Author: Celeste Ng
Series/Standalone: Standalone
Genre: Adult Fiction, Contemporary
Pages: 338
Publisher: Penguin Press
Year Published: 2017
Format: Audiobook
"Everyone in Shaker Heights was talking about that summer: how Isabelle, the last of the Richardson children, had finally gone around the bend and burned the house down.
In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is meticulously planned- from the layout of the winding roads to the colours of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules.
Enter Mia Warren- an enigmatic artist and single mother- who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenage daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than just tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past and a disregard for the rules that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.
When old family friends attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town- and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Elena is determined to uncover the secrets in Mia's past. But her obsession will come at an unexpected and devastating cost..."
My Rating: 2.75/5
This book would be great for a book club book for people who read one book a month. As an avid reader whose not a huge fan of contemporary this wasn't it for me. While this story touches on many subjects, it doesn't ever dig deep enough for me to be interested in the plot line. There weren't enough twists for me and while I understand that this isn't what is normally found in a contemporary, neither is someone burning down a house. Maybe I'm the issue, but anyway, this book was just ok to me. Easy to get through but not memorable.
Thanks for reading,
Sidny
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