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lisagray68's review against another edition
challenging
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
rayyanmz's review against another edition
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
alifromkc1907's review against another edition
2.0
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Gut Instinct Rating - 3.5
Characters - 3
Believability for type and topics - 2
Similarity to other books - 5
Writing Style - 3.5
Excitement Factor - 2
Story Line - 2
Title Relevance - 5
Cover art - 0
Goodreads users gave this book a 3.42. I think it was more deserving of a 2.89.
To read or not to read? Not to read. Pass on this one. But read her other two books; I have not read her novella. Looking forward to the next one. Hopefully it doesn't bash on addicts.
Published in 2017
Pages: 370
Publishing Company: HarperCollins
Number of books by author: 3
Genre: Fiction, Thriller, Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
This book was a total let down from Holly Brown's other two books. This book felt like it was never good to end... it just droned on and on... and on and on. The characters were the biggest disappointment in this story. The fact that the characters represented addiction, was fantastic. The characters explored their struggles with addiction through NA, AA, and Nar-Anon. These were all great things. But then things took a nasty turn when we learned more about Thad. And I just really began to hate everything about the book because of what it represented for addicts everywhere in the world; what it represented for NA/AA, and what it represented for recovering addicts. This is a personal, separate issue, but it really messed up everything I could have enjoyed about this book, because it wasn't just about the characters, it became the entire story line. Aside from this, the characters themselves were just personally annoying. They all felt so mirrored. Miranda and Dawn, both the husbands, it was all the same. While their backgrounds weren't the same; and while there were differences in their stories, their struggles were all the same. The same whining. The same bad marriage. The same struggle with family. I just wanted there to be SOMETHING different, and I couldn't get anything different out of any of the characters. It all voiced the same; everything was angry, or cold. There wasn't really any in between.
Aside from the characters being a huge let down, it was all so unbelievable. Aside from the B&B aspect, and some (I say this with a HUGE grain of salt) of the addict story lines, most of this all seems to far off. Maybe I'm naive, but most of this story just seems like it was a forced HBO movie special.
If nothing else, this book had it's uniqueness going for it. I've never read anything quite as imaginative as this book. If anything, this book sort of reminded me of Jason Myers a bit, which should be a compliment. But because it was so forced, so dramatic; maybe it was too out of the ordinary for Brown? Maybe it just didn't mesh well because of the addict story line. I'm not sure. But it was certainly unique.
The writing style was fine. It was just really repetitive. Dawn sends a nasty email. Then Miranda sends a nasty email. They both whine about their miserable marriage, their miserable families, their miserable lives. So on and so forth. It was just flat. There was no emotion - I mean, there was, but it felt fabricated. There wasn't anything too exciting until the last like, 50 pages or so.
The preview for this book was so far off from what this book was actually about - maybe on Goodreads is matches up, but the back of the book, the preview I was given? Not so much. I was expecting blackmail, and something entirely different. What I got was basically B&B internet drama that got out of hand. It was really ridiculous and I never would've been interested in that story line had that been pitched to me. And while that's not the author's fault (well, it might be since the pitch was on her Facebook page), that's just shitty editing. Getting over the pitch I was given and just going with what the book was actually going to be about, it was repetitive, predictable, and in poor taste to write an addicts tale that it was written. Addicts are already given a bad name, and in every single reference to addicts, there was nothing positive about NA/AA/Nar-Anon. Not one thing. The ending was at least a turn of pace. There wasn't much closure on a few of the topics, though.
The title - "This is not over" was a perfect representation of the book. It was never going to end. Ever. If I didn't love the authors' two other books, I probably wouldn't have finished this book, to be honest. The cover art didn't even make sense, but "that's neither here nor there."
Gut Instinct Rating - 3.5
Characters - 3
Believability for type and topics - 2
Similarity to other books - 5
Writing Style - 3.5
Excitement Factor - 2
Story Line - 2
Title Relevance - 5
Cover art - 0
Goodreads users gave this book a 3.42. I think it was more deserving of a 2.89.
To read or not to read? Not to read. Pass on this one. But read her other two books; I have not read her novella. Looking forward to the next one. Hopefully it doesn't bash on addicts.
Published in 2017
Pages: 370
Publishing Company: HarperCollins
Number of books by author: 3
Genre: Fiction, Thriller, Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
This book was a total let down from Holly Brown's other two books. This book felt like it was never good to end... it just droned on and on... and on and on. The characters were the biggest disappointment in this story. The fact that the characters represented addiction, was fantastic. The characters explored their struggles with addiction through NA, AA, and Nar-Anon. These were all great things. But then things took a nasty turn when we learned more about Thad. And I just really began to hate everything about the book because of what it represented for addicts everywhere in the world; what it represented for NA/AA, and what it represented for recovering addicts. This is a personal, separate issue, but it really messed up everything I could have enjoyed about this book, because it wasn't just about the characters, it became the entire story line. Aside from this, the characters themselves were just personally annoying. They all felt so mirrored. Miranda and Dawn, both the husbands, it was all the same. While their backgrounds weren't the same; and while there were differences in their stories, their struggles were all the same. The same whining. The same bad marriage. The same struggle with family. I just wanted there to be SOMETHING different, and I couldn't get anything different out of any of the characters. It all voiced the same; everything was angry, or cold. There wasn't really any in between.
