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3.26 AVERAGE
3.26 AVERAGE
slow-paced
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Knowing the truth will destroy her.
Keeping it secret will destroy him.
It’s Livia’s 40th birthday and she’s having the party of a lifetime to make up for the wedding she never had. Everyone she loves will be there except her daughter Marnie, who’s studying abroad. But although Livia loves Marnie, she’s secretly glad she won’t be at the party. She needs to tell Adam something about their daughter but she’s waiting until the party is over so they can have this last happy time together.
Adam wants everything to be perfect for Livia so he’s secretly arranged for Marnie to come home and surprise her on her birthday. During the day, he hears some terrible news. He needs to tell Livia, because how can the party go on? But she’s so happy, so excited – and the guests are about to arrive.
The Dilemma – how far would you go to give someone you love a last few hours of happiness?
Keeping it secret will destroy him.
It’s Livia’s 40th birthday and she’s having the party of a lifetime to make up for the wedding she never had. Everyone she loves will be there except her daughter Marnie, who’s studying abroad. But although Livia loves Marnie, she’s secretly glad she won’t be at the party. She needs to tell Adam something about their daughter but she’s waiting until the party is over so they can have this last happy time together.
Adam wants everything to be perfect for Livia so he’s secretly arranged for Marnie to come home and surprise her on her birthday. During the day, he hears some terrible news. He needs to tell Livia, because how can the party go on? But she’s so happy, so excited – and the guests are about to arrive.
The Dilemma – how far would you go to give someone you love a last few hours of happiness?
Giving this book a 3 star rating which feels a bit generous but I think the reason I didn’t like this is because Good Reads categorized this as a thriller. So I assumed it would be like BA Paris’s other books and it absolutely is not. This is a family drama. This is NOT a thriller, a suspense or a mystery even a little bit. So don’t go into it with those expectations!!!
The Dilemma is a domestic thriller that centers around a married couple, Adam and Livia, who are both hiding secrets as they prepare for Livia’s 40th birthday bash, which will be a lavish affair to replace the dream wedding she never had. I didn’t find the main characters to be at all relatable and there are a lot of head-scratching behaviors by several characters, but this was a well-paced, quick read. I agree with other reviewers who say it was repetitive and unnecessarily long.
It is with great relief that I finally click the "read" button for this book. What an exhausting, pointlessly long, repetitive story that would have made a much better short story. I listened to this one at 2x speed, and I still kept thinking, "Just hurry up already!" and singing We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel: "It (goes) on and on and on and on and on and on. . ." There are some things important enough to just tell someone to stop interrupting and listen. Important enough to cancel a party. Important enough to actually communicate with a partner. These people were just so infuriating. By the time the secrets were out, I was so irritated, I couldn't even share in their pain. Due to the fact that I actually finished the book, I gave it an extra star, despite my initial desire to rate it only 1*.
slow-paced