⭐️⭐️⭐️(3)

🎧🎧🎧🎧(4)

Genre: Thriller – domestic

Format: Audio via Libby (Brittany Wilkerson & Henriette Zoutomou) 

Published: June 23, 2023

Soundtrack: Desperado – Rhiana

From the first sentence, this book made me obsessed with figuring out what would happen; it held my interest and handed out some very unexpected plot twists. The dual narrators both captured their characters well. Then, to my great disappointment, the author turns both heroines into complete dumbs dumbs, and an unsatisfactory ending . I had to take a few days before writing a review because I was so irritated by the conclusion!

Lee Gulliver used to have it all. Then, between lockdown and the financial crisis, she loses her restaurant, her friends, and her safety as she ends up running from her financier. Homeless, fearful, living in her car, Lee wakes up to strange noises and finds Hazel Laval seemingly attempting to drown herself and subsequently saves her. Hazel is the wife of a wealthy lawyer, spending her days trying to maintain a a normalcy facade despite her husband’s cruelty.  The two form an unlikely friendship and make a plan to change both their lives. 

The first twist of this book! And then they just keep coming. You know something is coming, but wow. I loved it! I was excited to see how the heroines would handle the change of plans, and then the novel just fell apart. I didn’t picture the women as similar as the author made them to be. The only thing that seemed identical is that I found both their characters irritating by the end. 

Additionally, I found Hazel’s inner monologue in the last 20% of the book to be quite unbearable. It made her appear unintelligent, which made it hard to sympathize with her character despite her circumstances. It’s unfortunate because the book completely captivated me until about 80%, but then I had to keep pausing the (otherwise excellent) audio as I wasn’t paying attention.

I felt so let down by the end of the book; it ruined the entire reading experience for me. I can see why people love the book based on the plot twist.

View this post on Instagram:

Shop this book here (Affiliates):