Three married women. One is having an affair. This story navigates our way through their friendship, love and loss. The characters of the book are well developed and you develop a special relationship with the main character Jill, hoping she will find her way. Riddled with genuinely funny dialogue, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was however expecting this to be a light but found it at times to be very shocking and emotionally gripping. Great debut novel for Carol Mason. To be re-released this year!

Thank you Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC in exchanged for my honest review

A great book with different marriages and how the women go through the motions and experiences and make decisions. I do t like to give away what happens in a story in the review but I recommend this book, especially if you have been married, going through a diffficult relationship. Every marriage is different. Lots of thinking from this book. Look forward to reading more from this author.

This book definitely had a lot of twists and surprises. It was an okay read, but it doesn't make me want to rush out and see what else the author has written.

The main problem I had is that each of these women were rather unlikeable. Wendy, long-suffering doormat that she was just didn't pull me into caring about her. Leigh, wanting an affair just because is very much the type that is always looking for the greener grass, never satisfied with what they have. Thanks, but no thanks. Then you have Jill. Yes, Jill's husband is pulling away or keeping himself more aloof, but I'd say, for a guy, the reason was fairly understandable. Jill wasn't even 100% sure she wanted a child until told she couldn't have one with Rob.

These women didn't even really care for each other that much, which was another part that really turned me off. I would recommend this book if you like books about married people and infidelity, women's friendships and/or women's frenemies.

I appreciate that Netgalley, the publishers and the author allowed me to read a copy. Sadly the blurb drew me in, but the book left me feeling hoodwinked.

Far too many twists and turns in the second half of the book. The first half was interesting and sometimes even funny, but in the end it was simply too much - for me personally...

This is the story of three friends Jill, Leigh and Wendy, who seem to there for each other, supporting each other during the trials and tribulations of married life.
Jill, the sensible of the three, is married to Rob and they are happily coursing through life, till they find out Rob is infertile. This affects their married life, their intimacy, especially, when Rob, refuses to talk about it and Jill wants to communicate and find an alternative. Rob is unable to reconcile to the idea of adoption and diverts his grief inwards. This refusal to deal with the situation, tempts Jill to think about another man, Andrey. Whom will she choose Rob or Andrey??
Leigh, the damaged of the three, with husband, Lawrence and daughter, Molly, is bored with his OCD and stay at home dad concept. So, to find new adventure, she embarks on an affair with Nick with disastrous consequences. Will she stay with good old Lawrence or the exciting Nick???
Wendy, the quiet of the three, is married to cop, Neil and has two boys but has lost a daughter. This affects her deeply still and her life seems to have stopped. Will she remain the calm mom /wife or will she take charge???
This entire story is told from Jill’s point of view. Each of these women are going through roller-coaster of emotions, Jill with her parental problems and infertility, Leigh, with her convoluted past, and Wendy with her personal loss and betrayal.
The author, Carol Mason, deals with the dynamics of friendship, sometimes with brashness and sometimes with sensitivity. The last fifty pages or so is brilliant. It describes the pain, the angst, the fear, the betrayal so beautifully. Each emotion comes off the page, hitting us with its rawness. Friendship also has boundaries depending on what we reveal and what we hide from each other. Carol brings home the fact that life is all about choices and the consequences of those choices and each phase has to be lived, with its pitfalls and mistakes, before we go onto the next..
There are many beautiful lines written by Carol on love and life, practical ones too. The line which touched me is...
"You are born you, and you go through life, buffered by other people, but first and foremost, you are just yourself. And then you die just being you. So the sooner you get used to yourself, the better it is"
TRUE HAPPINESS IS WITHIN US...
So true, Ms. Mason, so true...
(posted review of my blog and goodreads, will post on amazon after ebook releases)

A relatively pedestrian story of three women and the trials and tribulations of marriage and the effects of betrayal on each one in a different way. Trite.

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't enjoy this book and almost gave it up at the 40% mark, but I thought I should continue it to the bitter end.

Three married women, three stories. None of which were good. I found it difficult to relate to any of them as I didn’t really like the characters well enough. Only Jill, the main character, seemed to be developed enough to form an attachment too, and even she was hot and cold for me. Her friends, Leigh, and Wendy, we less developed, even though Leigh plays a bigger part than Wendy does throughout the book. The British vernacular threw me off at times, and let’s not even discuss the ending which was unbelievable, if not predictable. I’m all for happy ever afters, but not when one character does a complete 180 to get there.

This book just wasn’t for me, but maybe the next one by this author will be.

This novel explored female friendship, loyalty, family's and infidelity among other topics .
I found myself relating to all the female characters and was routing for Jill who I felt was punished harshly for one mistake. I personally have encountered some of the issues explored in the book and could relate to how the characters particularly Wendy and Rob behaved. I think the author protrayed emotions very
well.
The end of the book was great put a smile on my face. Overall I felt the book a bit slow at first but definitely enjoyed it as I got into it and would recommend it highly.

