"A Beautiful Web": The Stationary Shop, by Marjan Kamali

     This is a book I can not wait to revisit. I think I might even want to own a nice copy of it for my shelves because I definitely want to revisit it in print form, so I'm excited to, in a way, revisit it again by creating this blog post!

"A novel set in 1953 Tehran against the backdrop of the Iranian Coup about a young couple in love who are separated on the eve of their marriage, and who are reunited sixty years later, after having moved on to live independent lives in America, to discover the truth about what happened on that fateful day in the town square."

-Goodreads

The Stationary Shop by Marjan Kamali

     Release Date: June 18, 2019

     Read from: 3/21/2020 - 3/26/2020

     Format: Audiobook (Scribd)

     My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

     Goodreads Rating: 4.2 stars

Goodreads Link

     This book was such a well written web of a story! We follow a few main characters who all connect to each other in ways we don’t expect. It’s a story of young love and tragedy. Taking place during a period of political unrest in Iran, our two lovers meet, and then in Romeo and Juliet style, are torn apart. Tehran, the Iranian capitol where our characters live, is becoming a dangerous and violent city in the 1950’s, and many young people are leaving for America to get an education and live a better, safer life.

-GoIranTours.com

     Roya and Bahman met when they were 17 years old. Both very educated individuals, they meet in a stationary shop owned by Mr. Fakhri. Bahman is secretly, and dangerously involved in a fight to make Iran's government a democracy. He opens up Roya's eyes to new ideas and a different world. They fall in love, and create plans to get married. But one deadly day in a town square rips them away from each other. Roya eventually finds her way to America to pursue a greater education than can be provided to her in Iran, even though she has to leave her family behind. Her sister comes along with her, and they build new lives for themselves.

Tehran, Iran; 1953 -Tehran Times

-CNN.com

     The story is told from a few different perspectives, and from different points in time. I feel like I can’t give it enough justice in this review because it is SO much more than a love story. It’s history. It’s appreciation for a different culture and the love of family. Characters embodying intelligence, determination and perseverance. You’ll love the characters and hate them at the same time. You’ll root for them to be happy, and you’ll feel their sadness. The ending brought it all full circle. This complicated twisting story was turned into a beautiful, intricate web, and the feelings it gave me at the end are what really raised up my rating. I was totally and completely NOT expecting that from this book, even though, because of the real life events that this story circulates, it had very sad and scary elements to it. 

     My favorite books really are the ones that feel like a beautiful, sparkling spider web. It all comes together in a way I could in no way re-create. Like this book, you just need to experience it for yourself! 

-Modern Day Tehran (TheCultureTrip.com)

A Journey to the Past: A Historical Fiction About the Lindbergh Family

     I am so excited to share this gem with you all. Melanie Benjamin was a treasure to be found, and I'm so glad I found her with this phenomenal book. If you like to learn about important figures from our past, but don't like the dry style of history books, then this is for you. Benjamin said that her goal with writing historical fiction is to spark inspiration in her readers to further research her subjects, and she most definitely achieved that with this one.

"You will feel amazed, inspired and frustrated you are only hearing this story now..." -T.I.M.E

The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin

     Release Date: January 15, 2013

     Read from: 5/7/2020 - 5/16/2020

     Format: Audiobook (Overdrive)

     My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

     Goodreads Rating: 3.89 stars

Goodreads Link

     I really enjoyed this and definitely recommend! So far, this is the best historical fiction about real people I’ve ever read or listened to. I will now be adding all of Melanie Benjamin’s books to my TBR list lol. I thought she did a fantastic job on this book. Not only did I learn a hell of a lot, she achieved her goal as stated in the author’s note of inspiring people to do further research on the subject of the book. I definitely am left wanting to know more! Because this is a historical fiction it is not 100% true, and she discusses what parts are imagined, to make this more of a story, and not a blow by blow account in the spirit of school history books, in the author’s note as well. I think she did a fantastic job of giving it the story feel, while keeping it full of truth and facts. It definitely helps that Anne Lindbergh kept many diaries throughout her life that she published, as well as other books that she penned, so that we could get some real insight into her head beyond what the media or Charles Lindbergh himself put out there about their family life.

