Unfortunately I found every last bit of this book to be annoying. The characters were incredibly unlikable - in fact I really only enjoyed the baby that wouldn’t stop crying for most of the story. 

The first half was extra rough with setting the scene. We had to get to the over tired new mom struggling with her newborn - but it’s clear she’s dealing with much more than that and she isn’t doing anything about it…but also half the time I’m not sure she even realizes she isn’t doing well. 

Regardless she finds solace in the stay at home dad that lives nearby. He seems to have it all together and he helps to calm her crying baby. They develop a friendship, but he has ulterior motives and she just doesn’t see it. When his wife goes missing, everything gets crazy. 

So we follow a new mom that’s having trouble adjusting to life with a newborn, her relationship with her husband is strained, her friendship with the neighbor is now in question as well - it’s got the potential. The lack of any redeemable characters (apart from the baby) really ruined it for me. The story itself was great but it’s hard to enjoy a story when the characters aren’t people to root for. 

I personally had postpartum depression and it’s very rough. The worst part of this book was the clear postpartum struggles our main character is having and the lack of support she had through it. Now I’m not saying I expect her husband to be a mind reader, but he does notice that things are off with her and instead of adjusting how he talks to her, he continues to repeat the same “you won’t let me” “maybe stop breastfeeding” - there are other more effective ways to say things like that. On the flip side, she certainly didn’t make anything easy for anyone … except the neighbor that was using her for his own nefarious plot. 

I absolutely adored The Favor from this author, but this feels a bit “sophomore slump” to me. It happens! 

⭐️⭐️💫