The basic premise of this book is that Eden, a middle-aged mom, suddenly gets dumped by her husband after their daughter goes away to college. I believe the call this the "silver separation" or something like that... a spike in divorce rates in the later phase of life, when empty nesters no longer have a kid at home to stay together for. Anyway, in the midst of her self-pity, Eden messages her old college flame Justin, who instantly responds and of course makes her feel young and sexy again... and in the grand design of so many domestic thrillers, what starts out as innocent flirtation becomes darker and more sinister as the book goes on.

My biggest problem with this book is that Eden is supposed to be a strong, independent, smart woman. And while I can accept an "I'm lonely and my life went to hell, I wonder what 'the one that got away' is doing with his life" moment of weakness, all the decisions she makes afterward are the mark of a deeply insecure person who has no identity outside of who she is in relation to a man in her life. And if she were an otherwise insecure character, I would buy that... there are people out there like that, for sure... but in this case she's just dumb and does dumb stuff because it moves the plot forward and she has an inexplicable connection to some college crush. And continues to do stupid things past the point where a rational adult would see red flags everywhere.

I'd almost be more interested in that story... the middle aged woman going through a midlife crisis of sorts, who was never strong and independent who is trying to navigate life after divorce and realizes some unhealthy psychological traits of hers are getting her in trouble. But that ain't this. This is stupidity for the sake of furthering the plot.

It's also not in any way sexy or erotic (and it was billed as a bit of an erotic thriller). The eroticism is literally just texts where Justin is like, "I want you so bad right now" and, "What are you wearing" and "Touch yourself for me," at which Eden just melts into a puddle and talks about how nobody's ever made her feel that way before. It kind of reminds me of 50 Shades of Grey in the sense that it was touted as book brimming with raw sexuality and eroticism... and as I was reading, it seemed like it was written by someone whose perception of what those things are comes more from romance novels than real life.

Another Amazon First Read that didn't really need to be read at all.

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Created May 19, 2024 at 1:20pm • Submit your own review...