     If you don’t know much about the Lindbergh family it’s time that you learned. This book is a perfect starting point because you can’t fully understand Charles without knowing Anne. I’m sorry to admit when I first started this book that all I knew was the name "Charles Lindbergh." The subject of this book reminded me that he was important in the history of modern flight, but everything else I now know came from this book. These are people who lived at least some of their lives during many of our life times. And if not yours then definitely your grandparent’s or your parent’s life times. They are not quite yet figures of our distant past. To me, it’s not just fun but important to know more than just the names of famous historical figures. I loved this book because it gave me insight to what these people were like as humans, and not just as historical heroes.

     Anne Morrow grew up in a political family. Charles Lindbergh was the first person solo to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. Together, they became a powerful couple in aviation history, literally flying all over the world. Their relationship was amazing and strenuous. Their family life tragic and beautiful. Being big celebrities in the '30s wasn’t any different than it is now, but the emotional toll it took on celebrities of the time was much more of a shock than it is now. People expect it now. Then, they were just getting used to the idea that their private lives would be shared so extensively with the entire country. Fame was not what these two were seeking, and they struggled a lot with balancing their lives because of it. Then after the events of ‘32, their lives would never be the same, in so so many ways. This book actually pulled emotion out of me when I was listening to the narrator portray Anne in a lot of the scenes during this part of the book, and in any reflecting on it. So that to me makes for a higher rated book and huge props to the author for succeeding in pulling that out of me. I don't think I've read a historical fiction that managed to do that to me yet. It is much harder as an author to achieve that in a historical fiction, I imagine, because they only have access to whatever information is already out there about their subjects. Creating too many opinions and emotions in a historical figure may begin to turn the story away from accuracy. Luckily in this case, the author had Anne's diaries to learn her inner feelings.

     Before this book I was definitely enjoying historical books about real people, whether there was fiction tied in or not. I was picking them up whenever I came across them in my audio book apps. It’s been about a year since this pattern began, but now, after several books, I have not only added a bunch of non-fictions about certain historical families and figures to my TBR, I’m now beginning to brainstorm any people from this country’s history that I have even a slight interest in, so that I can hopefully find books just like this about them. First to come to mine, the Rockefeller’s and other families who lived in those big mansions in Newport! I’ve visited several of them on more than one occasion, and loved hearing about them, seeing their belongings and where they lived, reading information supplied in the museums about them, as well as hearing quotes from them in the self guided audio tours. But I want to know more of their thoughts and minds while they lived there! If anyone knows of any good resources for that definitely let me know!

And in the meantime, pick up this book. If you care about history at all, you’ll be glad you did.

I'd Like To Set Little Fires On This Book...

     I don't really like to share reviews of books that I didn't like, because I want my energy for this blog to be spent giving you guys recommendations, not adding to your "What NOT To Read" lists. But because this book was so well liked when it first came out, and is even MORE popular now that Hulu has turned it into a TV show, I needed to share my very unpopular opinion on this book. And oh, yeah, you'll see in my dates read section that I actually started this book a very long time ago, and then stopped it to read another book. One I wound up liking much better, so I'm glad I stopped reading this one at the time 🤣

**I try my best not to write ANY type of spoiler in my reviews, so if you have not read this book yet and are planning to, I trust you will be safe reading this review before reading the book.**

     So here it is everyone, my very un-popular rating of only 2 stars to:

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

     Release Date: September 12, 2017

     Read from: 10/1/2018 - 4/26/2020

     Format: Print (Borrowed) (BOTM- September 2017)

     My Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

     Goodreads Rating: 4.11 stars

Goodreads Link

     Yup, I am rating this book 2 stars. I just did not like it. It started out okay, and I felt like it was alright for a while, but then I started to notice I just wasn't getting what I wanted out of this book. And when I got to one particularly long and unnecessarily drawn out back story towards the end of the book, I was like you know what, no. I am not enjoying my time with this book at all, and I don’t need to pretend I agree that it’s good because everyone else loved it. It started in such an explosive and interesting way, and you spend the entire novel wondering how we got to that point. But the way the story was told made me care less and less as I gradually forgot what the heck I was actually interested in finding out anymore because there was so much crap in the middle to take your mind off onto so many different tracks. I really tried to give it a chance for a long time, but I just couldn’t any longer by that point. And now, as I’ve gone through a few posts in some of my Facebook book groups, I’m learning that lots of other people had the same thoughts as me, so I’m honestly not sure why this book has gotten so much hype!

