A review by peneloperea
Unfaithful by Natalie Barelli

4.0

Thank you, NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for providing the audiobook of Unfaithful by Natalie Barelli in exchange for my honest review.

Um, WOW. This one started a little slow for me. In fact, at one point, I almost gave up, but I’m glad I kept going. Holy twists Batman!

We start by meeting Anna, a happily married mother of two, who is a math professor at a small university. Her world is perfect. Her husband is an artist who supports her busy schedule, while she works with a needy student who is attempting to solve and publish a mathematical proof. When her student suddenly dies right before her eyes, her world quickly begins to unravel and it becomes very apparent that Anna is an unreliable narrator with a drinking problem. I can’t decide if you’re supposed to feel bad for Anna, but most of the time I wanted to punch her or walk away. She’s in denial about her life and it’s obvious she needs help.

If you can get past the frustrating beginning of the book, I promise the payoff is great. AND the reason I bumped my 3 rating to 4. I thought I had this one figured out until all hell broke loose. I couldn’t put the last 20-25% of the book down. I was reading so fast, that I had to go back and check that I was reading things correctly.

This one is full of horrible characters, just BAD people, except for the kids, the adorable dog, and June! Thank you Barelli for JUNE. June brings light into this dark, messed-up world. I don’t know if I’d like this as much without June. That said, if you enjoy tense, dark, twisty, and chaotic stories, give Unfaithful a go. The sucker punch twist is worth the mediocre start.