March Book Club Discussion + April Book Choice

 

Past Book Club Discussions:

• January Book  Discussion
• February Book Discussion

I’m speechless…. with both the ending of this book and the fact that this post is going live on April 10th… lol. Sorry guys, we meant to push this out last week but we’ve been insanely busy around here. Lots of great news & brand collabs that I’ll be able to share more about soon but.. did everything have to happen at once? Appears so.. As I said in my story earlier today… better late than never.

Next month I promise we’ll get our May book out on time. Now that I’m thinking about it.. that’s only 3 weeks away! :O  So read fast! We’re announcing April’s book choice at the end of this post so please be sure to check that out before you leave.

 

As always, please leave your opinions & reviews of this book in the comment section below. We always look forward to the discussion and input from all of you… especially your thoughts on the character development, plot choices, and writing styles from the author. This book was extremely interesting, and I know many of you have a lot of thoughts. Disclaimer.. If you don’t want to know everything about the book you may not want to continue reading. This is a discussion forum where we let our thoughts out, not a discreet review. ;)

 

Overall Review

7.5/10 

Our March book is “Just Between Us” by Rebecca Drake. This is Drake’s second thriller novel.
Image via Amazon

Jumping right in… I have to be honest, I had hoped this book would be an unforgettable page turner. After reading the description I thought it read like the novel turned HBO special, Big Little Lies. Instead – I found it to be a little more on the Desperate Housewives side of things. Don’t get me wrong… I loved that show but I expected this book to be a little more realistic. To put it simply, I found this book a bit too much. It started off on the right foot but as the story developed so did the ridiculousness. At least it did for me.

This story centers around 4 close girlfriends who live in an affluent suburb. They get together all the time and like many women friendships, there are secrets and confidences, insecurities and so much more.  When one is suspected of being abused by their husband the others do everything they can to help. They investigate and end up confronting their friend. Noone wants to turn their back on a friend being abused.

What I like about this book: 

• Friendships – I love that the main characters are 4 different women friends who meet through their children/school. This is something that I can fully relate to having met most of my closest girlfriends through my daughter. When you have a close friendship group as an adult you tend to go through so many different trials and tribulations together. It helps to have others to lean on during this time period. I can’t imagine not having my girlfriends on hand.
• Different viewpoints –  I love that each chapter is told from a different woman’s point of view. This gives us a good perspective throughout. It was nice getting to know more about each character, their family lives and their husband’s opinions. I often wonder what my friends are thinking.. ;)
• Page Turner – this was definitely a page turner but not in the thriller sense. There were many crazy moments up until the end that had us guessing at every turn. (a bit much for me to find believable but more about that below) Either way, it was hard to put down.

Cons: 

Soooo many cons. (Sorry if you loved this book) Some of the moments in this book were just too unrealistic for me. I’m not looking for complete reality but… this was bananas. At the beginning of the book I completely understood the group’s concern for Heather, however… to go through all that they did to try and help her at the risk of losing so much themselves – just didn’t make sense to me. By the time you hit the middle of this book, there seems to be a dramatic incident at every turn; Heather kills her husband, the girls cover up his body, then the girls get blackmailed with a photo, the police are on their tail the whole time.. :O then we find out that Heather was cheating on her husband with a whackadoodle and her husband had never abused her. The guy she slept with ends up being the blackmailer – then ends up killing Heather himself and dies in a crash trying to escape. If that’s not strange enough, after everything… the girls end up going their separate ways. The police never find out about their involvement and as Allison says, “And I moved away and my husband never really knew, and the police never found out.”  Hmmmm…

Questions:

• What did you think of this book?
• Do you think that Heather is a bad person?
• What was your opinion on the 4 main characters of the book?
• Do you have a close group of girlfriends like I do that this reminds you of?

 

April’s Book: 

The Flight Attendant by Chris Bojalian!! Click here to shop the book. Wow guys – this book looks right up my alley. A few weeks ago, this book came out and the title stopped me in my tracks. As many of you know, I was a flight attendant for 20 years and I have never read a fictional thriller surrounding this career. Once I read the description…it blew me away. Here is a quick synopsis from the book: 

“Cassandra Bowden is no stranger to hungover mornings. She’s a binge drinker, her job with the airline making it easy to find adventure, and the occasional blackouts seem to be inevitable. She lives with them, and the accompanying self-loathing. When she awakes in a Dubai hotel room, she tries to piece the previous night back together, already counting the minutes until she has to catch her crew shuttle to the airport. She quietly slides out of bed, careful not to aggravate her already pounding head, and looks at the man she spent the night with. She sees his dark hair. His utter stillness. And blood, a slick, still wet pool on the crisp white sheets. Afraid to call the police – – she’s a single woman alone in a hotel room far from home — Cassie begins to lie. She lies as she joins the other flight attendants and pilots in the van. She lies on the way to Paris as she works the first class cabin. She lies to the FBI agents in New York who meet her at the gate. Soon it’s too late to come clean-or face the truth about what really happened back in Dubai. Could she have killed him? If not, who did?”

What do you think about the new book choice? Let us know below! 

xo,
Kristy & Emma