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bzliz's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I hesitate to call this a romance although it technically fits the criteria. Personally, I’d say the focus of the story is more about family dynamics and personal morality and the romance is a side dish (or mistress, if you’ll forgive the joke). If you took the romance out and just had Marnie and Luke be friends, the story would be virtually the same. But I will be thinking about some of the questions this book raised for a while.
Marnie is a professional gift giver who accidentally mixes up labels on gifts for her client Brian’s wife and mistress. As he’s screaming at her for ruining his life (very much his own doing), his son Luke tries to talk him off the edge. A few more chance meetings with Luke and they are fully in a relationship which is hard to balance as Marnie keeps working with Brian to win back his wife and as Luke is learning how to be a parent after finding out recently that he has a teenage daughter.
I found the storytelling complex as it was easy to start sympathizing with each character in turn. I had so many mixed feelings about if I wanted Suzanne to forgive her husband or not and I think Darke did a phenomenal job at showing how two things can be true at the same time: you can hate someone’s guts for what they did to you while still loving them and missing their companionship. Marnie’s mistake leads her to question how complicit she is in the bad choices others make and how her morals stack up to her desire to acquire her grandfather’s old shop. Luke was a challenge for me to like. On one hand he saw where he made a mistake with Ivy and took steps to better himself but on the other hand, he said some awful things to Marnie because he’s got lingering daddy issues and desperately needs therapy. Plus there’s Brian. I wanted him to be successful but also wanted him to truly fail so he could experience a fraction of the pain Suzanne felt.
Also, I despise the cover. I randomly picked this up at the library and was taken aback by how off putting the cover art is, though I’m glad I gave it a read anyway.
Marnie is a professional gift giver who accidentally mixes up labels on gifts for her client Brian’s wife and mistress. As he’s screaming at her for ruining his life (very much his own doing), his son Luke tries to talk him off the edge. A few more chance meetings with Luke and they are fully in a relationship which is hard to balance as Marnie keeps working with Brian to win back his wife and as Luke is learning how to be a parent after finding out recently that he has a teenage daughter.
I found the storytelling complex as it was easy to start sympathizing with each character in turn. I had so many mixed feelings about if I wanted Suzanne to forgive her husband or not and I think Darke did a phenomenal job at showing how two things can be true at the same time: you can hate someone’s guts for what they did to you while still loving them and missing their companionship. Marnie’s mistake leads her to question how complicit she is in the bad choices others make and how her morals stack up to her desire to acquire her grandfather’s old shop. Luke was a challenge for me to like. On one hand he saw where he made a mistake with Ivy and took steps to better himself but on the other hand, he said some awful things to Marnie because he’s got lingering daddy issues and desperately needs therapy. Plus there’s Brian. I wanted him to be successful but also wanted him to truly fail so he could experience a fraction of the pain Suzanne felt.
Also, I despise the cover. I randomly picked this up at the library and was taken aback by how off putting the cover art is, though I’m glad I gave it a read anyway.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Abortion, and Death of parent
Moderate: Toxic friendship