I love a book that possesses twists and turns. I love a book that delves into the meat of relationships. I love a book that examines reasons why people do what they do. That is why I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Although flawed the main character, Jill is someone I still found myself cheering for throughout.

Warning: Do not go in expecting a super sugary/soft/fluffy read. It's not that. It's turny and twisty and a great book with summer on the horizon.

I really enjoyed the ending of this book, it was not what I was expecting and it tied up nicely which I always like! A great read.

An average book which didn't really offer anything new or exciting. I didn't feel a connection to any of the main characters as the story, and thereby their life stories, seemed disjointed. Some things which didn't need to be were explained in too much detail, and other intriguing aspects barely mentioned or explored.

This debut novel by Carol Mason revolves around three friends and their husbands. Jill, the protagonist, has been happily married to Rod for ten years but for the past six months he has been struggling with the fact that he cannot have children. As a result their sex life is non-existent and Jill feels unattractive and abandoned. Meanwhile, flamboyant and successful Leigh is looking for some excitement whilst Lawrence, her husband is unaware. Both Jill and Leigh believe that Wendy’s marriage to the handsome Neil, a police detective is blissfully happy.

However, the three women have their own secrets. Leigh reveals to a horrified Jill that she is contemplating an affair which leaves Jill considering her own marriage and the problems that she has not revealed to anyone. Both women are unaware of Wendy’s own secrets. For each of the couples there comes a crisis which impacts on the three women in different ways.

This book is somewhat more than ‘chick-lit’, although in all honesty I cannot imagine a man reading it. This feels much more considered; with more integrity; more complex; more an examination of how female friendships work: the close relationship offering support and advice to each other, which in turn leads to self-examination, self-reflection in the consideration of friends’ actions and motivations, where they lead and how they affect you and how you justify your own actions. It is also an examination of marriage and how people choose to negotiate their relationships and deal with their problems. Like many books there are secrets and for the reader just the sense of ‘just communicate with each other’ or ‘don’t do it’.

The assembled characters in this book were superb resulting in my love/hate identification; Jill somewhat dazzled by Leigh’s antics but still clearly in love with her husband Rod – who was just … lovely. Leigh who appalled me by modelling her undies in the department store (what a lack of class), she came across as brash and brazen. And Wendy, lovely Wendy; sensible, cautious, mindful of what she was doing and just… decent. The dialogue was spot-on. Each character having a clear and distinct voice that resulted in a fantastic, revealing plot. I didn’t expect that ending though!

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.

I liked the ending of the book. There were times in the story I was so caught up I wanted to punch some of the women. This would make a great beach read, I could not put it down.

I loved the cover of this book and the book blurb sounded really interesting, but I just could not get into this book. I don't find any of the characters people that I can connect with. It is set in England and there are several terms that I was unfamiliar with like a small bandage is called a "plaster" and I found what I thought were errors in grammar and punctuation (a single quote was used to denote dialogue) were just the way British people talk/write. I had a hard time reading some of it because of the different ways of speaking. I really wanted to like this book but I just couldn't finish it. I'm sorry.

This book is about three very close married women friends who meet often and share their feelings about marriage among other things. But when one of the women decides to have an affair things happen to affect the three women's relationship. Relationships are in trouble and what appeto be The book did not really have much substance and I found it to be a disappointing read.

Sorry, in a rare twist (for me) I remembered the author's name and not the book''s title, so I remembered reading and enjoying something by Carol Mason a few years ago when I requested this. I didn't realize it was a re-release of a book I've already read.

I didn't realise that I had read a previous issue of this novel. My original feedback can be seen on Goodreads.

I always like to try something different and this was one such novel. I can see how this novel would appeal to many and know my daughter and granddaughter would love it.

I wasn't really sure what to expect going into this book, especially as I knew it was the debut novel of Carol Mason but what I found was that this book was far less 'fluffy' then I had originally anticipated, although I don't necessarily find this to be a bad thing, It did have some parts of the book were painstakingly predictable, there was enough unpredictability to keep me engaged.

The characters themselves were all unique and well fleshed out which was great to read but it was their decisions that had me pulling my hair out. Okay yes the thought processes they had behind them were explained and sure the majority of the time I could see where they were coming from but still that did not stop me from internally screaming at them. As I mentioned the plot itself did have points which took me by surprise just not as many as I would of liked and I did think (without giving away any spoilers) that one story-line involving Wendy was not given as much attention as it deserved as was included to add more shock value then to really be explored. Saying that the girls really did have a lot going on between them so perhaps it is to be expected that not every plot point can elaborated on too greatly. The main reason I deducted stars however as it really was an enjoyable read was that I was not too sold on the ending, it does make sense that it ended like that but I felt it would of been a stronger ending to end it about 20 pages beforehand. Either way it was a very promising first novel and I will definitely be keen to try more in the future.