@GoddessFish, @elkaray, #Romantic #Suspense, #Mystery, 3 out of 5 (good)

Divorce is Murder is the first book in the Toby Wong series, and it introduces us to a female, family-lawyer whose client is a blast from the past. Toby had a major crush on Josh Barton when they were young, but bullies made sure it next happened. Now, nineteen years later, she's back where it all began.

I would class this more as mystery than romantic suspense as Toby isn't sure who she wants, although I'm not very clear on why! There is a police officer who is interested in her, he is not a liar and plays no games, but she seems more interested in a crush from nearly twenty years ago who has constantly lied to her. Hmm, I guess you can see who is my favourite, but I'm guessing this is a storyline for further into the series.

There is a great cast of characters - from a psychic, whimsy-loving mom, to the bullies from Toby's childhood. Some of the mystery was obvious (to me) and some of it, not. I thoroughly enjoyed the build up and the climax to this story.

With no errors that disrupted my reading, this was an enjoyable read from beginning to end, and I have no hesitation in recommending it for all fans of cosy murder-mysteries.

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!

Teenage heartbreak finds a second chance at forever. Bad Divorce is the story of young love facing adult sized problems. Bec and Luke love hard, but implode rather quickly. 

Fast forward ten years and the naivety has worn off, yet heartache still haunts their everyday lives. Life throws a twist when the problems of the past provide a chance for a future. The drama never ends. The pain runs deep and there are secrets constantly being revealed. Faber continues to mesmerize with complicated emotions and realistic situations. Love is not always beautiful, however it's in the ugly moments that strength finds it's footing. Deeply, soulful romance.

When you think you live in a Norman Rockwell painting—married 18 years, three kids, beautiful old house in the country, successful career as a writer—you don’t expect there’s another side to the canvas. Until you read a lovesick e-mail to your husband . . . that didn’t come from you! Good Riddance is an honest and funny graphic memoir about suffering through and surviving divorce. New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Copeland chronicles the deep pain, confusion, awkwardness, and breakthroughs she experiences in the “new normal” as a wife who’s been deceived, a mom who’s now single, a divorcée who’s dating, and a woman who’s on her own figuring out what she truly wants from her life. Copeland tells her story with an emotional candor and spot-on humor that makes Good Riddance poignant, painful, and hilarious all at once.

Amazon.com

Using the graphic novel / memoir format, Cynthia Copeland unveils the story of her marriage of 18 years, and the subsequent divorce after discovering her husband had been unfaithful. Copeland shares her story with readers a decade after things first went down, but some of the emotions that are wrapped up in such an event prove universal and timelessly relatable. 

Copeland explains the guilt she had to learn to work through, coming from a family where no one had divorced before, as well as the secret stress and anxiety she shouldered while trying to protect her young children from the truth of why mom and dad weren't going to live together anymore. 

This story is no different from other divorce memoirs you've read in the way it conveys that there are no real winners in this kind of life upheaval. Copeland paints her husband as a selfish, immature man possibly suffering a mid-life crisis. Trying to recapture his youth yet still keep close to his wife, his actions were that of someone trying to have their cake and eat it too. He seemed more concerned with being "cool dad" than responsible grown up. Copeland makes it clear she wasn't having it, but at the same time some of her actions towards him struck me as tiptoeing into control freak territory. or such a tough topic, the choice of cool blue-grey tones on the art were strangely calming. Don't know if that was intentional or not... regardless, it was kinda nice, diffused the tougher moments a bit. The blue tones combined with the art style itself ... something about it brought to mind vintage hospital pamphlets! 

One of the drawbacks of reading so many books is that I have extremely high standards since I've read some truly excellent pieces of literature...and also some major duds. I say all of this because I read We Were Liars by E. Lockhart 2 years ago and so I know she has the capability to write amazing young adult fiction. I chose Fly on the Wall specifically because the review that I heard on BookTube led me to believe that it was a retelling of Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis and because I had enjoyed Lockhart's previous book. What I didn't expect was for it to be chock full of really explicit sexual content. Why on earth did she have to describe penises in such revealing detail? And why did she keep referring to them as gherkins?! (And if I ever hear someone call them that or  refer to breasts as biscuits I'm going to slap them across the face.) The main character and the person who we view the story from is named Gretchen Yee and she is the prototypical teenage girl filled with angst. She attends a high school that focuses on the arts and her specialty is drawing comic book style characters (hence the cover imagery). Her obsession with a boy in her school leads her to make a foolhardy wish to be a fly on the wall of the boys locker room so that she can find out how he really thinks about her. (And this is where she begins to ogle the boys as they undress for gym class.)  I guess the story is supposed to be a character study or a revelation that what we think we know about people can be turned on its head if we see them at their most vulnerable. However, for me it was a letdown and vaguely nauseating. This was a 0/10 for me and I'll have to give serious thought to reading anything else from this author in the future.

PS There were also a lot of plot holes in the storyline and the ending truly fell flat. 

Source: Amazon

 

What's Up Next: The Murderer's Ape by Jakob Wegelius

 

What I'm Currently Reading: The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead