Review: The Soulmate (by Sally Hepworth)

My Rating:  2.5 stars

Before I start, just a quick disclaimer:  I'm one of the outliers who didn't like this book much, so I won't have too many good things to say about it in my review.  If this is going to be an issue for those reading this, then I suggest stopping right here.  Don't say I didn't warn you!

Ok, so here's my unpopular opinion: overall, I really really disliked this book — to the point that I  struggled to write this review because I had trouble choosing which of the myriad of "issues" to rant about.   Below is just a smattering of things I had a problem with (not all-inclusive of course). 

First, the writing, which to me, felt quite different from the previous Sally Hepworth novels I had read.  The writing this time around felt stilted and choppy and a bit elementary if I'm being honest.  There was a lot  of "I did this, then I did that, then I did this" (and by A LOT, I mean pretty much every chapter — there are 87 chapters) — with much of the detail being about unnecessary stuff that had nothing to do with the plot (honestly, does it matter to me that a character 'went to the supermarket, pulled out a cart, walked down the aisle, put stuff in the cart'? Nope!).  What made this worse was that the entire story was told from the first person point of view, so it sounded super awkward to hear the characters describe their own mundane actions (I.e.:"I picked up the laptop, I walked over to the table, I put it down and I opened the lid").  This also made the story feel unnecessarily long and dragged out — which normally wouldn't be a problem except that this is supposed to be a domestic thriller / suspense novel and mundane details like this bog down the plot.

Speaking of the plot, that was another thing that didn't work in this story.  Many of the plot points felt contrived and forced, but what bothered me the most was the ridiculousness of the main character Pippa's story arc — for much of the story, I found myself alternating between wanting to slap Pippa (more on this later) and suspending my disbelief every couple pages at the repeated stupidity of some of the characters' (mostly Pippa's) actions/behaviors/decisions (wait, she swept his behavior under the rug AGAIN?!?!?!).

And that brings me to what irked me the most about this story — the characters, all of whom weren't just unlikable ("loathsome" is probably more accurate), but frustratingly so, to the point that I couldn't bring myself to  feel anything but annoyance with all of them (but especially with Pippa).  The way Pippa's character was written, she felt like a caricature rather than a real person.  It didn't make an ounce of sense to me how Pippa was portrayed as a smart, confident lawyer and doting, assured mother of two young daughters one minute, but the next minute, as soon as her husband Gabe walks into the room, she becomes someone who deliberately buries her head in the sand, ignores all red flags (even the obvious ones that even she herself says are problematic), gets defensive whenever anyone says anything remotely critical about Gabe, second guesses and lies to herself over and over (and over and over and over again), and basically adopts an incredibly naive (not to mention frustratingly stupid and irrational) "I can't live without him so I must turn a blind eye and find excuses for his repeated s**tty behavior regardless of how that negatively impacts me or the kids" attitude.  To be honest, Pippa is exactly the type of nonsensical character that I absolutely cannot stand in any story — basically a twisted variation of the "damsel in distress" archetype but a hundred times more annoying because she is actually capable of "saving" herself and getting herself out of the many bad situations she finds herself in, but she chooses (repeatedly) not to do so, then justifies her decisions / actions with one lame excuse after another.  To me, it seems that even the author Hepworth finds this behavior problematic, as there is a scene near the later part of the book where Pippa's sister Kat confronts Pippa about the irrational way she constantly excuses her husband's behavior/ actions…Kat basically lays into Pippa, asking her point blank "how long [is she] going  to live like this?"  When Pippa gives a by-her-own-admission pathetic response (the exact quote is "A pathetic response, I know, but the only one I have."), Kat replies: "Fine. But I can't support you anymore. Not when you keep acting so damn stupid."  My sentiments (toward Pippa) exactly!!

As I stated earlier, there were a lot of things I disliked about this book and I honestly only touched on a few main ones, but I will stop here.  One thing that I did like was the ending, which I thought was done well, but unfortunately, coming at the tail end of the story, it was "too little, too late."  This was also one of those rare instances where, throughout the entire time I was reading, there were multiple moments that I was tempted to DNF the book (I have a rule about finishing every book I start, which I don't break often, so the fact I felt like DNFing is a big deal for me) — but I ended up plowing through it (albeit painfully).  

