“Even when I’m not there, I’m always with you.”



Ladies and gents, if a lover ever says this to you, this lover is CREEPY and you should take it as a warning, not as a sweet nothing.

So, I read an excerpt of this book over at Bookishfirst when they were first launching the site and reviewed the excerpt in order to be placed in a raffle for the actual book. Strange way to get a book, right? I’m not a fan of reading excerpts because I’m greedy and I want the whole book but I’m also nosey and wanted to see how this program worked and it really only took a few minutes. Fortunately for me, it worked out pretty good as I “won” a copy of the ARC and they sent me a really nice hold in your hands ARC and the story turned out to be pretty damn good. It’s twisty and turny and I did not actively dislike the main character when I fully expected to.

When we begin Vanessa is a mess on par with the level of that mess of a woman from The Girl On The Train but Vanessa is intriguing. She’s lost it all; the outwardly perfect hubby, the extravagant house and lifestyle, all of her friends but mostly she’s lost herself. She drinks too much, she looks and feels terrible and she is working a retail job she does not love. She lets out enough little tidbits that you know she is hiding a lot of somethings and I was dying to know what all of those somethings were. She starts to truly lose it when she learns that her ex-hubby is engaged to a much younger version of herself. Nellie is beautiful, sweet and she works with children. Vanessa cannot allow this to happen!

This book had me glued to its pages whenever I could sneak away with it. Since I was reading a paper ARC, I could only read it late at night after tucking myself away for the day. This also means I usually fell asleep after a few pages and it took me ages to finish it.



Anyway, I love me nothing better than a good, juicy marriage/ love story with secrets and surprises simmering in every crevice and this book overflowith with them. It was joyous for me to read about people in so much misery and made me realize that perhaps my slump wasn’t me and my crabby mood at all but the fault of the books I was trying to read.



My best advice on this one which isn’t coming out until January 9th is to go into this book ice cold. Do NOT read reviews (besides this one, ha, because it’s too late for you) because this is a book that you do not want to spoil for yourself. It’s one with twists and turns that slowly reveal themselves and to know too much will ruin it all for you. Don’t even read the blurb or the accolades on the cover.

I truly enjoyed this book and really dug the female leads and the way their story was revealed in bits and pieces. I was in a high state of anxiety as I read it, dying to learn all of the secrets and also dreading what might be revealed. I thought the characterization was exquisite and if I had one complaint it would only be that the book took things maybe one twist too far. Even so, everything tied in together perfectly and I didn’t feel like a dummy left wondering what I had just read.

I hope this book makes a big splash. It deserves it!

Here's my book and my chubby beast.

Such a great book! I love when the ending is unpredictable and I feel this book surprised me all the way through.