Take a photo of a barcode or cover
lindsaynixon 's review for:
The Family Holiday
by Shalini Boland
3.7 rounded up
The blurb on GR is an epic spoiler. I went In Blind and am grateful I did.
I didn’t think i could read another “bad vacation” story yet SB books are usually reliable for me that I gave it a go.
I really liked this book for the most part. I couldn’t put it down; I was waiting to see what bad thing was going to happen. Towards the end my interest started to wain and while I appreciate it wasn’t an overly dramatic Hollywood ending (no maniacal characters or long winded confessions either, thankfully) it did seem to fizzle a bit, even with the attempted zinger in the epilogue. I was also left with an unanswered question: why did she break into his office? Just because? With so much time spent around it I was expecting something to happen there (eg destroy or steal his latest work)
SUMMARY: Beth is married with two kids. Her husband is an abusive and controlling POS. She is constantly walking on eggshells and blaming herself.
Out of the blue, he suggests a family holiday. Beth is thrilled until he suggests they sign up for a house swap. Beth was dreaming of a hotel-style vacation but figures this is better than nothing.
As they arrive in Italy, Beth calls Amber (the other wife) because they can’t find Ambers car at the airport. The reader then realizes Amber did this on purpose to mess with Beth; setting up the query what is Amber up to and why?
The rest of the story follows Beth and her family in Italy. The husband is a real asshole and things start to happen that distress Beth further. For example she finds a picture of her husband in the house. There’s also a break in
In other chapters Amber narrates. She is watching all of this unfold and is happy; alluding to her plan that is working.
The reader spends the entire novel wondering what Amber is ultimately plotting and why she is doing this. You also want to know if Amber did know Beth’s husband. All is eventually revealed and it’s not all that shocking.
Listened on audible. Superb narration
The blurb on GR is an epic spoiler. I went In Blind and am grateful I did.
I didn’t think i could read another “bad vacation” story yet SB books are usually reliable for me that I gave it a go.
I really liked this book for the most part. I couldn’t put it down; I was waiting to see what bad thing was going to happen. Towards the end my interest started to wain and while I appreciate it wasn’t an overly dramatic Hollywood ending (no maniacal characters or long winded confessions either, thankfully) it did seem to fizzle a bit, even with the attempted zinger in the epilogue. I was also left with an unanswered question: why did she break into his office? Just because? With so much time spent around it I was expecting something to happen there (eg destroy or steal his latest work)
SUMMARY: Beth is married with two kids. Her husband is an abusive and controlling POS. She is constantly walking on eggshells and blaming herself.
Out of the blue, he suggests a family holiday. Beth is thrilled until he suggests they sign up for a house swap. Beth was dreaming of a hotel-style vacation but figures this is better than nothing.
As they arrive in Italy, Beth calls Amber (the other wife) because they can’t find Ambers car at the airport. The reader then realizes Amber did this on purpose to mess with Beth; setting up the query what is Amber up to and why?
The rest of the story follows Beth and her family in Italy. The husband is a real asshole and things start to happen that distress Beth further. For example she finds a picture of her husband in the house. There’s also a break in
In other chapters Amber narrates. She is watching all of this unfold and is happy; alluding to her plan that is working.
The reader spends the entire novel wondering what Amber is ultimately plotting and why she is doing this. You also want to know if Amber did know Beth’s husband. All is eventually revealed and it’s not all that shocking.
Listened on audible. Superb narration