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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Drama, murder, a who-done-it thriller? That’s what this book serves up in a solid 4 star read.
Olivia and Park have drama to spare. Park has a twin, Perry, but they don’t talk to each other and haven’t seen each other in years and a sister, Lindsey, and they all go back to when they were kids.
High school brings more drama, Park cheating, Olivia sleeping with Perry, getting pregnant and then having an abortion.
Fast forward more years and they are at the point where Park and Olivia are together, married but having problems having kids. She has miscarried several times and is heartbroken. But then a body shows up and Park’s past is exposed.
Sperm donations in college? Sure, he does it and now he’s got 2 dozen and counting kids. Ironic since Olivia can’t have any with him. But the problem is…the murder is one of those mystery kids.
Family trauma, marital issues, infertility, murder, mystery this book has it all. I was able to figure out who the murder was early in the book but that didn’t take away from the story as you still want to know how and why. A pretty quick read and some twist and turns as the book winds up.
Olivia and Park have drama to spare. Park has a twin, Perry, but they don’t talk to each other and haven’t seen each other in years and a sister, Lindsey, and they all go back to when they were kids.
High school brings more drama, Park cheating, Olivia sleeping with Perry, getting pregnant and then having an abortion.
Fast forward more years and they are at the point where Park and Olivia are together, married but having problems having kids. She has miscarried several times and is heartbroken. But then a body shows up and Park’s past is exposed.
Sperm donations in college? Sure, he does it and now he’s got 2 dozen and counting kids. Ironic since Olivia can’t have any with him. But the problem is…the murder is one of those mystery kids.
Family trauma, marital issues, infertility, murder, mystery this book has it all. I was able to figure out who the murder was early in the book but that didn’t take away from the story as you still want to know how and why. A pretty quick read and some twist and turns as the book winds up.
I loved THE WHOLE DAMN THING! The end left a liiiiiiittle to be desired, but it didnt take away from the story too much for me.
Trigger warning: infertility and miscarriages
I was wholly unprepared for how wonderfully delicious this book was. It literally takes you on a journey of emotions from the first sentence to the last and keeps you guessing up until epilogue. Very few self-proclaimed psychological thrillers pack the punch they often claim, but this one truly held up to its genre in every conceivable way. It's fast paced, each character is fully developed, and it truly makes you question your own morality and how far you would go to shield a loved one who was accused of the ultimate crime.
The authors note brought me to tears and explained how J.T. Ellison was fully able to tap into the emotions of a woman who had repeadly experienced the trauma of miscarriage and infertility. Having said that, if these topics are an especially triggering subject for you, this might not be the best read, but I finally encourage you to read another one of her books.
This was hands down a 5 star read. I'm already downloading two more of her books as I type this review
I was wholly unprepared for how wonderfully delicious this book was. It literally takes you on a journey of emotions from the first sentence to the last and keeps you guessing up until epilogue. Very few self-proclaimed psychological thrillers pack the punch they often claim, but this one truly held up to its genre in every conceivable way. It's fast paced, each character is fully developed, and it truly makes you question your own morality and how far you would go to shield a loved one who was accused of the ultimate crime.
The authors note brought me to tears and explained how J.T. Ellison was fully able to tap into the emotions of a woman who had repeadly experienced the trauma of miscarriage and infertility. Having said that, if these topics are an especially triggering subject for you, this might not be the best read, but I finally encourage you to read another one of her books.
This was hands down a 5 star read. I'm already downloading two more of her books as I type this review
You can’t go wrong when you start with Square Books! Trigger warning- infertility/ miscarriage.
I'm going to make this review short & sweet for now because it's been a long day. Trigger warning for the fertility issues and miscarriage the main female character has in the beginning of the book.
Complex, sharply written, and excellent suspense. Olivia and Park are married, trying and failing for a baby. They were high school sweethearts but broke up when they had a huge fight, cheating was involved, and Olivia hooks up with Park's fraternal twin Perry. While they were apart, Park not only lost his college girlfriend to an unsolved murder but donated sperm.
Future/ present time, Olivia discovers an acquaintance Beverly Cooke, who went missing a few weeks prior, was found dead. The cops arrive because they matched DNA to Park- as a familial match and specifically, a son. Olivia doesn't know that Park donated his biological fluids while they were apart, so not only do the police suspect Park's biological son, but he also "helped" women have 28 + counting children. We get the perspective of one of the mothers, Darby, who has 2 children through sperm donation. Darby's son Peyton is supposed to be out at college and Scarlett is 16 and wants a dad.
