Published by Inkubator Books on April 24, 2022
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Pages: 313
Amazon UK, Amazon US
Goodreads
Victoria has the perfect life. And she’ll do whatever it takes to keep it.
For Victoria, image is everything. And on the surface, she has it all - a big house, a successful husband and two beautiful children.
But behind the scenes, things are very different. Because Victoria and her husband have a dark secret and she lives in terror of it being discovered, of her perfect facade being shattered forever.
Under massive stress, but still desperately trying to keep up appearances, this is a family that is falling apart.
Husband Kit is unable to work. Teenage daughter Anna grows ever more rebellious. And nine-year-old Joey seems increasingly different from other kids.
Victoria realises she has to act now or she will lose everything. And that’s when she has to ask herself - how far is she willing to go, how much is she willing to do, to preserve her perfect family?
The answer is beyond shocking and will plunge them all into a nightmare from which they may never wake.
Well, this book has got so many characters that you just don’t want to like. It has a Mum who will stop at nothing, and hats off to her. She will stop at nothing to make sure her family is safe. Family is everything. However, she takes things way too far.
The book opens with an explosive start, and then you spend some of the book, unsure who has done what, and then all of a sudden something becomes clearer. Then it clicks. And you’re like, Oh my days!! I couldn’t believe it even though everything was staring me glare in the face. You do find out pretty early on what was going on, but up until that point, I was a little bit not sure. The rest of the book is waiting for the fall out which is intense!!
I did find that Victoria really did have an issue with anything that wasn’t perfect. So with her daughter hiding her secret, hiding secrets about her husband, and that song that can’t be played around Joey. Joey was absolutely just adorable, apart from his outbursts, which you do learn about and understand, but I see any mom would struggle with. She couldn’t struggle that he might not be perfect. In the whole book you watch this woman grappling with her life and trying to make everything she can Instagram perfect picture and things rapidly get completely out of control, especially when Victoria tells another truth to Anna. Anna can’t comprehend what is going on and doesn’t quite know what to do with the truth. We watch her so conflicted and watch her spiral.
You just see a family that looks solid on the outside, that is floundering on the inside. It makes me think of that quote of never knowing what’s going on behind closed doors and this book, it’s completely a perfect setting for that because what you see on the outside is definitely not what’s going on behind the scenes.
Kudos to the author, the ending, didn’t expect that at all I was when I was reading the book, I just could not envisage how it would end and when that ending happened. Part of it was perfect, but another point had me shouting with shock. I’m not talking epilogue and I’m talking about the end before the epilogue. But at the same time, I was a bit miffed, it’s tough to talk about this without spoiling this for anyone, but mainly for the outcome of one character and the recognition this character got I just was shocked. Knowing what we know about the character in the story. It blindsided me, which is epic.
This has been a top read for me it kept me on the edge of my seat. I was never quite sure how it was going to end what was going to happen next and what absolutely crazy thing Victoria might do next. Absolutely a must read from me. Can’t wait to read more from the author.
Until next time xxx
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