4.5 stars.

Taylor Jenkins Reid KNOWS how to tell a story. Though this started off a bit slow and maybe a bit too saccharine for me, it slowly gained traction and turned into something amazing. I should NEVER doubt Reid's ability to weave a fantastic tale.

The character work in this narrative is just magnificent. The main characters are well done, sure. That's to be expected. But the supporting and secondary characters totally shine in this one. It's amazing to me how she can take a character who shows up on maybe three pages of the over 400 page novel and create a magnificent backstory, personality, and motivation in that time. They become full-fledged people who could jump off the page. I'm totally in awe.

The pacing is definitely a little slower, with things becoming a bit more ramped up the closer you get to the end, but it's like a rollercoaster...slowly inching up that first big hill before all hell breaks loose. Once things start to unravel, they really go nuts. It was awesome.

The ending is just as stunning as the rest of the book. It is different and brutal in a way. Door slam shut and that's that. It was just great.

There will never be a Taylor Jenkins Reid book I won't read. The end.