Once Olivia encounters "the murderer" and has the police sketch artist draw the picture, we find out the identity of our perp. The book is still suspenseful until the end as the murderer took another mother. All the players and moving parts kept me reading until the very end. The last chapter really got me like
Complex, sharply written, and excellent suspense. Olivia and Park are married, trying and failing for a baby. They were high school sweethearts but broke up when they had a huge fight, cheating was involved, and Olivia hooks up with Park's fraternal twin Perry. While they were apart, Park not only lost his college girlfriend to an unsolved murder but donated sperm.
Future/ present time, Olivia discovers an acquaintance Beverly Cooke, who went missing a few weeks prior, was found dead. The cops arrive because they matched DNA to Park- as a familial match and specifically, a son. Olivia doesn't know that Park donated his biological fluids while they were apart, so not only do the police suspect Park's biological son, but he also "helped" women have 28 + counting children. We get the perspective of one of the mothers, Darby, who has 2 children through sperm donation. Darby's son Peyton is supposed to be out at college and Scarlett is 16 and wants a dad.
Once Olivia encounters "the murderer" and has the police sketch artist draw the picture, we find out the identity of our perp. The book is still suspenseful until the end as the murderer took another mother. All the players and moving parts kept me reading until the very end. The last chapter really got me like
Thought it was a decent read. It was a page turner for me as I tried to figure out the full puzzle. I didn't care for the weird obsession that the son had for Olivia it felt forced. The twist was pretty good but a bit drawn out, and I didn't care for the ending as I felt that it gave Olivia a bit of happiness that she did not deserve
The book is more focused on the domestic drama than the mystery. It deals with infertility and miscarriages with a great deal of sensitivity which isn’t surprising as the author brings her personal experience to the fore. But the rest of the book, however, is not well-written not well-plotted.
While we’re given a detailed look at the layered characters in the first part of the book, halfway through this book becomes something of a haphazard b-movie with contrivances and gimmicky reveals.
The killer is a trope that demonizes mental illness, but it’s lifted almost directly from a CSI season. And he’s randomly obsessed with the lead female character? What for? Why? It’s so lurid and unnecessary. And the killer is also a rapist—one woman is raped and killed and the second is a Lesbian who doesn’t know if anything happened to her while she was kidnapped but needs to check with her partner whether she should keep any child possibly resulting from the assault by her kidnapper? I’m sorry, what?
The latest fad of stories based on characters finding sprawling broods of siblings thanks to DNA test websites is already so tired. Every single person isn’t in these databases so it’s not possible to track every person down.
Park being at the centre of so many murders should have raised a red flag for everyone in his life but everyone is ok with it. And Olivia randomly killed a girl out of jealousy even though Park was cheating on her? I’m so confused. This book really went downhill into caricature department partway through.
The ridiculous love triangle with the twin brothers was silly, as was the choice to marry off Darby and Park at the end. Olivia also randomly suddenly has Parry’s child. Why do so many books have women who choose to parent on their own? Are there that many people out there who want to do this? Way too many stories feature secret children, it’s daft.
All in all, not a fan of this book. It was derivative and unnecessarily lurid.
While we’re given a detailed look at the layered characters in the first part of the book, halfway through this book becomes something of a haphazard b-movie with contrivances and gimmicky reveals.
The killer is a trope that demonizes mental illness, but it’s lifted almost directly from a CSI season. And he’s randomly obsessed with the lead female character? What for? Why? It’s so lurid and unnecessary. And the killer is also a rapist—one woman is raped and killed and the second is a Lesbian who doesn’t know if anything happened to her while she was kidnapped but needs to check with her partner whether she should keep any child possibly resulting from the assault by her kidnapper? I’m sorry, what?
The latest fad of stories based on characters finding sprawling broods of siblings thanks to DNA test websites is already so tired. Every single person isn’t in these databases so it’s not possible to track every person down.
Park being at the centre of so many murders should have raised a red flag for everyone in his life but everyone is ok with it. And Olivia randomly killed a girl out of jealousy even though Park was cheating on her? I’m so confused. This book really went downhill into caricature department partway through.
The ridiculous love triangle with the twin brothers was silly, as was the choice to marry off Darby and Park at the end. Olivia also randomly suddenly has Parry’s child. Why do so many books have women who choose to parent on their own? Are there that many people out there who want to do this? Way too many stories feature secret children, it’s daft.
All in all, not a fan of this book. It was derivative and unnecessarily lurid.