You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
Two women take 3 months away with their kids, renting houses on one of the Finger Lakes. One, privileged, wealthy yet is displaying some serious addictive self-harming behavior. The other, the opposite on paper, mousy and anxious, seemingly worried about nothing. Yet both have secrets that they are trying to protect and overcome.
I don’t enjoy whiny insecure protagonists. I don’t enjoy having people like that in my own life and I certainly don’t enjoy being in their head for the hours it takes me to finish a book about them. This book is 50% Rebecca and 50% Tessa and only half of it was enjoyable to read.
Tessa is that stereotypical character that gets written into books because the author thinks they’ll be a good foil to the rich lady, and yet, she is so unbearably waifish and desperate. I kept expecting something else to be the reason Tessa was so sulky and insecure but the surprise never came. Rebecca’s big secret, the origin of all her destructive behavior, certainly wasn’t hard to figure out, but the reveal was well done, as was the writing of her behavior. Their husbands and children were background noise for the most part, with very little depth until the last few chapters.
I could’ve done with a bit less fretting from Tessa or a bit more of a punch on why she was the way she was, but overall it was a good read that felt consistent and that Hewitt knew where she was going from the start.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review.
I don’t enjoy whiny insecure protagonists. I don’t enjoy having people like that in my own life and I certainly don’t enjoy being in their head for the hours it takes me to finish a book about them. This book is 50% Rebecca and 50% Tessa and only half of it was enjoyable to read.
Tessa is that stereotypical character that gets written into books because the author thinks they’ll be a good foil to the rich lady, and yet, she is so unbearably waifish and desperate. I kept expecting something else to be the reason Tessa was so sulky and insecure but the surprise never came. Rebecca’s big secret, the origin of all her destructive behavior, certainly wasn’t hard to figure out, but the reveal was well done, as was the writing of her behavior. Their husbands and children were background noise for the most part, with very little depth until the last few chapters.
I could’ve done with a bit less fretting from Tessa or a bit more of a punch on why she was the way she was, but overall it was a good read that felt consistent and that Hewitt knew where she was going from the start.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review.
Alright-I am definitely not as good of a person as Tessa, because right now I am blaming Rebecca. I am so angry, and sad, and just UGHHHH! Now that I have gotten my feelings out about the end of the book...onto the rest of my review:
Everything about this friendship seemed doomed from the start. The forcing of the children to be friends, the constant money being spent on Tessa, and Rebecca's spiral out of control. From the beginning I saw it going nowhere good. I had high hopes as the book went on and it felt like they really could help each other be better, get better, be happier. I thought the dive into Rebecca's illness and the reasons behind it were very well done, as was the guilt/ease in which Tessa took over her role in Rebecca's family. Overall I felt for both of these women, they both dealt with horrible life experiences that they eventually had to face. One thing that struck me was WTH was with their husbands? Having them take a 3 month trip with their families and when asked to come visit continually say oh I cant make it this weekend? They were both so worried about their wives mental health that they sent them off to the lake for the summer by themselves with all the kids and spent their summer just enjoying themselves? That part really bothered me. Eventually you get a better understanding of why the women were where they were, but I just felt like the men really took the easy way out by just sending their wives off.
Everything about this friendship seemed doomed from the start. The forcing of the children to be friends, the constant money being spent on Tessa, and Rebecca's spiral out of control. From the beginning I saw it going nowhere good. I had high hopes as the book went on and it felt like they really could help each other be better, get better, be happier. I thought the dive into Rebecca's illness and the reasons behind it were very well done, as was the guilt/ease in which Tessa took over her role in Rebecca's family. Overall I felt for both of these women, they both dealt with horrible life experiences that they eventually had to face. One thing that struck me was WTH was with their husbands? Having them take a 3 month trip with their families and when asked to come visit continually say oh I cant make it this weekend? They were both so worried about their wives mental health that they sent them off to the lake for the summer by themselves with all the kids and spent their summer just enjoying themselves? That part really bothered me. Eventually you get a better understanding of why the women were where they were, but I just felt like the men really took the easy way out by just sending their wives off.