Let me start by saying that I usually like chick lit. Especially when it's witty and sharp, so I dove into this one hoping for an entertaining read. I mean, come on, it has the potential. The blurb sounded so promising, so I dove in, and it didn't take long for me to be ready to dive right back out. Don't get me wrong, the book does have its moments. I even chuckled a time or two. But - oh, yes, there's a but - I didn't find a single likable character in the bunch, and I couldn't relate to any of them. It's a whole lot of gossip and one-upsmanship, and a bunch of women who seem to care only about social status. Quite possibly, and most probably, this is just not the book for me. In fact, if you enjoy shows like Desperate Housewives, then you'll probably like this one more than I did. For me, it just felt like an incredibly long book that took a long time to get through. 

The Guilty One - Sophie Littlefield CONTENT WARNING: Suicide threat, partner murder, child abuse.

This has been terribly mis-marketed. The UK edition has the word "thriller" TWICE on its back cover: one as a classification, and one in publisher's hype. This wouldn't be a problem, except...this book is not a thriller. I'd call it general/mainstream fiction. Anyway, the mislabelling could explain the middling reviews - people did not get what they expected.

Also? The novel's summary talks about an event as if it takes up the whole story, which was what I expected. Instead, that event is resolved within the first few chapters. That's it.

And entire chapters feature nothing but shopping, cleaning, and inventory. I'm not even exaggerating.

I'm no stranger to Sophie Littlefield's works, having previously read and enjoyed four of her other books. And I like The Guilty One to an extent. It's about life AFTER crime, for parents of the perp and the victim. Can people escape generations of violence, or are they - like their forefathers - doomed to hurt those they love?

Had The Guilty One been more honestly marketed, it would've been received better. Still, it's great to see a positive representation of women being friends.

 

 

 

Great reading.