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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
medium-paced
If I'm grading on a curve, this is way better than a great many thrillers I've read in recent years. (But that isn't staying much...99% of the time I give them one star and SWEAR I'm never reading another one.) In this case, I thought the writing was fine and it kept my attention. But I correctly figured out the lion's share of the plot long before the end. I had a few "I'm sure" moments in the last quarter and I thought that if I read the word "bump" to describe a pregnant stomach ONE MORE TIME I was going to scream. But compared to what I usually say about thrillers, this review is high praise.
A twisty mystery. The shifting points of view left me wondering which characters were to be trusted, and kept me guessing almost to the end. A satisfying read. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for advanced copy. All opinions my own.
I didn’t give it 5 stars because I feel that the first half of the book dragged on. There is a lot of stuff that I think could have been left out. But the 2nd half was very good.
This was a quick read for me. It felt more like a slow burner instead of a thriller, and I like both. I was able to pick out the bad guy(s) through behaviors and dialog, but was still without answers as to the whys of certain events until I reached the end. I absolutely loved the last sentence of the book. It made me gloriously happy. I enjoyed this book very much.
This book kept me guessing and I loved how the varying storylines played out.
Helen is expecting her first child and is excited to take prenatal classes with her husband and her brother and his wife, Serena, who are also expecting around the same time. But when Serena cancels at the last minute for a different series of classes and her husband gets tied up at work, Helen is forced to go alone. There, she meets Rachel, a young, single woman who seems anything but motherly. Both Rachel and Helen are already on leave from work due to health complications so Helen doesn't think much of it when Rachel starts turning up more and more. A friendship of convenience is quickly formed, but when Rachel shows up at Helen's door late one night with marks on her neck and asks to move in, the friendship shifts from strange to uncomfortable. Is Rachel simply a young mother down on her luck? Or is something more sinister at play? And what are Rachel's true intentions for Helen?
I enjoyed that the story was told from various narrators but focused on Helen. I also loved that the novel was broken down by weeks pregnant. I could envision Helen getting bigger by the day, feeling lonely and isolated while her husband worked late every night and her house was consumed by a massive reno project that they were trying to complete before the baby was born.
Rachel's whole persona gave me all the red flags but I could totally empathize with Helen's need to be kind while also allowing Rachel to slip into her life because she was so lonely. There were so many times I cringed as Helen's discomfort radiated off the page while pregnant Rachel smoked a cigarette or chugged another alcoholic beverage with no regard to her unborn baby.
Some parts of the story were more predictable than others but even still, I was always eager to pick the book up and continue reading. I don't typically like when a novel wraps everything up in the last chapter or two, but thought it was fairly well done here. The very end was also so good that it helped me overlook the final information dump. I love when a book ends on a jaw dropping note and Faulkner really hit the nail on the head here!
Thank you to Gallery and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this novel.
Helen is expecting her first child and is excited to take prenatal classes with her husband and her brother and his wife, Serena, who are also expecting around the same time. But when Serena cancels at the last minute for a different series of classes and her husband gets tied up at work, Helen is forced to go alone. There, she meets Rachel, a young, single woman who seems anything but motherly. Both Rachel and Helen are already on leave from work due to health complications so Helen doesn't think much of it when Rachel starts turning up more and more. A friendship of convenience is quickly formed, but when Rachel shows up at Helen's door late one night with marks on her neck and asks to move in, the friendship shifts from strange to uncomfortable. Is Rachel simply a young mother down on her luck? Or is something more sinister at play? And what are Rachel's true intentions for Helen?
I enjoyed that the story was told from various narrators but focused on Helen. I also loved that the novel was broken down by weeks pregnant. I could envision Helen getting bigger by the day, feeling lonely and isolated while her husband worked late every night and her house was consumed by a massive reno project that they were trying to complete before the baby was born.
Rachel's whole persona gave me all the red flags but I could totally empathize with Helen's need to be kind while also allowing Rachel to slip into her life because she was so lonely. There were so many times I cringed as Helen's discomfort radiated off the page while pregnant Rachel smoked a cigarette or chugged another alcoholic beverage with no regard to her unborn baby.
Some parts of the story were more predictable than others but even still, I was always eager to pick the book up and continue reading. I don't typically like when a novel wraps everything up in the last chapter or two, but thought it was fairly well done here. The very end was also so good that it helped me overlook the final information dump. I love when a book ends on a jaw dropping note and Faulkner really hit the nail on the head here!
Thank you to Gallery and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this novel.
I really felt for these characters and definitely didn’t see the ending coming. A bit slow in spots but over all a really good read.
WOW!
Helen, Katie, and Serena have all grown up together. Helen and Serena are preparing to welcome their newborn infants, Helen meets Rachel at her prenatal class. Serena is supposed to be taking the class with Helen and decides not to show at the last min. Rachel is not like the other moms-to-be though. She is loud, constantly drinking, and smoking. But Helen is lonely so a friend is better than no friend, right? But then Racheal is always showing up. Butting into her life why? what's going on why is she always around now?
This book had layers and how is everyone connected which you find out the more you read the more connected some people past might be and this shows you that friendly people cant always be trusted and sometimes its the people you think you know the most are the ones you don't know.
This was a solid debut novel. This thriller had a nice closed ending so all of the questions that I had were perfectly wrapped up. There was also some decent character development.
*Thanks, NetGalley, for arc in exchange for my fair and honest opinion.
Helen, Katie, and Serena have all grown up together. Helen and Serena are preparing to welcome their newborn infants, Helen meets Rachel at her prenatal class. Serena is supposed to be taking the class with Helen and decides not to show at the last min. Rachel is not like the other moms-to-be though. She is loud, constantly drinking, and smoking. But Helen is lonely so a friend is better than no friend, right? But then Racheal is always showing up. Butting into her life why? what's going on why is she always around now?
This book had layers and how is everyone connected which you find out the more you read the more connected some people past might be and this shows you that friendly people cant always be trusted and sometimes its the people you think you know the most are the ones you don't know.
This was a solid debut novel. This thriller had a nice closed ending so all of the questions that I had were perfectly wrapped up. There was also some decent character development.
*Thanks, NetGalley, for arc in exchange for my fair and honest opinion.