I'm not sure where to start here. I never include a synopsis in any of my reviews - because, well - you can find that higher up on the goodreads page lol. I DO however give my honest opinion. While the premise of this book captivated me - and I was very easily hooked - I was left felling like "oh is this all"? I hate to give a review on a book that while it was okay, I didn't connect with it. I finished the last chapter and was left wondering what happened? What happened to the marriage? What happened to the friendship? What does Ruby end up studying (not, that it would matter to the story, but I ended up enjoying her character). This honest review was given in exchange for a digital ARC from Netgalley.

Amazing!! I was pulled in from the beginning. Character development was on point. The plot moved along and I was unable to put the book down. I wish Flora was stronger but I understand why she wasn't!!

When I finished Good Company, I wasn't sure if I had liked the book or not. I love a book with family drama, and it certainly had its share of that. A woman goes looking through an old file cabinet to find pictures of her graduating daughter, and finds her husband's wedding band that he claims he lost many years before. This leads her to try and find out what else she has missed and what her husband has been lying about. At the same time, her daughter is going through her own dramas and knows nothing about what her father has done. This book made me feel so many emotions, and if I am being honest, I still don't know how I feel about it! But I will definitely will recommend it!

Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney's previous book, The Nest, was my favorite that year because of the thoughtful character development and the engrossing story. Good Company continues that trend with the story of a marriage and life turned upside down. Highly recommend!

I was excited to read this because I loved The Nest. But unfortunately Good Company doesn't hold a candle to The Nest. The author is a great writer and does well with her descriptions (until it becomes too much, as she has the tendency to ramble on.) I kept waiting for the book to really "begin." It felt like the first quarter of the book was all set up and back story. Moreover, about 90% of this book takes place in the past (the origins of the marriages in the book, their histories, etc.) and 90% of this book is exposition. Due to the small amount of dialogue, this book was very slow moving. It was difficult to maintain interest -- I wasn't invested in the character's journeys when all we did with them is look at their pasts -- and I found myself skimming by the end.

A story of life, and love, and friendship and how it is not always what it seems. Flora, Margot, Julian, and David have been friends for decades but as Ruby, Flora and Julian's daughter, graduates from high school an old secret is revealed. Will the relationships survive?

I enjoyed the author’s earlier novel, The Nest, and was looking forward to her latest. This story of two families/friends and their marriages was entertaining. I received both the e-galley and the audiobook and planned to switch back and forth. But, I found the narration so entertaining that I mostly stuck to the audiobook.

This is the second book from the author of The Nest, which my book club had read and which had sparked an interesting discussion. This time, instead of focusing on sibling relationships, author Sweeney takes a look at friendships and marriages - following two couples who are long-time friends. Jumping back and forth in time, we see how friendships and marriages begin and evolve through varying degrees of professional success and personal setbacks and triumphs. This books is more character-driven than plot driven but towards the second half of the book the action picks up across LA, NY City and update New York and I became more interested, finishing the book off in an afternoon. This is one of those books that's enough depth for book clubs but not too heavy for those who enjoy a lighter read.

This book is charming. It takes the reader into the heart of both the New York theater world and the pitfalls of trading that in for LA. It also tickles buried secrets and how they always bubble up when we least expect them. We understand friendship and how that complicates the narrative of marriage. And how our roles in relationships challenges our understanding of self. Well written,

Good Company by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney is novel about the struggles of marriage, friendship, and motherhood, told over the course of several years. Flora and Julian are a happily married couple who have their marriage thrown for a loop when Flora discovers her husband's wedding ring after believing it was lost several years ago.

I was truly looking forward to this novel after loving the author's work in "The Nest." While entertaining, this didn't live up to its predecessor. The flashbacks from past to present were difficult to follow as there were no clear indications as to which time period you were currently reading from and had to decipher it a few paragraphs into each chapter. While I do enjoy a character-driven novel, none of the main characters in this book were very likeable, so it became difficult to bond or empathize with any of them. I did appreciate the way the author depicted the difficulties of marriage, how relationships with your spouse and friends change over time, and how you must put work into the relationships with the people that you care for.

