By: Mary Cobb
Many thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark for the ARC of this book.
This was my first read by this author, but I didn’t particularly connect with this book. The story takes place in the mid 1980s in Texas. Nellie Andersen is a wealthy teenage girl, her mom, Charleigh, makes sure she gets what she wants, even friends. That’s right, because no one really likes her. Charleigh, on the other hand, grew up poor and married rich. When a new family comes to town, things in Charleigh’s life start to turn upside down. The family seems too wholesome.. maybe it’s because they are hiding things.
Unfortunately for me, this book just didn’t work. I was waiting and waiting for things to start happening, but it took forever to get there. And even when it got “there,” some things felt glazed over, and others I just didn’t care about. There are these short chapters, less than a page, that indicate that there is a body somewhere, but since the lead up takes FOREVER, I forgot about those and kept asking myself what the point of the book was. Due to this, I wouldn’t call this book a thriller.
One of the reasons that I struggled with this book was that there were quite a lot of characters. We also get chapters from four different people, and the chapters from the teenagers POVs are told in first person, and the chapters told in the Adults POV are in third person. It really messed up the flow for me.
When the action finally began at around 70% of the book, things took off. But why rush it all in the last 30%? Most of that 70% could have been cut down. Also, the ending was not great. It ends so abruptly!
That being said, just because the book wasn’t for me, doesn’t mean that the writing isn’t great and the plot isn’t great for someone else. It seems that I may be in the minority here (haha, again!). So please, take my review with a grain of salt, and do give it a try!
Publish Date: January 20, 2026
Find the book here.
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