this book pissed me off more and more as i read it, which is a shame as i actually enjoyed the authors writing as a whole but the story was woefully surface level and the characters were one-dimensional and, quite frankly, annoying. carrie is horribly immature, cora is wicked (not in a good way), jess is manipulative, and matthieu and tom are just...there. the plot is sadly half-baked and not explored NEARLY as much as it could have been, and the relationships are shallow and none of the problems are ever really dealt with. cora, who should face consequences for her meddling, dies, and any other problems are just dealt with by virtue of what happened being a decade passed, so who cares anymore. like...what? very unsatisfying book altogether.