters are about the trial regarding whether or not they killed Juliana, and the murder that sets up the rest of the book doesn't happen until the very end of Chapter 4, with Cameron and Trystan only starting to interrogate the latter's siblings one by one in Chapter 5. Fortunately, the story picks up greatly after that, with an ongoing mystery that has kept readers on their toes ever since.
• Tainted by the Preview: When the February 2023 issue for Choices Insiders was released, fans were aghast when they saw that Book 2's Summer 2023 release was set to be VIP early access, because while Pixelberry had confirmed in December 2022 that all sequels would be early access to VIP, this wouldn't go into effect until 2024, meaning that PB had seemingly backtracked on their decision and applied the already-controversial decision at least six months early. Fortunately, Pixelberry later confirmed that there was an error, and that Book 2 would be released for everyone. However, this also came with the somewhat-disappointing reveal that the second book of Crimes Of Passion would be the first gender-of-choice book of 2023, and fans were annoyed that the first GOC book of the year was a sequel instead of a new story (as well as not being released until at least halfway through the year).