Member Review
Review by
Adriana G, Reviewer
Becky is severely depressed and stuck in a job, home life, and semi-relationship that only make her feel worse. When her 29th birthday party ends with her having a panic attack and blackout drinking, she uses a Tarot reading gift card that leaves her thinking she's about to die. This sends her on a spiral that results in her buying a one-way ticket to Bali she can't afford and sending passive-aggressive takedown letters to all her loved ones, her boss, and her absent dad, telling them exactly how she feels. Except the Death card didn't actually mean she was dying, she's still in London, and everyone is mad at her, which means that she now has to figure out her life without all her safety nets.
I really wish I'd liked this more than the 3.5 stars I'm going with. I think it's mostly that I'm just tired of books where the MFC's life is a total mess, she hates everything, and then everything explodes, leading her to fix it all because it was always within her power. It's an excellent, positive story, but it's also almost every book I've read in the last 6 months. They're all slightly different, with Seager going with a fun twist involving a Tarot reading death sentence and old-school paper letters that I enjoyed. Still, everything else feels like a Mad Lib is being distributed to authors with points they HAVE to include, no matter what.
Becky is not a likable character in the beginning, which is totally fair considering that she really does have some massive, undiagnosed mental health problems that have her coasting through a life she hates but is blind to. It was great to see her forced into looking at things and working through the issues she has with herself and those around her. I loved that Seager made it so that nothing gets easily solved, but is instead a lot of hard work and difficult conversations. This is why I wish I could rate it higher, but the positives don't outweigh how this is a story that I've read too often lately.
Thank you to William Morrow Paperbacks and NetGalley for the advance read!
I really wish I'd liked this more than the 3.5 stars I'm going with. I think it's mostly that I'm just tired of books where the MFC's life is a total mess, she hates everything, and then everything explodes, leading her to fix it all because it was always within her power. It's an excellent, positive story, but it's also almost every book I've read in the last 6 months. They're all slightly different, with Seager going with a fun twist involving a Tarot reading death sentence and old-school paper letters that I enjoyed. Still, everything else feels like a Mad Lib is being distributed to authors with points they HAVE to include, no matter what.
Becky is not a likable character in the beginning, which is totally fair considering that she really does have some massive, undiagnosed mental health problems that have her coasting through a life she hates but is blind to. It was great to see her forced into looking at things and working through the issues she has with herself and those around her. I loved that Seager made it so that nothing gets easily solved, but is instead a lot of hard work and difficult conversations. This is why I wish I could rate it higher, but the positives don't outweigh how this is a story that I've read too often lately.
Thank you to William Morrow Paperbacks and NetGalley for the advance read!
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