Induced quite a lot of eye rolling
⭐️⭐️
The Blurb:
Something happened to her mother that night. Something no one wants to talk about. But she’s determined to uncover her family’s dark secrets, even if they bury her. Five-year-old Sloane McBride couldn’t sleep that night. Her parents were arguing again, their harsh words heating the cool autumn air. And then there was that other sound—the ominous thump before all went quiet. In the morning, her mother was gone. The official story was that she left. Her loving, devoted mother! That hadn’t sat any better at the time than it did when Sloane moved out at eighteen, anxious to leave her small Texas hometown in search of anywhere else. But not even a fresh start working as a model in New York could keep the nightmares at bay. Or her fears that the domineering father she grew up with wasn’t just difficult—he was deadly. Now another traumatic loss forces Sloane to realize she owes it to her mother to find out the truth, even if it means returning to a small town full of secrets and lies, a jilted ex-boyfriend, and a father and brother who’d rather see her silenced. But as Sloane starts digging into the past, the question isn’t whether she can uncover what really happened that night…it’s what will remain of her family if she does?
The Review
The plot of this book is quite strong - a daughter returns to her home town after 10 years away, determined to face up to her buried suspicion that her father had something to do with the disappearance of her mother all those years ago. It promised the unearthing of buried skeletons, a mystery being untangled and the conflicting emotions tied up with such a 'prodigal' return.
Unfortunately for me it failed to deliver on some of those promises. One of the main frustrations I had was with the pace of the book, for the first two thirds it felt like hardly anything happened and then suddenly all of the action is crammed into the last third. Also it promised a 'twist' of an ending, which for me was not a surprise at all.
But my main problem was with the cliched nature of some of the writing and the juxtaposition of the characters relationships with their conversations. Hopefully this example will help illustrate my point:
"Their affair for one. His womanizing. What he's said about his wife. It doesn't have to mean they murdered her"
"Or it could mean they did it together."
His hand slipped between her legs as he kissed her neck(.....)
Sloane closed her eyes as his fingers evoked little darts of pleasure.
"She didn't seem to be suffering from too much regret," she said, struggling to keep her mind on their conversation."
I don't know about you, but nothing is more likely to turn me on than discussing the possible murder of my mother and the possibility that my father and his lover may have had something to do with it....?!?! I mean, WHAT an opportune moment for some foreplay, huh??
There is a special place in my heart for books that have really bad sex scenes in them - and I'm afraid this has made its way into that category. I think if a sex scene is genuine, it probably isn't supposed to make you laugh, and I'm afraid this one made me snigger:
'He ran his fingers down between her breasts, which weren't particularly large but they were perfectly formed. "But..."
"My friend was...sick"
"Clyde, right? The one who died of cancer?" She nodded as he smoothed the hair out of her face."
Two things here - what an unnecessary description of her breasts. Secondly, AGAIN, I'm not sure that talking about your friend that died of cancer is really setting the mood here...or is it just me?
It just felt like the author was so keen to ram home the rekindling relationship between Sloane and Micah, that all thought of how people actually behave together was lost. Top this off with some of the cliched contrived plot devices (of course the first time she is reunited with her ex, Micah, Sloane just had to be wearing nothing but a towel....cue my eye roll) and it become irritating.
Apologies if this seems a harsh review, but unfortunately things like this took away from from what could have been quite a good story of intrigue, murder, family dynamics and redemption. But the clunky writing detracted from all of that.
Thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley for this preview copy in return for an honest review.
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