I think I will be taking a break from Hepworth's books for the time being, as this one obviously left a bad taste in my mouth and I honestly wasn't too keen on her previous book, The Younger Wife, either (I detailed the reasons why in my review of that book so if you're curious, feel free to check out that review). But then again, this is just me and my specific tastes — I didn't take to this newest book but many others did, so I suggest checking out those reviews as well for a more balanced perspective.

Received ARC from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley.

Review: The Younger Wife (by Sally Hepworth)

My Rating:  3 stars

I finished an ARC of this book yesterday and to be honest, I'm still trying to process how I feel about it.  While this was a good story overall and Sally Hepworth is no doubt a talented writer (I've read other books she's written and liked them all well enough), I will be honest in saying that I wasn't particularly enamored with this one after I finished it.  For one, I didn't like the ending, and two, the way some of the female characters in the story were portrayed (especially in relation to the male characters) bothered me more than I expected. Also, plot-wise, there was way too much ambiguity throughout the story in my opinion (yes, I know this is a thriller and in a sense, some ambiguity is expected, but still…) — this annoyed me a bit because I felt like I had to suspend disbelief way too many times (especially with Tully's and Heather's story arcs) — not only that though, some parts of the story actually didn't make sense, (including the ending). When I finished reading this book, my first reaction was to scratch my head and try to parse what exactly I had just read.  My second reaction was an urge to go back and re-download the ARC because I thought, perhaps, I was missing a few pages at the end somewhere, because the ending of the book frustrated me.  My third reaction was a curiosity to read through reviews to see 1) what other readers' reactions were, and 2) whether I was the only one who didn't really "get" the story. And this is where my entire reading experience with this book veered off into something I had never encountered before.  

As I was reading reviews, I came across various comments that mentioned about the finished copy of the book actually having a very different ending from the ARC version.  Given that I wasn't keen on the story's ending (in the version I had read), I was curious, so naturally, I hunted down a finished copy of the book so I could read the "new" ending. As it turns out, it wasn't just the ending that changed — majority of the last chapter (the one right before the epilogue) had changed as well.  Now of course, I've read enough ARCs to understand that changes between the advance and finished copies are common…but the thing is, these changes were actually QUITE significant— to the point that it took the story in an ENTIRELY different direction.  In fact, in my opinion, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that those changes, even though only to the last chapter and the epilogue (at least I think that was it, as I didn't re-read the entire book), turned this into a completely different story from what I had originally read.  

While I have to admit that the changes did make the entire story more believable (not to mention the parts that didn't make sense earlier actually made sense now), the overall experience itself (reading the ARC, then finding out that the finished copy had significant changes and subsequently having to hunt down a finished copy to read the changes) unfortunately left a bad taste in my mouth.  In a way, I felt cheated, but more upsetting was that I felt like I had wasted my time reading an ARC when I could've just read the finished copy (this is exacerbated by the fact that I already don't have much time to read due to work and life obligations, plus I have a mile-high TBR that I'm trying to get through).  Perhaps I'm overreacting and I wouldn't fault anyone for saying that, but for a reader like me, who views the reading experience as being just as important as the contents of the book being read, this type of thing affects me more than it probably should.

Having said all that, I decided to rate this one based on my initial reaction to it, which is that I thought the premise had a lot of potential and Rachel's story arc especially kept me engaged and absorbed in the story, but overall the way things went down with the plot, (and the ending) left much to be desired.  So I ended up rating this 3 stars based on the ARC (of course, if I had read only the finished copy in its entirety, my rating would most likely be different).

Lastly, I will say that I am very obviously the outlier with this one so definitely check out other reviews as well.  And if you do decide to pick this one up, might be better off reading the finished copy rather than an ARC, as it will likely impact the way you react to the story.

Received ARC from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley.

