Features:
-Explores themes of toxic friendship, trauma bonding, motherhood, and growing apart.
-Starts at the climax
-Complicated characters coming to terms with their choices
-Multiple character perspectives
Billie and Cassie have always been inseparable…until they weren’t. This book about two women growing apart had me captivated from the start. Though there was definitely plenty of tension that kept me turning the pages, it is not really a true ‘thriller’ in my book. The main focus, and certainly the thing that I cared most about, is the past and present relationship of Billie and Cassie. In exploring this fraught friendship, Lovering covers many themes such as the decision to be a mother or not, dealing with trauma, socioeconomic status, the realities of being an influencer, and so much more. Not all of the ideas introduced are fully explored, but I loved having them there to add nuance and complexity to the characters and their relationship to one another. Ultimately, this is a book that I absolutely devoured and definitely recommend to readers who like stories focused on complicated relationships.
A relatable experience despite unrelatable circumstances
Though I found Billie and Cassie difficult to like as people, there are also things about both their experiences that I found extremely relatable. I think most of us have experienced growing apart from someone we were close to growing up. Though Billie’s fixation on her dwindling friendship with Cassie makes everything feel more sudden and extreme, Lovering does a good job conveying the parts of their relationship that will ultimately pull them apart from the very start. I am not a fan of Cassie, but I know people who have made a similar decision to leave their past, and the people in it, behind. Whether I agree with her particular choices or not, her overall desire to reinvent herself is something that I find myself sympathizing with.
Many of the other themes that Lovering explores through these characters I found very real as well. However, the more extreme actions, thoughts, and choices of Billie and Cassie that create extra tension also makes them less relatable. Despite being fully invested in the book, it took me quite a while to stop actively disliking these characters and allow myself to recognize the things that had been keeping me invested in their story. Once I did, I found a lot of beautiful work to like.
A little too ‘on the nose’ at times
This book explores a lot of different themes while the characters try to navigate their relationships and challenges life throws their way. In order to fit everything in and add additional drama, a number of elements are oversimplified and/or exaggerated. As a result, it is easy to miss the more subtle work that makes the characters and situation more nuanced and interesting. I am not someone who feels that every single thread introduced needs to be fully explored. However, there are definitely some that seem to have been added purely for dramatic effect and others that could have led to interesting development but ultimately get ignored in favor of a more straightforward presentation. Ultimately, the desire to make this feel like a thriller undermined its potential as a character novel and so it gets caught somewhere in between. Obviously, this didn’t prevent me from rating the book highly, but it does make it less than a perfect read.
Rowan Hill 