I love Dorothy Koomson books and this one didn't let me down. It was fantastic with a brilliant storyline and an unexpected ending. If I could give it more than 5 stars I would :)

This is the first book I have read by
this author and I loved it.
I didn't know who to believe and when I thought I was sure, something shocking happened and made me change my mind quite a lot.
I will definitely be buying the rest of Dorothy Koomson's books.

Dorothy Koomson continues to prove to me she is my new favourite author. This is the third of her books that I’ve read and just as compelling as the others.
This story explores the story of a woman who discovers things about her husband no one would want to believe as true and the fall out of that. There is a whodunnit element that continues to keep you guessing but it’s the way it rips you apart emotionally that makes is so good. The subject matter is hard going at times.

I have enjoyed every single book I have read by Dorothy Koomson. I also enjoyed this one but I had some problems with it. I had problems with oversimplifications and absurd generalizations (every man who watches porn is a traitorous pig). I had problems with almost every character, to be honest. Tamia and her passive-agressive shit instead of just recognizing that she wed someone she really didn't know. Beatrix, because her selfishness is something that makes me want to throw up. Scott, just BECAUSE.
This would probably be a good story for me if I didn't feel like there were a lot of things that were there because they were expected to be - I mean, they were clichés. I was never really surprised (except in the end and even then I didn't actually feel the intensity of the moment) and I didn't feel the story, if that makes any sense. I didn't FEEL it.
I am somewhat conflicted with this change in Dorothy's books - they used to be about relationships and the pursuit of love with some drama in between. But lately they have been more about mystery and about destroying the notion of a perfectly content relationship that has everything to survive and thrive but instead is ripped apart without mercy or chance of survival. I know love isn't always the fairy-tale-ish variety buttt it was good to read one of her books and feel reassured that I would find a couple that, in the middle of adversity, always found its way back to each other. Now, I don't know what I will find.

I usually love her books, but this is a bit disappointing. The story kept me interested, only because I wanted to know how it would end. I don't think that the changing between the characters worked well and I felt that it detracted from the story.

beautiful, got me thinking about so many different issues and how I'd react to them.

• Library book
• Monthly Key Word Reading Challenge: Beach 

It wasn't a BAD prequel. It was just alarmingly short. It was 4 pages long, before it went into the beginning of the novel proper. I just found it a tad strange.

I can’t remember the last time I was ever this divided by a book. I don’t think any has ever offered such a ride, filled with more ups and downs than a rollercoaster. Not in a good way.

I started off loving it. I couldn’t put it down, I was hooked. But then it took a turn and I had to force myself to keep reading. Then it would change again – on and on and on until the very last page. The middle was the worst for me, it was a big struggle to read even a single page. The characters, and their actions, bothered me in a truly enormous way. I couldn’t stand them, felt no sympathy, disagreed with most of what they said, did, thought. And the way certain events were stringed together, to better play up the mystery, felt ridiculous to me. At a certain point, nothing surprised me, every plot twist had me rolling my eyes, feeling disappointed in how Koomson chose to spin it.

Full disclosure: I don’t like mystery. I don’t really enjoy it much. And this took a big turn towards mystery, more so than her previous books (the ones I’ve read, that is). But even taking that into account, the rest didn’t make up for it either.

Still. She writes beautifully, and towards the end I found myself liking the story more and more, thinking that the characters had finally turned real. Of course, on the next chapter everything was ruined again. I kept swinging from enjoying it and hearing a voice in my head going oh, come on, now!

This book exasperated me. Maybe it was the wrong time to read it, I just wasn’t in the proper mood for it, or maybe Dorothy Koomson's magic is just lost to me now. Whatever it was, I have never found one of hers so hard to read. It did not seem cohesive to me, in the sense that certain events and twists felt realistic but others just felt plain stupid. Like that ending.

I can’t say it was all bad, but I think I will give it some time before reading another Koomson book.