Four stars because this is a beautifully written book but not five because the parts where Monique was involved and Evelyn’s ultimate fate was predictable. 

But that by no means take away from how great this book was. The character study of what a woman would do to rise from the bottom all the way to the top was excellent. Evelyn is such a complex character that throughout the almost 400 pages you can’t decide if you admire her or hate her. Not many books get me so emotionally invested that I feel everything the character is feeling and crying right along with them through the heartbreak. This is a book that I will be thinking about for a long time and I can’t wait to reread it.