At this point, TJR could write a book about paint drying and I would still read it. I cannot believe I just read a book about tennis and I absolutely loved every second of it.

Really torn about how to rate and review this book. I think the author did a great job with what she set out to do. I loved how she incorporated actual issues that black women face. It made the story and characters real for me. I totally get that Yinka's growth is the point of this book, so understandably she has to reach rock bottom before she starts to improve. Her rock bottom, however, was really very frustrating to read, even though I understand all the hows and whys of the situation. It made me want to reach into the book and tell her to GET A GRIP, stop being man crazy and find some standards!

Truly, I think the author did a fabulous job with this book. The story, the pacing, the progression – they all make sense. But if I'm being totally honest with myself, I didn't love this book like I wanted to. I think I might simply not be a fan of the trope this book explores. As for the ending, I loved that

Yinka didn't end up with anyone, but was disappointed that she didn't stand up for herself even more.

I see reviews calling her spineless because of how she lets her family treat her, but I think it's important to remind yourself that if you're reading a book about a culture different than your own, you're not going to relate to everything and that's okay.

This book isn't getting a low rating because of the subject matter. Sure, the MC is vile, but at the end of the day it's fiction. Although I understand that the novel attempts to show the imbalance between the treatment of female vs male sex offenders both by the legal system and the public, you have to get through the majority of the book to really see that nugget of meaning. The better part of the book is just utterly absurd and, in my opinion, makes a disgusting mockery of a serious issue. The author has taken a real case involving her former schoolmate as the sex offender and made her a caricature who is impossible to be taken seriously, which very well may have been the entire point of the book, but I didn't enjoy it. The ending is abrupt and makes the story seem unfinished. The writing itself is quite beautiful, but doesn't redeem the book for me.

An easy read with an interesting premise, but nothing to blow your socks off. Detective novels are not my favourite type of mystery, and it almost always has to do with characters. In this one, I felt like all the women were somehow in the backseat, even the FMC, and they all seemed to be somewhat infantilised and/or wimpy. I grew weary of Sarah's woe-is-me attitude. You'd think that prison would harden a person, but it seems like you can still come out a blubbering, self-pitying mess.

There was a lot of telling and not showing. Descriptors used instead of names often felt unnatural and kind of cringy, as did the characters' inner monologues. The ending felt underwhelming and had loose ends. 

Dear publishers, please stop putting those useless 'review' blurbs on books. The inside covers of my edition were filled with them, a few of them saying what a huge twist this book has. You can't slap this into your readers' faces. Being on the hunt for the twist as soon as you start reading the book ruins the surprise. Of course I figured it out. Any frequent mystery/thriller reader will figure it out. There's only so many types of twists you can do in books like these, and when you say there's a HUGE one, it becomes very, very obvious what it is. I promise you, we readers do not care what a random author or newspaper thought of the book.

As for authors of thrillers, can we please have a detective whose home life is not in shambles and who doesn't talk shit about their wife to their female coworker? Can I have a detective who doesn't leer at their female subordinate? Is that really too much to ask? Why must they all be the same, in every thriller?

Even though the surprise was clearly ruined for me, I enjoyed this book. The first part is a bit slow and not a ton happens, you get a few hints here and there, but the second part was very grippy and very fast. There were a few inconsistencies, such as how in the beginning it was said there were no tyre marks due to the rain, but later a character says the tyre marks showed the driver didn't slow down. There was another little mishap towards the end, where a character is on the phone with detectives and she is asked whether she's seen Jenna and she says no, but she's in Bristol, right, to which the detectives say no, she left. A quarter page down, she says Jenna is definitely back because she saw her writing on the beach, even though a moment ago she was certain she was in Bristol. It's not enough to ruin the book, but it's enough for me to wonder whether I want to read more by this author.

I'm so glad I saw a friend add this to their TBR and decided to pick it up.

After reading a chapter, I told some people that this book is making me feel terrible about my life because I could never do what she did. I still think that I wouldn't do most of the things she did, but her experiment inspired me to try again and it gave me hope that it is possible to make good friends as an adult.

'Nobody waves, but everyone waves back.' 

I guess I have to start waving.

This wasn't horrible, but I'm glad it's over. I probably would have loved it as a teen. It's very angsty and has that mature-for-their-age teenager vibe. I felt like the writing tried to be something it wasn't. It's very simple, but tries to be frilly at the edges and it felt unnatural to me. I also feel conflicted about the author's intent and I'm not sure whether they're trying to convince the reader to think that a teacher-student relationship is fine because she's 18 and 'mature for her age'. It does mention power imbalance and the FMC does reflect on the fucked up-ness of their relationship, but it doesn't go deeper than that, so I'm left wondering what this book is trying to say.

Significant minus points for talking shit about other girls/being 'not like the other girls', throwing around Holocaust like it's edgy, and constantly bringing up Lolita as if she was some teenage seductress, not a victim of abuse.

This had potential to be hot, but alas, it's lukewarm at best. I feel catfished by the synopsis. Everything seemed superficial and the ending was so rushed I got whiplash. 

I'm a bit at a loss for words and not sure how to convey my feelings in writing for this one.
This was not my first Lisa Jewell novel. This was, however, my first novel by her in this genre. And the first women's lit (hate that name tbh, it's awful) novel that I actually loved reading. To me, it read like historical fiction and I love that genre, so maybe I need to give WL more of a chance from now on.

This novel grabbed me from the very beginning. I think the premise of this story is really unique and fascinating, but what I loved the most about reading it was how it made me reflect on the issue it deals with and the ethicality of it all, which was something I had never given any thought to in my 30 years of life. What more can I want from a book than a beautifully written and touching story and the opportunity to learn something new, both about people's experiences and myself?

There were a few things here and there that I would change, for example how one of the FMCs kept wondering about a man's sexuality, speculating about him being gay for the dumbest reasons, which to me personally made it seem like it was something very strange and secret and taboo. At the same time, it really reflects the time this book was written in and it's great to see how far we've come in just a decade when it comes to broadening our view of the world and the people in it.