The one thing I’ll give it is that the story it was telling was interesting. I did care about finding out the mysteries that were being spun. But I did not give any f***s about the characters, and the way the story was being told really took away from what the story really was. There was way too much description and not enough dialogue. And the back stories came so randomly and sometimes were so long that I’d forget what the story was originally even about, and then I'd get thrown off when we went back to the main story and all of a sudden the character the backstory was about became a side character again. (Long run on sentence, sorry! LOL)

The story takes place in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio called Shaker Heights. It's a real town, and looks exactly like I imagined it to. Pretty, rich and well manicured. The book is told a few stories, about three family’s; the McCoullough’s, the Richardson’s and the Warren’s. The Warrens move into the rental property owned by the Richardson’s, after a long life of being nomads around the country. They are mysterious, but the daughter, Pearl, wants nothing more than to be a normal high school student. Her mother is the eccentric, mysterious Mia who has the secrets we’re trying to figure out. Mrs. Richardson is best friends with Mrs. McCoullogh, and when the baby that the McCoulloghs are trying to adopt is threatened to be taken away from them in an unfair way, the Richardson’s get very involved, creating a rift between themselves and Mia Warren.

-Shaker Heights, Ohio (www.ShakerOnline.com)

It’s hard to say too much else without giving things away. But the book will also focus on the four different Richardson children and the troubles they find themselves in, as well as Pearl, and a large and very central quest to figure out what the deal is with the Warrens. They are very mysterious afterall!

That all sounds interesting right? Like I can see why the TV show might be better. The plot points of this story reall are interesting to me. The author just told us the story in (in my opinion) such a horrible way, and created characters that really just annoyed me or pissed me off. The only people I could find myself rooting for were the misunderstood Izzy and quiet Moody who were not very focused on in the book as far as getting their POVs on anything, and the McCoulloughs, who were also not very focused on as people, aside from as a subject that the other characters are very focused on. We never get any part of the story told from their points of view. I noticed that when the book spent too much time on someone’s point of view, I realized they were really annoying people and that I did not like them. LOL. And therefore anything they wanted I was like eh, you don’t deserve it. Maybe my resentful feelings towards the characters were there because of the tedious way I had to absorb this story, and not so much that they were actually dis-likable characters. You CAN like a book even when you don’t like the people the author has created. But in this case, I really feel like I became resentful about everything from the story to the characters because the author told the story so terribly. I felt like if someone was reading this book to me that the narration and tone of voice would be indifferent and pretentious. The feelings I got from being told a story in that tone really just annoyed me and yeah. To me, this book basically sucked! So yeah. Sorry my opinion is not exactly the norm, but I just do not get the hype.

I will, however, be checking out the TV show, because I love Reese Witherspoon, and like I said, the plot points seem like they'd be good for TV. Here's to (hopefully) enjoying that at least!

Favorite Cruise Read

     I got really lucky with the timing of our vacation this year. We went on an 11 night cruise down in the Caribbean and set foot on 7 different islands. The Covid-19 apocalypse was beginning in the USA during the last few days of our trip, and as we all know now, vacations are basically cancelled for the rest of the year. I read three books while on that cruise, one I had started at home, and listened to part of the audio book I had started at home as well. On this cold, dreary day, I am excited to reminisce on that dream of a trip while I write this post.

     So the winner of favorite cruise read is....

Long Bright River by Liz Moore

     Release Date: January 7, 2020

     Read from: 2/25/20 - 2/27/20

     Format: Print (A December BOTM choice)

     My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

     Goodreads Rating: 4.15 stars

Goodreads Link

     I wrote my Goodreads review on the notes app of my phone, because we didn't have service very often throughout the duration of the trip. I read the book in two days, while lying by the pool and lounging in our room with a balcony on beautiful sunny days. We had reached the warm southern Florida waters and were chugging towards San Juan, Puerto Rico. I flew through this book despite its length (480 pages) because I not only had the time, finally, but I found the story to be very interesting, and the writing style flowed to the degree necessary to keep you turning pages without feeling major reading fatigue. 

-Northern Caribbean sunset (February 26, 2020)

     I almost didn't pick this one up from the library before I left on the trip. I had placed it on hold, and it came in just prior to us leaving, and I was worried about it's length and getting to it on the trip. But I am SO glad I grabbed it. It was the perfect book to have on hand on a trip like that one.

