Kill Your Darlings by Peter Swanson

Kill Your Darlings by Peter Swanson

I’m sad to say that I was disappointed in this book. I really enjoyed “The Kind Worth Killing” by Peter Swanson and was excited to read this book, but felt the execution was lacking and the characters were flat.

It was clever to tell this story in reverse, and with the reveal at the end it tied it together well, however before the reveal the story just drags and is quite boring. Thom and Wendy are certainly not the good guys which we find out very early, however they weren’t even interesting villains. Again, I was just bored with their characters and annoyed by their personalities.

Nothing really happened in the first part of the book that added to their characters or the overall story. Things started to pick up in the last fourth of the book but by then it was too late to really be excited by anything, and it didn’t tie in the first part really. I didn’t have any moments where I was like oooh, I get why it was slow or now I see why that scene happened. Nope, you only get one tie in from the very beginning and very end.

So I’m sorry to say I won’t be recommending this book, but I’ll still give Swanson a try on other books.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Reptitive - explaining same moments from both POVs but nothing new added in the second recollection

Synopsis: Thom and Wendy Graves have been married for over twenty-five years. They live in a beautiful Victorian on the north shore of Massachusetts. Wendy is a published poet and Thom teaches English literature at a nearby university. Their son, Jason, is all grown up. All is well…except that Wendy wants to murder her husband.

What happens next has everything to do with what happened before. The story of Wendy and Thom’s marriage is told in reverse, moving backward through time to witness key moments from the couple’s lives—their fiftieth birthday party, buying their home, Jason’s birth, the mysterious death of a work colleague—all painting a portrait of a marriage defined by a single terrible act they plotted together many years ago.

Eventually we learn the details of what Thom and Wendy did in their early twenties, a secret that has kept them bound together through the length of their marriage. But its power over them is fraying, and each of them begins to wonder if they would be better off making sure their spouse carries their secrets to the grave.

View my Review on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7884322577

It's a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan

It’s a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan

This is only the second book of Monaghan’s that I’ve read and it made me excited to read more! I first read “Nora Goes Off Script” and felt it was a bit meh especially with the relationship development. So I was a bit nervous for this one but luckily it was much better and one I’d recommend.

The beginning is a little slow with the buildup of meeting our main characters, Jane and Dan. I was a bit confused by some of Jane’s mannerisms until I realized it was her anxiety coming into play. This made a lot more sense and added a wonderful depth to the storyline. Jane and Dan are both feeling trapped in past identities and find it difficult to be comfortable just as they are. It was wonderful seeing them both accept things about themselves and pushing past other’s expectations of them. There were several sweet and entertaining scenes and the banter was funny while still being realistic.

I was a bit disappointed near the end with the final conflict. It felt a bit forced, overdramatic and only lasted a few pages, so I felt like it could have been handled in a different way without the cliche third act break-up situation. There had been so much growth and emotional intimacy between the characters, so sliding so far backwards was really just for dramatic effect.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis: Jane Jackson knows that true love is a lie. Laughter is the only truth—you can’t fake a belly laugh. Jane should know, she spent her adolescence as "Poor Janey Jakes," the barbecue-sauce-in-her-braces punchline on America's fifth-favorite sitcom. Now she’s a Creative Executive at Clearwater Studios and she’s living by a new mantra: Fake it till you make it.

Except, she might have faked it too far. Desperate to get her first project greenlit and riled up by pompous cinematographer and one-time crush Dan Finnegan, she opened her mouth and a big fat fib fell out. She claimed that Jack Quinlan, hottest popstar of the moment, has promised to write an original song for the soundtrack. Jack may have been her first kiss—and greatest source of shame—but she hasn’t spoken to him in twenty years.

Now, Jane must turn to the last man she’d ever want to owe: Dan Finnegan. Because Jack is playing a festival in Dan’s hometown on Long Island, and Dan has an in. A week in close quarters with Dan while facing down her past is Jane's idea of hell, but Dan just might surprise her. While covering up her lie, can they find something true?

View my Review on Goodreads