I'm going to make this short.

Love:

Okay Alex and Henry are adorable and I totally love them. They go back and forth just like me and the hubs.

Hate:

The story just. Keeps. Going. Ffs it could have been wrapped up neatly well before it was. And the whole Richardson background story was way too cliche and easy to figure out. Because the book dragged on forever, I started to lose interest. 

So, a good book but a bit slow and dull.

I hated Malabar the whole book. And for a while I hated her daughter too. But then I had to remind myself she was just a child and was pretty much brainwashed into all this drama. My own mother was like this. She would rope me into schemes to torment my stepdad's ex and think it was perfectly fine to include a 12-year-old in adult problems. That is why I hate Malabar so so much. She never learns anything. She keeps being selfish. And all she fucking cares about his her boyfriend and her stupid necklace. It was of some comfort that her daughter finally broke the cycle, but for a while I felt like she was just continuing the cycle. Some people just shouldn't be parents. What an exhausting read.

Okay, so I'm "medicated" right now and hormonal as Hell. This should be fun.

Pros: well paced and in a unique town

Cons: I. Hate. Everyone. In. This. Book.

Every character was a cookie cutter walking stereotype. And the plot was so damn obvious I had it figured out about a quarter of the way thru. The only character I felt really bad for was the baby. My god. Insufferable petty white-people bullshit. And I'm white. I felt second-hand shame for these people. What was supposed to be political statements came off as just plain racist because of the blatant cliche of it all. 

But I had to finish this shit because I wanted to see how many things I had guessed right. The tally? All of them. Lord help me.

I had to relisten to a chapter or two because I was trying to grocery shop while listening. It didn't go well. With everything going on, I'm having to be hyper-aware of my surroundings so I was overly paranoid. Didn't hear much of the first 2 chapters. But now I'm in the swing of it. 

I know nothing of current Egypt and it's politics, so this promises to be interesting. I used an Audible credit to listen to this while I cross stitch, sit and await the end of times. Sigh.

Anyway, so far I'm very impressed. I'm having a good run with nonfiction.