The premise was interesting and I enjoyed the beginning but the last half of the book was slow and did not captivate the attention. The writing could've been more polished and the pacing definitely needed work.

These characters were relatable and well-developed. I felt like they were people I knew in "real" life. The pacing of Zoe's writing is superb and flows nicely.

4/5. Read this back in 2017 and did not review it back then. I don't remember enough about it to give it proper feedback.

From the synopsis I thought this was going to be a really good read. A highly respected teacher is accused of inappropriate behavior with students and he says he is being set up. Sounds like a Lifetime movie perhaps but I was prepared to get whisked away into the drama of the story.

This book really goes nowhere fast. George tells his wife at the beginning that he was told he is being set up but the reader us never told the details of the how and why. The book could have been soooo much better had the reader been provided with details so we could make a decision or assumption as to whether George was set up or a pervert.

Sadie and Jimmy's relationship didn't seem realistic to me and Jimmy's mom just seemed oblivious to everything though she was written to be very in the know and supportive of what the kids were doing. Besides this I just found Sadie unlikable.

The writing was decent although some details seemed outdated. So at times I wondered if the story was present day or in the past though the 90s were referenced as the past.

All in all this book was ok but had the potential to be so much better. Details were needed and more depth to the story.

Characters and well fleshed out and dimensional. A little wordy and could have been shorter. What really happened, Unsettling for sure

It was hard for me to finish this one. I enjoyed the beginning immensely, but the last half of the book was slow and uninteresting. The premise had so much potential, but ultimately this just fell flat for me.

This was a very well-written book that explores loyalty to family. This is a good look at an all-American family with struggles and questions of love and loyalty.

Did not finish. I wanted to like this book but the writing style just was not compatible with my taste.

Loved the book! Read it very fast. Had a few problems with the believability of some characters. In particular, I couldn't really 'buy' Sadie. Nonetheless, enjoyed the book. Interesting perspective on a riveting but uncomfortable subject. Will make you ask yourself what you believe.

Here is a link to my Youtube review: https://youtu.be/KhW7xRJhlx0

This book started so strong and I was really into it. Then it just dragged on and became a character driven book, all about the many ways George’s arrest and the allegations against him affected his family. I was honestly starting to wonder if we would ever find out if George did it or not, that’s how long this dragged on. The ending was also extremely unsatisfying. The idea for this book was interesting and timely and the writing was great, but it just felt like it lost its way over the chapters.

I'm late to the party, obviously, but this was an interesting book I'll be thinking about for quite a while.

I ended up getting to this one much later than I anticipated but WOW! A quiet but equally intense family drama that stirred up so many emotions for me - I couldn’t put it down.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for this reader's copy. In exchange, I am providing an honest review.

What happens when a beloved person in a small town is accused of heinous things? What happens to the family of that person? The colleagues of that person? The accusers? The outliers? This is the story of what could happen.

George Woodbury, a beloved town figure and teacher at the local prep school, has been accused of inappropriate interactions with underage girls, including rape. His family is shell-shocked, there's just no way George could have done this. But why would the girls lie? At first, George's family rallies around him and defends his innocence but the longer his incarceration stretches out while waiting for trial the more they begin to wonder if he's guilty and if they know him, if they have ever known him. The town is divided, the school is divided, and George's family is divided.

Sadie, George's daughter, flees her home for the refuge of her boyfriend's house and feels unmoored. Joan, George's wife, vacillates between belief in her husband's innocence and his guilt. Andrew, George's husband, comes back to the town he grew up in and hates to support his family, and struggles to resolve his past with his present.

I was digging this book until the epilogue. It ended abruptly and felt unfinished considering the rest of the book. Part of that might be the need for answers and Whittall provides none. She leaves the reader hanging as to the innocence or guilt of George Woodbury. I want to be okay with that because real life doesn't always give clear answers. The result of lack of clarity is that people have to live with the choices they make and find a way forward.

Story really got me thinking. How would I react if my husband, neighbor or co-worker was accused of such awful acts. Would I stand by them or assume the worse.

Great book!

This topic is pretty pertinent to today's times. I felt like there could have been less info shared (teenage daughter's sex life in detail). Definitely not a favorite storyline for me, but I would give the author another read.

Great story, poorly written. As the family deals with a fathers inappropriate actions with 3 high school girls, the reader falls asleep. The end.

There were a few good chapters in there, but then I was tempted to quit from boredom.

Oooh, boy. This is ripped from the headlines, Law & Order SVU (but behind the scenes), crazy intense, and important. The Best Kind of People goes in depth, into the ramifications of sexual misconduct accusations. From the moment the claim is made, each person in the accused's orbit is affected in a million ways, minute and myriad. I wasn't very fond of the actual characters, but I don't think the author's intent was to make them sympathetic. It was more to crack each one of them open and see what oozed out. I personally thought this was a very timely and interesting story, although I don't know if this book is for everyone. There are some explicit details throughout.
3 stars

*I received a review copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Thank you to Ballantine Books and Netgalley.*

Meh. I barely remember this book at this point, beyond the spoiled family (they lived on a lake, right?) and I think I really liked how vindicating the ending was, like they were all trying to make for a better situation. I don't remember whether the parents stayed together, and I appreciate that I think the reader never actually knows whether George did what he was accused of - it felt more real that way, and you were left in the same situation as everyone else, not as an Omniscient Reader but as a regular observer. Everything seemed to happen as one would expect; it felt like a very real story. I appreciated how the whole family was tracked, how you watched the reactions of not just the wife but the teenage children (and the town). Overall, an enjoyable & fascinating read, but nothing I'll necessarily keep with me for the rest of my life, I guess.

This is one of the best books I’ve read in a while. The characters are fascinating and have dimension. The author builds suspense about the crime, but even more so about the affects on family members and others. I highly recommend this book.

Really enjoyable read. Good characters and a Good story. Well worth a read. Think others will enjoy.