If you enjoy a good character study on how people operate, this book is for you. In the end, however, I did not see much improvement from any of the main cast in anything life had taught them.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ecco Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 3/5 stars.

Flora is a voiceover actor living in L.A. with her actor husband, Julian, and their daughter who is graduating from high school. The inciting incident in this novel occurs when Flora finds Julian’s wedding ring he told her he had lost in a pond years ago. This causes her to begin to question other things about their relationship. They’d moved to L.A. and followed their friend, Margot, a very successful actor. Flora and Julian are lamenting their old life in New York in pursuit of further success in LA. The prose is beautiful, but I found the story to be, at times, meandering in a way that didn’t ultimately pay off. Readers interested in deep dive character studies will appreciate the lengths Sweeney goes to in examining the inner workings of her characters, but I had a hard time connecting with them. Thank you to Ecco and NetGalley for the advanced review copy of this book.

Really enjoyed this portrait of a marriage, which questions the standards by which we typically judge a marriage as a "success" or "failure." Reminded me of a Meg Wollitzer novel--or a gentler, more realistic FLEISHMAN IS IN TROUBLE. Looking forward to this author's next book.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book. I'll be posting my review on Goodreads and Amazon

Flora and Julian are both successful actors and long time married. Julian had told Flora he had lost his wedding ring swimming years ago. Nope, it was sealed up in an envelope in an old fing cabinet. This begins the tale of a marriage in trouble. Ruby, the teenage daughter, is aware of the marriage troubles. Enter Margot, a woman of secrets. This book was definitely a study in characters. The action was slow and was a difficult read for me.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54798430-good-company" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Good Company: A Novel" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1607962006l/54798430._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54798430-good-company">Good Company: A Novel</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/393731.Cynthia_D_Aprix_Sweeney">Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3719466381">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Two couples, friends for a lifetime…one daughter, loved by all of them…and a secret revealed. GOOD COMPANY is the story of Flora and Julian and Margot and David; Flora, a onetime actor turned voice over artist, has given her life to her family, to her husband Julian and his theater company (Good Company), and her daughter Ruby; she has always been the most quiet, easily overlooked member of their community, but also the one who holds them together. But one day, rummaging through an old desk drawer, she finds Julian’s wedding ring…lost at the bottom of a pond during an idyllic summer thirteen years ago…only clearly not. So what was Julian hiding then? And who else was part of this secret?<br /><br />GOOD COMPANY richochets back and forth between the summer of the revealed secret, the summer Ruby transitions from high school to college and all the adults decide what the rest of their lives will be; between that summer and all the previous decades of friendship, from the struggling artist years of Julian and Flora and Margot, to the night they all met David, when he jumped onstage to save a life and ended up as Margot’s love; through make ups and break ups, and Big Breaks (Margot’s especially, when she becomes the Ellen Pompeo of the novel, headlinging a long-running medical drama), and Big Tragedies (no spoilers here). <br /><br />As she did in The Nest, Ms. Sweeney deconstructs upper class New York (and Los Angeles) life like a cultural anthropologist, exploring all the quiet moments and undercurrents that fuel each of the five people at the center of this story; how a family is made, and sustained, and possibly broken. Each of the characters gets at least some time narrating, but the majority of the time is spent with Flora, and this is possibly a bit of a bummer; honestly, I was much more interested in the story of Margot and behind the scenes of a Grey’s Anatomy style megahit. Every time we went into the world behind the scenes of the show, I was particularly riveted (maybe I’m super shallow?) and I was frankly a bit more interested in THAT world, Margot and her work and her marriage, then in whatever happened to Julian’s ring and what Flora is going to do about it. The story of a mid-years marriage rocked by betrayal, and how or whether to put it together again; that story is not new. The telling of it here is authentic and convincing, but what would have been really new is the secondary story, the actor on the big show…how it started, what it costs, how or whether to get out. Can we get a companion piece focusing on THAT story?<br /><br />Still, a solid read. Definite for fans of The Nest, NYC life, and emotional literary drama.
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/3009372-robyn">View all my reviews</a>

Thank you to both NetGalley and Ecco for providing me with an advance copy of Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s latest novel, Good Company, in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely adored Sweeney’s previous novel, The Nest. So, you can imagine how excited I was to discover she was coming out with a new book. While Good Company is a decent story, it unfortunately does not hold the same magic for me as The Nest.

