Member Review
Review by
Kristen K, Reviewer
A special thank you to NetGalley and Berkeley for this advance copy in exchange for my honest review. I’ve read two of May Cobb’s previous books, and this one screams summer with that cover, out 7/11/23!
I’m landing somewhere in the middle with this one - May Cobb sure knows how to write female characters that are straight terrible, ha! I LOVED the hunting wives (wild), really disliked my summer darlings, and this one felt totally different than those two. Our main character Kira returns home to a small town for some sort of reunion event, and she’s already not looking forward to it, as her mother committed suicide (albeit, Kira suspects foul play and that her mother would never do such a thing), and she’s never wanted to go back. Told mainly from Kira’s POV, there’s also some flashback chapters with Sadie, Kira’s mom, and you find out she’s writing a book that will expose everyone.
A few things that didn’t work for me - Sadie’s chapters felt so slow, and were a slowwwww burn. I found myself wanting more of Kira’s story in the present day to keep things moving. I also noticed that May Cobb writes these women that act like they need alcohol (and Valium in this case) to survive the day - I’m going to throw that out as a trigger warning, as I think you need to know what you’re walking into. Finally, there’s a billion characters in here, and it was really hard to remember who’s who, when it comes to the friends of Kira, her parents’ friends….they all use first names and I had to pause and remember, wait Mike is old but Katie is Kira’s age, and it was a lot to keep straight.
Thank you again NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC! Pub date coming next month: 7/11/23.
I’m landing somewhere in the middle with this one - May Cobb sure knows how to write female characters that are straight terrible, ha! I LOVED the hunting wives (wild), really disliked my summer darlings, and this one felt totally different than those two. Our main character Kira returns home to a small town for some sort of reunion event, and she’s already not looking forward to it, as her mother committed suicide (albeit, Kira suspects foul play and that her mother would never do such a thing), and she’s never wanted to go back. Told mainly from Kira’s POV, there’s also some flashback chapters with Sadie, Kira’s mom, and you find out she’s writing a book that will expose everyone.
A few things that didn’t work for me - Sadie’s chapters felt so slow, and were a slowwwww burn. I found myself wanting more of Kira’s story in the present day to keep things moving. I also noticed that May Cobb writes these women that act like they need alcohol (and Valium in this case) to survive the day - I’m going to throw that out as a trigger warning, as I think you need to know what you’re walking into. Finally, there’s a billion characters in here, and it was really hard to remember who’s who, when it comes to the friends of Kira, her parents’ friends….they all use first names and I had to pause and remember, wait Mike is old but Katie is Kira’s age, and it was a lot to keep straight.
Thank you again NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC! Pub date coming next month: 7/11/23.
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