Happy December 1! It is officially my favorite time of year!
Last month, I expected to finish more books but ended up with only one read. The reason for that: it’s been a while since it took me this long to finish a book! Today I’m going to chat a bit about both the book and whether or not the slow build was worth it.
The Other Mrs. by Mary Kubica
“Sadie and Will Foust have only just moved their family from bustling Chicago to a coastal island in Maine when their neighbor Morgan Baines is found dead in her home. The murder rocks their tiny coastal island, but no one is more shaken than Sadie. But it’s not just Morgan’s death that has Sadie on edge. And as the eyes of suspicion turn toward the new family in town, Sadie is drawn deeper into the mystery of what really happened that dark and deadly night. But Sadie must be careful, for the more she discovers about Mrs. Baines, the more she begins to realize just how much she has to lose if the truth ever comes to light.” (Synopsis taken from Amazon)
I saw this book recommended on another account from someone who historically has similar reading preferences to me. I’ll be honest, for the first third of the book, I kept thinking “why on earth did she hype this up so much?” I just could not get into it – the characters were all unlikeable and the plot felt extremely slow and veered into some territory I wasn’t excited about. It also might have just been the wrong choice for me right now, since I was getting into the light, happy, festive mood and a murder thriller didn’t quite fit that. So all that being said, it took me many days to even make it 1/3 of the way through, just chipping away a short chapter at a time. I wanted to quit or at least jump to another book and (maybe) come back to this one later. I stuck with it though and around the 1/3 mark I had a revelation: I believed I had figured out the twist. Suddenly my motivation exploded – I had to know if I was correct and the more I read, the more convinced I became. I doubt it was the author’s intention for the reader to do this, but in this instance knowing actually helped the story seem so much more compelling. By the time I got to the last third, I could not put this book down!
Now in terms of recommending, I don’t know! After like 9 days of slowly reading a bit at a time, I compulsively read the last 2/3 of this book in like 24 hours and loved it. There were still things I DID NOT see coming at all and I had a major jaw drop towards the end. But that being said, if I hadn’t guessed that one particular aspect of the plot at the time I did, I would’ve struggled to keep reading. For me, the book was 1/3 slow, 1/3 compulsive reading to prove my theory, 1/3 shocking twists and reveals in the end. It could have been 2/3 slow build and 1/3 twists and reveals and I just don’t think I would recommend that, you know? So if this long-winded review has you curious or you think you could also figure it out early, I say go for it! But if you don’t typically guess things in advance, you may find this a little too much of a slow build. For me, things picked up early enough that I still loved the book overall.
Do you keep reading books you’re not into? Or do you have a threshold where you’ll quit? My threshold is really high but I have quit books before – this one I’m glad I stuck with!
simplify the chaos 