A quiet neighborhood. A lovely home. A promising new beginning. In a heartbeat, everything can change in this propulsive novel of suspense by USA Today bestselling author Kaira Rouda.

Julie Jones has left her suffocating marriage. With her teenage daughter, Jess, she’s starting over. Their new house in Oceanside is the first step toward a new life. Even if it does come with the unexpected. The previous owners, a pastor, and his wife have left something—or rather someone—behind…

Tom Dean has a bitter hatred for the father who considers him a lost cause, and for the woman who’s moved into their family’s house. The only home he’s ever known. He’s never going to leave. She thinks he’ll be gone in three days, but Tom has the perfect plan.

For a newly single mother and her daughter, a fresh start is the beginning of a nightmare. Before the weekend is over, somebody is going to get exactly what they deserve.

 

My Rating:

 

Favorite Quotes:

 

Fate is funny that way. You find what you think is your dream, and eventually it becomes your nightmare.

 

It’s so satisfying, hanging up on someone. In the olden days, back when we had big thick phones, you could slam those into the cradle and— pow!— make an impact. Now I stab at tiny buttons with my thick fingers, but still, he got the point.

 

I never want my face on TV. I like being powerful, but behind the curtain. Like a real Wizard of Oz.

 

My Review:

 

This was my first-time buddy reading and I had an excellent partner in which to experience this when my blogger gal-pal Joselyn, of rincondejoss.com, suggested we collaborate.  Joselyn is far more adventurous in her reading genres than I am so I most likely cramped her style with my choice for our buddy read.   After perusing the first chapter, I feared her potential wrath with my selection as the book soon had me more than a bit nettled.

I deeply despised this entire cast of obnoxious characters, as they were horrid and ghastly people, types I would never willingly share air with.   While they were all individually detestable and loathsome, the minister was the worst of all – he was abhorrent and oddly enough, the most familiar. Yet as vile as they were and as impatient as I was with their floundering and shallow self-absorbed thinking, I found myself prickling with curiosity and invested in their twitchy story. The little pea in my brain was simmering.

Kaira Rouda is a sly and crafty trickster! She sucked me into this itchy tale that annoyed and captivated me in equal measure. I bow to her adept pacing and exceptional word voodoo that kept me grinding my teeth yet unable to put my Kindle down, even when I wanted to throw it at the back of her characters’ heads to knock some sense loose. This is only my second time perusing Ms. Rouda’s vexing mastery, a slight I plan to rectify ASAP. The gal has skills!

 

 

Joselyn’s Review:

Joselyn’s Rating:

First Impressions

So the beginning was harsh since it was a little slow in a way and really the situations were like totally avoidable in a way, but we humans love complicated.

It was interesting since usually, books tend to go happy till the end of time, but this one was as dark as it gets, real business here.

She is very compelling in her writing, I mean I kept reading even when a lot of things were so wrong for me in this one.

And even when I thought like this is not going that way or that, she went right through and it was like OMG really.

Characters

I hated them all, I think Julie and Sandi semi-redeem themselves and just barely really.

Identified more with Sandi since my dad’s a priest, but thank god he wasn’t that strict and let me take my decisions in life.

But OMG, they were all so mostly brainwashed in this book I swear I was having headaches like how can they think like that so badly of themselves and other people, and sadly I realized it’s just how normal brains operates and made sad.

Final Thoughts

In all, it was curious how I went to go ahead and just keep coming back and keep reading since it was so cringing for me, but I have to say you’re in for a very interesting read with this one.

This one I read with my Friend Honolulubelle and she hated it as much, it came to an interesting debate about how life is built in these things and how people it’s so super destructive, and how to try and avoid it.