Okay. Deep breath. I have… feelings about this one 😂
Going into this, I truly assumed that this will be another thrilling book like Verity. I was preparing for mind-blowing chaos, characters without any moral compass, and that familiar ‘what did I just read?’ frenzy. Classic Colleen Hoover. Instead, it is definitely a romantic suspense. I really wish they had marketed this as such because I think my confusion came from expecting the other things and getting something else entirely. Worst part is, I pretty much forced Ramesh (
The premise is strong. Petra Rose is a bestselling author whose life is turned upside down after a film adaption of one of her books flops. As the internet condemns her as a scam and tarnishes her reputation, she retreats in writer's block and a bruised ego from the world. That part honestly seemed intimate and real. While the writer insists we should not read too much into it, I can’t help but think about the parallels to fame, criticism, and social media. Learning what I really ‘think’ was cathartic like a writer working through her own complicated feelings about readers and public opinion. That didn’t bother me in the least.
What I really minded was how long it took for the action to begin. The chapters are quite lengthy. And comprehensive. Occasionally extremely detailed. In this book, there is a literal scene that takes ages for a character to get out of the car and walk to the door. Petra, the author, also has this habit of taking one idea and repeating it, but use slightly different wordings for pages. It honestly was reminded of school essays that I wrote to increase the word count. I understand that this scene signifies her ascent into madness but this may have been a little over the top.
Let’s discuss Petra now. I had a hard time with her. This was a challenge. There were many times when I felt like tossing my phone against the wall (and not in a light-hearted, theatrical manner). She makes annoying decisions, is narcissistic. For a huge chunk of the book, I found her to be actively dislikeable. Sadly, I did not love most of the other characters either. The husband especially didn’t feel fully real to me. I felt an odd sense of pity for him.
Consequently, the chemistry between Petra and Detective Nathaniel Saint? I wasn't into it either. It was messy and not in a good way. I found it more vulgar than I had imagined (those window and midnight scenes??😳). If you dislike cheating tropes, you will strongly dislike this. That was my least favorite part (out of a long list of least favourite ones) and it definitely influenced my score.
Just when I was about to lose interest, there is a twist around 70-80% in. I'll give credit where it's due - this part worked for me! I believed we were moving toward a great explosion. But then… that sort of died down. The conclusion is not bad. It actually does something neat for Petra’s character development, which I really liked. It didn't get the impact I had envisioned though. I even predicted parts of it early on, although I also thought up way better theories in my head that never happened 😂.
But Mari, though? Loved her. She was hilarious and a much-needed relief in an otherwise boring and gloomy story.
Overall, this was a strange reading experience. I almost hated it while reading it. I was annoyed. Underwhelmed. Sometimes bored. But it’s bingeable in that classic CoHo style – easy to follow, dramatic, and emotionally charged. The audiobook actually helped a lot. I think if I’d had to physically read all the repetitive paragraphs, I might’ve rated it even lower.
Is this her best book? No way (are you even kidding me). Is it her worst? Nope (though, it comes very close). It just feels... lower-middle of the pack. A 3-star read. Not something you need to sprint to the bookstore for, but not a total waste of time either.
I think my biggest problem was going in thinking it was going to be another Verity. That’s on me. If you go into this thinking it’s romantic suspense with complicated characters and morally ambiguous decisions, you’ll probably like it better.
Yeah. So. I didn’t love it. I didn’t hate it. My brain is still trying to figure out what the actual plot was 😂 But I’m going to go with 3 stars – with the reminder that even when she misses for me, I respect the ambition.