This book was off-the-wall

filled star filled star star unfilled star unfilled star unfilled
chellerbeller14 Avatar

By

This book was off-the-wall and not in a good way! Definitely my least favorite book of the year so far and I’m not one to say something like that.

Sunday lunch has always been a routine fixture for the quaint little family of four. Both daughters, Kate and Lauren make every effort to come sit and chat with their mom, especially after their father passed away. It’s not even been a year with him gone, and they all miss him dearly. He was the glue they held them all together.

But, this particular Sunday there’s a knock at the door and there on the doorstep stands a woman, spitting image of Lauren, claiming to be their half-sister. All three jaws drop. Her name is Jess and she’s 21 years old.

“She feels sick, unable to watch any longer as this girl, who she didn’t know existed until a few weeks ago, wrecks her world, piece by piece.”

This upsets the see-saw, and instead of two sisters constantly at war with one another, now there’s three. But who is the real liar here? For Kate, her dad was her very best friend and he could do no wrong. Lauren believes every single word that her mom has to say about this encounter, and points the blame at their Dad. But, there’s more than one betrayal going on here, everyone has a secret. So who is going to pull the rug out from the other first?

“That’s the difference between you and me, Lauren. I trusted Dad with all my heart, and I will continue to do so until my dying day.”

“If she realized that maybe he wasn’t the man she thought he was, she might not feel his loss so profoundly.”

The sisters are envious of one another, each desiring a life that they can’t have. Lauren would love a night out; a bit of freedom from her abusive husband and three needy kids. Whereas, Kate and her husband have been desperately trying to conceive to no avail.

“Aren’t you glad you're not me?”

“You’re exactly who I want to be...”

Are these feelings of hurt what is really dividing the family, or is someone hiding a past that they hoped the other would never find out? This family doesn’t come from money, so what is it that Jess wants after all of these years? Why now?

“You might discover something you don’t want to find.”

This was such a let- down after how much I loved her debut “The Other Woman” and gave it 5 stars. My friends and I read this as a buddy read and all agreed that there were too many angles, twists, theories; reveals, which took the reader all over the place. This was a fast-paced, enjoyable thriller until the last 25% where everything and everyone went haywire. It felt like the author brainstormed a bunch of great ideas and instead of picking one or two, just decided to add them all. I had whiplash.

Just, no ...don’t do it.

2 ⭐️.

SPOILERS BEWARE:

The things that didn’t have to be included in this book : the abusive husband, the affair at the workplace with Jess and Finn (who?) , the abortion, Julia’s murder, the ending where they debate about inviting her over ( say what?), the attempted baby kidnap, the entire baby room at Jess’s house that was never explained...I could go on and on....

Thank you to NetGalley, Minotaur Books and Sandie Jones for this E- Arc in exchange for an honest review.