     Michaela (“Mickey”) is our main character and a police officer in Philadelphia. Her younger sister is named Kacey. She spends her days working the streets and doing heroin. Kacey and Mickey grew up in the Kensington area of Philly without their parents. Their mother died of a heroin overdose, and their father has been gone almost as long, presumably dead. They were raised by their grandmother, struggling to get by. As soon as they were old enough, they both set off on their own to make their own ways. In completely different directions from each other. 

-The "Walmart" of heroin in Kensington, Philadelphia (The NY Times)

     In the present, Mickey is working the same area of town that she grew up in, and she and Kacey haven't been in touch for quite some time. While she works, Mickey uses her patrol time to keep an eye on her sister, still trying to make sure she's safe. Conveniently, Kacey goes missing at the same time that serial murders are taking place in the area where Kacey spends her time. Mickey is so desperate to find her sister that she begins to put her job in peril by abusing her power as a police officer to search for her sister on her own. The police department is investigating the murders as well, but Mickey doesn't feel that it's enough. She goes out of her way to question family members she hasn't spoken to in years, who in turn don’t trust her because she’s a cop, since they don’t exactly follow all the laws themselves. She also puts herself and her young son in danger when she gets too heavily involved with people on the street, trying to get more information.

     The book goes back and forth between past and present to paint a picture of Mickey and Kacey in their younger days, through their many ups and downs. These flashbacks help you try to figure out where Kacey might be and who the serial killer is. If they are connected or not. It throws twists and turns that lead me in different directions. I was constantly changing my mind about what I thought was going on. I wasn’t entirely surprised by the answer in the end, but I can’t say that I had really figured it out myself either. The way we wind up getting our answers in the end was a little bit unbelievable to me, but the scene wasn't drawn out enough to piss me off and ruin the rest of the story for me. 

-Kensington, Philadelphia (PhillyVoice)

     It is not really a suspenseful book. I really wouldn't characterize it as a thriller myself, but it is definitely a mystery. We are obviously searching alongside Mickey for the missing Kacey and the serial murderer, but we are also uncovering secrets from Mickey's own past. Things she was aware of, and things that she is not.

     If you spend too much time over analyzing the book and playing sleuth yourself, maybe you will find out the answer. I don't know. I try not to do that while I read anymore (I used to) and I find it way more fun when I try to just put myself in the position of the character and figure out the story along with them. I'm finding that I am surprised a lot more and enjoying books a lot more that maybe I wouldn't have had as much fun with otherwise. 

     All in all, I definitely agree with the positive reviews on this. I greatly enjoyed my time reading this book and definitely do recommend it to others.

"I Want More Than Just A Voice, I Want a Louding Voice."

The Girl With The Louding Voice by Abi Daré

     Release Date: February 4, 2020

     Read from: 2/12/20 - 2/19/20

     Format: Print (My February 2020 BOTM pick)

     My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

     Goodreads Rating: 4.51 stars

Goodreads Link

❝I want more than just a voice, I want a louding voice. I want to enter a room and people will hear me even before I open my mouth to be speaking. I want to live in this life and help many people so that when I grow old and die, I will still be living through the people I am helping.❞

     I procrastinated the review for this book majorly because there is so much to write about it that I wanted to take some time after I finished it to absorb everything I was going to feel, hoping to not sell it short. But now I feel like I waited too long! 😕  

     However, for one regular sized (approximately 350pg) book, it was certainly JAM packed with events. There was always something different happening in poor Adunni's life that it was nearly impossible to get bored. The story did not focus on one subject or event for very long.

     Adunni is our main character. She is 14 years old and living in a small Nigerian town when the book opens. We are introduced to her simple life with a father who doesn't treat her all that great, and a younger and older brother, who are of course viewed as more important than her because they were boys. Her mother has recently passed, and she is left to navigate the world of womanhood alone.      

