Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Muse for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of the sophomore book by Jessica Guerrieri, with the audiobook wonderfully narrated by Helen Laser, Mia Hutchinson-Shaw, Rebecca Lowman, and the author. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4.5 stars rounded up!
Mare and Frankie are two sisters in their late 30s, navigating motherhood, marriage and life. Mare is the mother of a neurodivergent preschooler who never feels like her husband steps up. Frankie is a bookstore owner, now sober, raising two teenage daughters. Their husbands go on a camping weekend and come across a body they later believe to be Brie - a woman from their town and Frankie's AA circle.
I loved Guerrieri's debut, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, and her latest is just as powerful. Told from the differing POV of the two sisters, we see how they each struggle with past trauma, caregiving, and who they are outside of being wives and mothers. It explores all those questions that women feel - is it wrong to want more even when we're happy? Can we love our husbands but still feel trapped? What happens when cracks appear - who is there to support us? Add alcoholism as a way to cope and we see all those careful plans start to crumble. The author is forthright about her own struggles with alcoholism and her sobriety, which adds such realism to her books. There is a mystery here, but this is a strong character-driven story of women struggling with all those "both can be true" situations. I mostly listened to the audiobook because the cast was top notch and just added more depth to the story. I loved this one!
