jessdrafahl's Reviews (154)

This was leagues better than the movie!! The ending felt very rushed, but it was a far more cohesive story than what the movie told. 

I am unashamedly one of the few people that really enjoyed this book, apparently.

A story that focuses not just on three different characters, but three different times and plot lines is a tricky thing to do. Most times when I read books with multiple protagonists, I almost always end up with a favorite of the bunch and have the misfortune of being disappointed when the next chapter does not focus on said character. Emilia Hart, however, was incredibly skillful in her writing of these three characters. Not only did I love and enjoy each character equally, but their stories were also so well-balanced that I did not mind when the focus changed. I loved this story and its central theme of womanhood. I also love supporting not only women's rights, but women's wrongs. I would love to reread this story again in the future. 

The first 80 or so pages of this book were kind of miserable. The best way I can describe it is that the characters, who are supposedly adults, were written like 12-year-olds. First of all, I have no problems with a lack of swearing. That being said, if one of the most important events in the book involves the words bitch and fuck, but those words are replaced with beach and duck because the author apparently is horrified by these words…don’t make that part of the plot? It was very amateurish and took me out of the story with the moral high ground of refusing to actually write such (apparently) vulgar language. And that’s one thing to not want to swear, but then when we also get a sex scene later on? It felt at times that the book was written by two different people, and the better writer was certainly responsible for the later half. But I haven’t even started on how childish Aly (literally named Allegra…) and Wyatt acted towards each other. Literally refusing to discuss financial matters as the executor of a will? Putting down god damn blue tape all over the house to prove a point? It’s pathetically childish, but in a way that wasn’t believable at all. The story did get better and more enjoyable, but dear god was that first part awful. It really tanked my opinion of the book. 

The characters are all charming and likable. They can be selfish and unreasonable, but they have clear motivations and character arcs.