-Rural Nigerian Village

(http://infrastructurenews.ng/housing-deficit-expert-tells-nigerians-to-live-in-rural-areas-satellite-towns/)

     Adunni's life is quickly turned upside down when she learns her father is basically selling her to a much older man to be his wife. She must leave home and essentially leave her friends behind to go live in a new house with a disgusting sexually, physically and emotionally abusive husband who also has two other wives. The first wife despises the ones that came after her. She was unable to produce a son, so her husband had to go looking elsewhere. Adunni knew her life was not meant to be like this though. She was meant to go to school, get an education, and in turn teach others. Her goal in life was to raise others up. To be the best she can be so that others can be their best as well. Her determination doesn't keep her there for long, in the grand scheme of things. But her journey to her next stop is harrowing.

     Between the conditions of her childhood home, her husband's home, and other houses in nearby villages, we learn about the difficult and often disgusting conditions that the poor (who are a huge amount of the population) lives in. People don't have access to basic hygiene and suffer from illnesses that can easily be prevented. It is an absolutely eye opening story. 

     As if all of this so far isn't exciting enough, Adunni next finds herself sold as a slave to a rich, mansion-dwelling couple in the massive coastal city of Lagos. Here, she is able to have proper hygiene, and a proper place to sleep at night, but she is not fed properly, and she is abused more than ever. She steps lightly around her boss, who is miserable in her own life. She takes it out on Adunni, but despite all of this, Adunni still cares about how her boss's husband mistreats his wife and reduces her to nothing. At the same time, she needs to keep herself from being raped by the same man, work on learning to write better so she can apply for a scholarship to escape the horrid life she currently has, as well as try to figure out where the missing maid from before her is. In the darkness, Adunni does find friends that help her secretly along her path. She exhibits incredible strength that continues to drive her towards her goals, no matter how rocky and dangerous the path. I was so invested in her as a character and wanted nothing more than to see her succeed. 

-Lagos, Nigeria

(https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2020/02/13/lagos-nigeria-motorcycle-ban-busari-lkl-intl-ldn-vpx.cnn)

     I don't think many people will be disappointed in this story. Written by a native Nigerian, it sheds bright light on things that are happening only halfway around the world. We in western culture are often extremely ill-informed about things that are happening outside of our own cultures, and we need to be better educated about it. Books like this can be essential in keeping the average person educated about world events. I personally love reading books about other cultures and other places. I love learning new things from my reading, and it's fun to write a blog post about a book like this because I can help everyone better imagine the story with pictures such as there. 

     This book is inspiring in that it is driven by an incredibly strong female character that will stop at nothing to be the best she can be. More people need to be like Adunni, and I think you all need to read this book.

"But while misfortunes might muffle her voice for a time, they cannot mute it. And when she realizes that she must stand up not only for herself, but for other girls, for the ones who came before her and were lost, and for the next girls, who will inevitably follow; she finds the resolve to speak, however she can—in a whisper, in song, in broken English—until she is heard."

-Sunset in Lagos, Nigeria
(https://food.jumia.com.ng/blog/5-great-signs-lagos-is-becoming-a-24-hour-city-5101)

My Favorite Book of Winter 2020 (So Far)

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

     Release Date: February 18, 2020

     Read from: 2/7/20 - 2/9/20

     Format: Print (My January 2020 BOTM pick)

     My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

     Goodreads Rating: 4.21 stars

Goodreads Link

     There was a major lapse in getting my review for this one up on the blog! So far, between all the books I read before this and the books since, this one is my favorite, and I think it might just be the favorite for the entire winter. I'm about to head off on a cruise, so I wanted to get this one up, since I already have the review written, before we leave. This book was just released to the public so grab it up right away!

Just woah.

     I could not stop reading this book. Absolutely flew through it. I can't completely pinpoint to you why it didn't get the 5 star rating, even though it was really close, just that it didn't quite reach that feeling. But I really did love this book and am so glad I chose it for my January Book of the Month Club pick.

     The story is told from two points of view. One from Vivian Delaney in 1982, and then Carly, Vivian's future niece in 2017. After the death of her mother, Carly is left with no answers about what happened to her aunt when she mysteriously disappeared from the Sun Down Motel during an overnight shift. Her mother would never talk about it, and now Carly is taking it upon herself to travel to Fell, NY, where the motel is located, to see what she can dig up. Her first stop is the apartment where he aunt Viv lived when she was in town, and wouldn't you know, he current resident, Heather, is looking for a roommate. They then visit the Sun Down and find out that they're hiring for the night shift. So fearless Carly takes the job, and during her first shift, she quickly learns that something other worldly is also present with her at the hotel.

