Rating: ⭐⭐
Ugh.
I chose this title as my First Reads from Prime this month and I am at least happy that no money was spent in acquiring this title.
I really wanted to like this one because the premise was interesting and had me hooked. Sadly, it took forever for me to actually get into it. The story is told from alternating viewpoints of Charlotte and Elle, whose lives intersect in a pretty horrible way, though Charlotte doesn't know that.
Charlotte is locked away in her gated community with a husband who has to travel constantly for work. She is extremely cautious and fearful of the outside world due to reasons we discover along the way, thanks to Elle, the high school senior who 'accidentally' befriends her.
It's not a terrible story, but some of the parts were incredibly predictable, though there were a couple twists I did not see coming. I was not sure how the ending would play out, so that was a relief at least, even though I had guessed bits and pieces. I never expect a book to completely surprise me 100%, that is impossible. But there should not be some things that are so obvious, it's not even fair. Luckily this book did not have many of those moments.
Unfortunately, with the exception of a minor character who is actually pretty major but does not seem that way for most of the book, all of these people suck. None of them are even a bit likable and it was hard to care about what happened to any of them. I will be the first person to say that characters don't have to be likable for a book to be good (and I LOVE an unreliable narrator, usually) but there were none here. Literally none. NONE.
Everyone is lying, the end.
"Everyone is lying, the end." Haha well so much for THAT!
ReplyDeletelol, I figured you would appreciate that summary. I honestly could have let that be the ENTIRE review. EVERYONE IS LYING!
DeleteWell, I know which book I am not going to pick this month :) Sorry this one wasn't better for you, Sarah!
ReplyDeleteThanks Carole - and who knows, you might enjoy it! It just never felt right quite to me and I am not sure why. Except that I did not care what happened to anyone so yeah, I guess maybe pick something else :)
Deletei don't know what goes on in publishing offices nowadays... i'm aware that they only publish books that they think will make them money, but why can't they see that disgusting books just put readers off reading modern trash? or maybe i'm so out of touch that i don't know that these sorts of book sell like hotcakes?
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to say. This book should have been really good. But having at least one character you're rooting for would help. It was nearly impossible to connect with any of them.
Deletei agree with greg. i do love to hate characters...but there does have to be more than that
ReplyDeletesherry @ fundinmental
Yes! Hating character is half the fun, and it gets you invested in the story because you want the bad guys to get theirs. But it truly was a case not of me hating anyone, but not caring enough TO hate them.
DeleteI hear you!
ReplyDeleteHave you tried this one?
DeleteNo.
DeleteYou've missed nothing!
DeleteI've seen this one advertised a lot, but it sounds like this will be a skip from me.
ReplyDeleteWho knows, you might like it. I try to wait a little bit before posting a review of a First Reads book because I don't want to dissuade someone if they (like me in this case) are really into the synopsis. But blech. Yeah, don't bother with this one!
Delete