Review: The Mother-in-Law (by Sally Hepworth)

My Rating: 3.5 stars

The Mother-in-Law is the second book I’ve read by Sally Hepworth (the first one being last year’s The Family Next Door) and just like with that book, I found this one to be a quick, entertaining read that kept my attention well enough, though I honestly would categorize this more as a domestic suspense than a thriller, as it didn’t have the “edge-of-your-seat” twisted thrill ride feel to it.  The story does start out gripping enough, with the death of Lucy’s mother-in-law Diana from an apparent suicide, though under circumstances mysterious enough to warrant an investigation into other factors possibly at play.  The subsequent chapters then go back and forth in time from past to present, with the narrative alternating primarily between the voices of Lucy and Diana, revealing bit by bit the backstory of the various members of the family, eventually leading up to the truth about Diana’s death.  As the details of the family’s struggles began to emerge and we (as readers) started to get caught up in all the drama and conflicts between the characters, this was where I felt the story started to veer a bit off course in that it became easy to forget that there was an actual mystery to be solved (Diana’s death and the circumstances surrounding it).  With that said though, we do learn quite a bit about Diana and Lucy and we also get a good understanding of the dynamics of their relationship – seeing how the same situations could be viewed so differently from the mother-in-law versus the daughter-in-law’s perspective, I actually felt this exploration of family relationships was the most interesting aspect of the story.  The ending I actually didn’t see coming in that I wasn’t able to figure it out early on (definitely a good thing, as it meant the plot wasn’t too predictable), but unfortunately, I felt the buildup wasn’t as strong as it could have been, which made the truth of Diana’s death when it was finally revealed in the end a bit anti-climactic for me. 

I don’t want to say too much else about the plot so as not to spoil the story for those who haven’t read this one yet.  For me, this book worked well as a domestic drama, a story exploring contemporary family dynamics and relationships.  Even though my family background is very different from the family in the book, I was able to appreciate some of the relationship elements that were explored and though the story didn’t go too deep, it still gave me some interesting insight and food for thought.  The part that didn’t work for me was the suspense/thriller element, as despite the “cliffhangers” at the end of practically each chapter, I felt like it wasn’t enough to establish the suspenseful mood that I’ve come to expect from stories classified under this genre.  I would definitely still recommend this one, just be mindful of the expectations going into it.   

Received ARC from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley

Review: The Family Next Door (by Sally Hepworth)

My Rating:  3.5 stars

This was a quick, entertaining read that kept me engaged throughout in wanting to find out the various secrets that each of the families were trying to hide.  The story was told from the perspective of each of the 3 housewives – Essie, Ange, and Fran – as well as Essie’s mom Barbara and the new neighbor in town, Isabelle.   As the narrative alternated between these characters, we were given insight into the varying amounts of drama that went on amongst families behind closed doors and how people who may appear from the outside to lead “perfect” lives could, in reality, be falling apart inside.  Most of the characters were well-drawn and some were certainly more likable than others, but all of them I felt were realistically portrayed and relatable.  I especially liked the different aspects of motherhood that were portrayed and getting to see how each woman dealt with the issues that came up, how their respective backgrounds influenced their decisions and actions, how they interacted with their spouses and their children, etc. 

Overall, I would say that this was a good story with interesting characters and a few well-executed plot twists thrown in for good measure, though it’s a story that I’ve definitely seen/heard before, so from an originality standpoint, made it less memorable of a story for me.  I also wasn’t as emotionally invested as I thought I would be and even though the characters were well-written and relatable, I didn’t really connect with them – in fact, there were a few instances where I felt a bit detached, a few scenes where I felt like I should’ve had a more emotional reaction but didn’t.  There were also some parts that were a little too predictable, too neatly resolved, especially given some of the heavy subject matter -- it gave me the impression that this was perhaps supposed to be a “feel-good” read that maybe wasn’t meant to be taken too seriously.  And yes, as other reviewers pointed out, there was definitely a “soap opera” feel to this one, which is perfectly fine of course, just not really my sort of thing.  The writing was solid though and the flow was smooth, which made it easy for me to want to keep turning the pages to find out how all the issues would eventually get resolved.  Overall an enjoyable, engaging, entertaining read, one that I would absolutely still recommend, even if a bit too dramatic and predictable at times for my tastes. 

Received ARC from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley