Not Bad People by Brandy Scott is a slow burn of a book but one that is definitely worth sticking with. It is a long book but you need to keep going until the end. There are so many themes running through this story of friendship, shame, guilt, obsession, power. It is set in a small town where everybody knows everybody elses business but they all have their secrets that they are desperate to keep hidden. I enjoyed how these secrets were slowly revealed and how all their lives intertwined.

3 women - Aimee, Melinda and Lou - friends since childhood and always there for each other. Its New Years Eve and they decide to let off sky lanterns from the balcony with their resolutions for the year inside. There are fireworks going off as well and then they see a spark in the sky. The next day it is reported in the papers that a light plane with a man and his teenage son crashed the night before in the same region. Aimee immediately believes that it is their fault for letting off the lanterns. Lou has her own issues as a single mum to a teenager. Melinda is a successful business woman that on the outside appears selfish and self centred. As the story moves along we learn more about all of these womens pasts and presents that all comes together towards the end.

Reading this book it is hard not to draw parallels with your own life and experiences. I felt sorry for these characters as well as angry. So many of the experiences are honest and could be anybody.

Thanks to Harper Collins and Netgalley for my advanced copy of this book to read. All opinions are my own and are in no way biased.

This book started off very slow , but then i really connected with the characters. Its a book about friendships , families. She writes very similar to Liane Moriarity. I loved the fact it was set in Australian town which made it more relateable. Highly recommend.

Three close friends have a girls’ night and do something illegal. The next day they find out it could have had devastating results.
This book had me hooked from the start. I agree it’s very similar to Liane Moriarty’s style of writing, but I found Brandy Scott’s characters more believable. Each of the three women has her own demons to deal with. Each is not perfect or predictable and I think any reader will find themselves identifying with one of them.
The ending is satisfying without every string being neatly tied. I will look forward to more of Brandy Scott’s novels.

Aimee, Melinda and Lou have been friends for 30 years. But will a small town tragedy tear them apart for good?

If you’re a fan of Liane Moriarty, then this book is for you! It was a slow burn, but the second half really ramped up and I ended up not being able to put it down.

I think everyone will relate to one of the main characters, for me it was Aimee, mother of two, overthinker, anxieties, aims to please all. There is also Lou, single mother to Tansy, and Melinda, the successful business owner wondering if there is more to life.

Long term friendships will always have their ups and downs. Not Bad People is a great look at the way relationships can change and at how strong they can be when faced with a challenge. Written from the perspective of all three girls, I loved getting in their heads and seeing how each of them dealt with the unfolding drama.

This is a great debut, I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for future books by Brandy Scott.

https://dearshirleyx.wordpress.com/2019/03/01/review-not-bad-people-by-brandy-scott/Not Bad People centres around the lives of three best friends in a small town called Hensley, located on the outskirts of Melbourne, Australia. The main characters are:
Aimee: An active member of the Hensley community and wife of Nick, the owner of a vineyard that has been around for generations.
Lou: A single mum who was disowned as a teenager when she refused to terminate her pregnancy. She despises all the “locals” in the town as she believes they turned their backs on her when her parents disowned her and sided with them instead of helping her to make ends meet.
Melinda: The oldest of the three and a rich and successful entrepreneur. She is single, and previously dated Nick when they were fresh out of high school.
In the first few pages, we’re introduced to the three best friends setting off a lantern on NYE and subsequently learned that there was an airplane crash in the direction of where the lantern was headed. From here onwards, we step into the lives of these three best friends as they navigate life, and witness the power of love and friendships.
Not Bad People is written from the perspective of multiple people. I felt that Brandy Scott did a marvellous job writing from multiple perspectives, and for the most part I didn’t skim/skip paragraphs (I have a tendency to skim pages when one chapter/POV ends in a cliffhanger and I have no desire to read from the other person’s POV). I liked how the last few chapters felt very fast paced; the POVs changed quicker which suited the tone and pace of the revelation at the end of the book. I felt myself reading faster and faster just so I could finally find out what happened in the end.
I remember at the beginning of the book I thought that out of the three girls, Aimee was the luckiest: she lives a very comfortable and stable life in a massive house with a loving husband and two rather well behaved teenage kids. However as the story progressed I could feel myself starting to feel a myriad of emotions towards her: annoyance at how she was so worried about everything and needing to do everything right to make herself feel better and pity at how her actions will forever be defined by her past and lastly compassion and understanding. Aimee was a straight A student in school with a passion for writing but everything changed a few years into Uni. She now spends the majority of her time at home while her husband is at work and kids are at school and there’s just so much time to think. From my own experiences when there’s too much free time on my hands, my thoughts will wonder to dark places and this allowed me to relate to Aimee at times.
One massive take away from the book for me was that I realised that no one’s life is perfect. Obviously I’ve always known this, but I never had the opportunity to process it until I read this book. Not Bad People is one of the only 2019 books I wanted to continue reading and would definitely recommend it to everyone looking for a compelling story about friendships, family and learning to live with the consequences of one’s actions.

On New Year’s Eve three friends - Melinda, Aimee and Lou - let three lanterns filled with resolutions for the year to come. After they float off, there’s a bright flare in the distance. Fireworks are happening, so the ladies think nothing of it. The next day, newspapers report a plane crash with two victims, a father and his young son. Were their lanterns responsible for the tragic accident? Or was something more sinister happening? Aimee thinks they are, Melinda won’t accept it, and Lou has problems of her own. As the women battle with the truth, their lives with unfurl before them.

An absolutely brilliant book! It was a release I was very excited about and I was not left disappointed. Usually the endings of these sorts of books are easy to pick up from early on. This one, however, was not. The best part about the book was how the tension seemed to build throughout. There was no point where I wanted to put it down because I was sick of the waffle in the middle. It constantly kept you on your toes, adding more drama into the mix - but real life drama, not the over the top drama you get sick off. You get sucked into each of the ladies lives, not wanting their story to end, all while hearing snippet’s of what the father is going through post crash. So well written! Would highly recommend!