jasmyn9 's review for:

You Made Your Bed: A Novel by Cornelia Goddin
4.0

You Made Your Bed is quite a dark story about the Crowe family - primarily their only daughter Caroline. Goddin brought me right into this troubled woman's head and I took up a perch alongside the Jeerlings (which I pictured as crows) to listen to her thoughts and watch her every move as she plans a murder. She's been planning a murder in her head for quite a while now, she just doesn't really know whose it is yet.

Caroline appears to be an incredibly smart woman, but as the story unfolds and I learned more about her, I quickly realized that there was something seriously wrong. This is what the first half of the book seemed to be. Goddin was trying to show me just how messed up Caroline was. While this let me into her head and helped build a sense of sympathy for her, it also caused the book to get off to a very slow start.

Eventually, someone "forces" Caroline's hand, and she must kill them to protect herself and her family. As the murder plays out and we follow and listen to Caroline's thoughts, the author does a great job of portraying just how desperate she felt. How she had no choice. How it wasn't really her fault.

The ending was just amazing. All the family tension and issues finally boil over and while I don't think I'd call it an actual resolution - some of Caroline's problems to disappear. But that isn't the end, now Caroline needs to decide what's next, and as she walks out the door I have to wonder if everything that happened will allow her to live a normal life.

*I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of this book*