     Back in 1982, Viv learns the same thing, and she is determined to figure out what is going on. Who is here with her, and why. There aren't a lot of guests at the Sun Down. At least no one honest or safe. And one person in particular, who never puts their correct name down when they check in, catches her interest as someone who may be the root of the answers she's looking for.

     The story is scary, but not quite the type that made me afraid to read it at night, so maybe that's why it didn't hit 5 stars for me. In 1982 Viv is investigating a string of cold case murders from the past decade on her own that she is convinced are connected, even though the night cop in town doesn't really believe her. Carly also comes across these names in her research. She learns that there were A LOT of deaths and disappearances in this town; her aunt among them. She sets out to figure out if they're connected in any way.

     Both girls in separate decades find allies along the way, but not all are necessarily trust worthy, or forthcoming with the truth. It's hard to tell who to trust.

     The ending to me was a surprise. I figured it could possibly be the answer but it really wasn't my first choice. To me, it was kind of crazy. The way it unraveled was great. I felt like it wasn't too slow of a reveal, and not too fast. There was an epilogue as well to give us a few more of the answers I felt like I was left without when the story ended.

     Overall, this may just be my most favorite book of 2020 so far. I won't be surprised if it makes my Top Reads list for the year!

My First Tana French Book; Ruth Ware Lovers Need to Check It Out!

The Witch Elm by Tana French

     Release Date: October 9, 2018

     Read from: 2/6/20 - 2/15/20

     Format: Audiobook (Overdrive)

     My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

     Goodreads Rating: 3.54 stars

Goodreads Link

WOWWWWW. What a long. WEIRD. book. I listened to the audiobook version of this one, and I will say I think the narrator made the creepiness factor and the accents were great. Being that this was a book I was just ok about I think reading it wouldn’t have been as good.

For those Ruth Ware fans out there, this is the book for you. This reminded me of her so much, although I liked this one better than most of the books I’ve listened to by her. There was a lot more to this one and I did mildly care what was going on.

The book starts out introducing you to the main character, Toby, and we see him get nearly beaten to death early on in the story when his apartment gets broken into. He has a long physical and mental recovery ahead of him, and no idea who did that to him or why. I went into this book blind, so I was like ok, we’re going to uncover this mystery.

But wait. Toby’s cousin Susannah calls to tell him that their uncle Hugo is dying of cancer and that she wants him to go stay at his house with him so that he’s not alone. So Tony and his ever faithful girlfriend Melissa find themselves at the Ivy House. A house where Toby, Susannah and her brother Leon spent a significant portion of their childhood. While having a family discussion about the fate of the property after Hugo’s passing, Susannah’s kids come across a human skull in a tree in the garden. Of course! Quickly the story changes paths, and a good chunk of the rest of this story had to do with figuring out who killed the person inside that tree. You’ll go back and forth between several main characters. They’re very manipulative and they trick you just like they trick the cops. I began to wonder if, with Toby’s brain damage, he could’ve possibly been the murderer and didn’t even realize it. Well we figure out the answer eventually, and the answer is veryyyyyy long and drawn out. I was wondering why the heck it needed to be so long. What I found hilarious was, that the character being told the story was so upset that they weren’t trusted to be included in this murder scheme. LOL. So weird. This confession doesn’t happen to the cops though. The cops think someone else did it. And the real answer is remaining hidden.

But wait. There’s more. We end up with ANOTHER murder. And now Toby is really fucked up. His men’s two health is through the roof, his PTSD takes over and he tries to kill himself. Doesn’t succeed. I don’t consider this a spoiler because there’s a good hour left in the story when this scene happens. And this hour unravels the aftermath of the second murder.

It ended kind of abruptly. And I felt that the first two mysteries, although we do get some answers, don’t feel totally closed. We end without closure and I didn’t love that. But this was a complicated story with a lot of characters, a lot of mystery to unravel and a lot of relationships to try to keep straight when they keep changing. It was a lot, and that’s what kept me absorbed for such a long story. I think Tana French did a good job with it overall, even though it wasn’t exactly my most favorite style of story. Definitely better than most of the Ruth Ware I’ve encountered so there’s that. I would mildly recommend this one. It's definitely a popular one too, because I had this audiobook on hold through the library for MONTHS before I finally got it.