If you enjoy reading fiction novels that have absolutely no point to them and serve as more of a study of human relationships, then I suspect this will be your cup of tea. There is nothing wrong with the writing and the chapters move along at a solid pace, but I felt myself wondering what was the point of this novel and what is the author trying to say?

My other major issue with the book is that by the end the characters seemed to have fallen flat. I did not feel growth or recognize anything other than time/events passing. I also think the characters could have used a bit more description. Even though the author threw in some vague descriptors sporadically throughout the story, I still found myself struggling to visualize them.

Overall, three for me.

I was really looking forward to reading Cynthia D'Apix Sweeney's new book since I loved her previous book The Nest. It was almost completely character-driven and unfortunately most of the characters were not very likable. It was about relationships; with spouses, best friends and grown children. The story was enjoyable, but I didn't necessarily find myself "rooting" for anyone since they were often unrelatable. I would read more by this author in the future, but this is not one I would tend to recommend to friends.

Thanks to Ecco and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was pulled right into this novel and swept along by characters that felt so real I half expected them to walk thought my door. I loved the milieu of the theater/acting world and the way the book moved seamlessly back and forth from past and present. Lovely book.

Okay, this one is a little disappointing when you compare it with the author’s brilliant work : “the nest” !

Her talented writing style and unique story telling skills still drag you into this story but extra embellished, long back stories of the characters and their unlikable attributes give you hesitation to connect with them.

Reading stories about theater companies and Hollywood always attract my attention. But this story is more about resentments, what ifs , marriage problems, adultery, second chances. So its genre is closer to domestic drama.

Let’s a closer look to the synopsis:
Flora is voiceover actress who gives life of a popular animation character for a long time. She seems so pleased with her life. She has very skillful daughter Ruby, a best loyal friend Margot and lovely husband Julian. Until she learns, her husband is not loyal to her as like she thinks, safe walk she built around her life starts to crumble into pieces. She starts to question her life decisions, her sacrifices, her resentments. What if she chose another path, could she have better fulfilled life? Did she give up all those things for nothing?

We just get closer look to the both of the friends’ marriage lives. It was still riveting and well written novel! I couldn’t care or connect with the characters but I still admired the author’s story development skills.

I’m giving three mediocre stars this time! Because I was expecting a little more after truly adoring “ the nest” ! But I think this is not the story I could get lost even though it wasn’t boring or below the average reading but I wish it could be more hooking, effective one with more resonating characters!

Special thanks to Netgalley and Ecco for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

Thanks to Netgalley and Ecco for the early ebook. I was a very big fan of The Nest, so I was very much looking forward to this new book. I have to say that I liked it as much or even slightly more. It’s a story told with great insight and humor about the life of two couples and how they all met in the struggling theater scene in NYC when they were young and how their lives become easier, at least monetarily, when they later find steady work in television in Los Angeles. It’s a great portrait of marriage, filled with betrayals and sacrifices, but also such a loving portrait to the lives of working actors. Not the superstars that everyone is obsessed with, but the ones who treat it like a job that pays the bills. And most of all she has written such well rounded characters. Flora and her daughter Ruby are so much fun and heartbreaking as they try and piece together who they want to be and Flora’s husband Julian and her best friend Margot, two talented actors, are equally fascinating as their early talent shines a light on them, but doesn’t take either to where they thought it might and the price that brings when they begin to realize this truth.