Aside from the characters being a huge let down, it was all so unbelievable. Aside from the B&B aspect, and some (I say this with a HUGE grain of salt) of the addict story lines, most of this all seems to far off. Maybe I'm naive, but most of this story just seems like it was a forced HBO movie special.
If nothing else, this book had it's uniqueness going for it. I've never read anything quite as imaginative as this book. If anything, this book sort of reminded me of Jason Myers a bit, which should be a compliment. But because it was so forced, so dramatic; maybe it was too out of the ordinary for Brown? Maybe it just didn't mesh well because of the addict story line. I'm not sure. But it was certainly unique.
The writing style was fine. It was just really repetitive. Dawn sends a nasty email. Then Miranda sends a nasty email. They both whine about their miserable marriage, their miserable families, their miserable lives. So on and so forth. It was just flat. There was no emotion - I mean, there was, but it felt fabricated. There wasn't anything too exciting until the last like, 50 pages or so.
The preview for this book was so far off from what this book was actually about - maybe on Goodreads is matches up, but the back of the book, the preview I was given? Not so much. I was expecting blackmail, and something entirely different. What I got was basically B&B internet drama that got out of hand. It was really ridiculous and I never would've been interested in that story line had that been pitched to me. And while that's not the author's fault (well, it might be since the pitch was on her Facebook page), that's just shitty editing. Getting over the pitch I was given and just going with what the book was actually going to be about, it was repetitive, predictable, and in poor taste to write an addicts tale that it was written. Addicts are already given a bad name, and in every single reference to addicts, there was nothing positive about NA/AA/Nar-Anon. Not one thing. The ending was at least a turn of pace. There wasn't much closure on a few of the topics, though.
The title - "This is not over" was a perfect representation of the book. It was never going to end. Ever. If I didn't love the authors' two other books, I probably wouldn't have finished this book, to be honest. The cover art didn't even make sense, but "that's neither here nor there."
pikasqueaks's review against another edition
gosh, what a weird book that somehow ticked all my boxes. bitchy women being bitches, a lot of weirdness, drama, etc.
readers_block's review against another edition
1.0
Ugh. I really, really hated this book. I thought about giving up several times, but persevered with the optimistic hope that it would get better. It didn't. I DNFed about 3/4ths of the way through.
To start - I hated the premise. It simply makes no sense. You have to give me something more believable than two people getting irrationally angry with each other over a short term vacation rental and what is akin to a bad AirBnB review. But no such justification is given - we're just meant to accept that this is rational behavior we should go along with.
Secondly - I despised, despised, despised Dawn. I'm sick of self-sabotaging characters who do so just to advance the plot. I mean, Miranda was no walk in the park either, but at least she was wrestling with some real internal demons. Dawn was stirring shit up just to stir shit up.
In the end, I gave up shortly after Dawn essentially cheated on her extremely kind, caring husband by having phone sex with the meth addict (are you kidding me?) I decided life is too short to even attempt to read the last quarter of this. Hard pass on this whole train wreck of a book.
To start - I hated the premise. It simply makes no sense. You have to give me something more believable than two people getting irrationally angry with each other over a short term vacation rental and what is akin to a bad AirBnB review. But no such justification is given - we're just meant to accept that this is rational behavior we should go along with.
Secondly - I despised, despised, despised Dawn. I'm sick of self-sabotaging characters who do so just to advance the plot. I mean, Miranda was no walk in the park either, but at least she was wrestling with some real internal demons. Dawn was stirring shit up just to stir shit up.
In the end, I gave up shortly after Dawn essentially cheated on her extremely kind, caring husband by having phone sex with the meth addict (are you kidding me?) I decided life is too short to even attempt to read the last quarter of this. Hard pass on this whole train wreck of a book.
paperbacks_and_ponytails's review against another edition
1.0
It's kind of funny since this book is about bad reviews and repercussions between two very like minded women. But I have to be honest and say this is one of the worst books I've ever read. I had to literally force myself to finish it, which I shouldn't have... because it didn't get any better. The author is a Marriage and family therapist, yet her book speaks volumes on the opposite of family and marriage. I felt like the author really showed everything that is wrong with families and marriage, and pretty much nothing good. It was heartbreaking for me, and I couldn't enjoy it.
mazza57's review against another edition
2.0
I am glad this is over. It was far from thrilling and just a tad repetitive. Not for me really
bethreadsandnaps's review against another edition
3.0
I went through the training to become a certified mediator this week, coincidentally the same week I read this book. This seemed like an ideal situation to be mediated, as a simple VRBO-type interaction became massively overblown. Both Miranda and Dawn are unsettled people with little else going on their lives and got sucked into this retaliatory situation that kept escalating.
While a relevant, enjoyable read for me, a few parts were frustrating, notably the side stories, particularly Dawn's. Miranda's felt a bit more realistic.
While a relevant, enjoyable read for me, a few parts were frustrating, notably the side stories, particularly Dawn's. Miranda's felt a bit more realistic.
alicewonders's review against another edition
I mean… you get what you ask for with this. Is it completely petty? Does nothing really happen? Yes and yes. Did I finish it? Also yes.