Release date: February 19, 2019
Publisher: Berkley
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Blurb:
The Butler family has had their share of trials—as sisters Althea, Viola, and Lillian can attest—but nothing prepared them for the literal trial that will upend their lives.
Althea, the eldest sister and substitute matriarch, is a force to be reckoned with and her younger sisters have alternately appreciated and chafed at her strong will. They are as stunned as the rest of the small community when she and her husband Proctor are arrested, and in a heartbeat the family goes from one of the most respected in town to utter disgrace. The worst part is, not even her sisters are sure exactly what happened.
As Althea awaits her fate, Lillian and Viola must come together in the house they grew up in to care for their sister’s teenage daughters. What unfolds is a stunning portrait of the heart and core of an American family in a story that is as page-turning as it is important.
Review:
Ugh I hate writing super negative reviews but I just really didn’t like this one you guys. I’m not going to spend a bunch of time bashing this just because it didn’t work for me, seriously I just scrolled the goodreads reviews for this and a lot of my friends like this, so clearly I’m in the minority on this one.
Let me point out that my reasons for not enjoying this one have absolutely nothing to do with the authors writing, in fact she’s a great writer. What didn’t work for me was the story itself and my lack of a connection with any of the characters. This follows one family after one sister gets sent to prison and the two other sisters are left to pick up the pieces of her life, mainly in the care of her teenaged twin daughters. The problem for me was that I just didn’t care about these people, I wasn’t invested in their lives at all so then I was just bored. I pushed through and really probably should’ve just gave up, because it was a pretty miserable experience for me in the end. I kept waiting for something to happen and it never did, it just ended. Overall, I’m just not the right reader for this one unfortunately.
Overall rating: 2/5
Thanks to the publisher for my review copy.
Novelgossip 
I felt so similarly! Everything’s written so mysteriously and then NOTHING is revealed. Such a disappointment since I was so excited about this one and thought it had so much potential. I wrote my review a couple weeks ago (I thought the pub date was 2/5 haha oops!) but it echos a lot of these thoughts
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Yes exactly! It’s like a bunch of buildup for nothing in the end. I was disappointed as well
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Thanks for the review. It’s hard to do when you don’t care for the book. I had planned to read that one this month. I’ll probably pass because I tend to agree with your reviews. I have plenty of others to choose from.
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Of course! As much as I hate not gushing over a book I’m always honest.
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I absolutely understand this review. It took me some reflection time on this book to fully appreciate it (and I ended up giving it a 4 star rating). I reflected more on how some of the characters grew at the end of the story and thought seeing where they progressed to was enough for me, but, to your point, there really is no point to the story. I am actually surprised that *I* enjoyed this book as much as I did because I usually prefer the clear cut here’s the beginning, middle, and end, this was the issue and here’s the resolve and this book does not have that. This is a great, honest review and lets people know what to fully expect before picking this book up!!! You did a wonderful job with it!
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Thank you so much! I struggle with the not so positive reviews and I always want to share my experience but also let people know it may just not be the right book for me
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Sorry to hear this, because the title is so engaging. I like how you frame a negative review, though, by saying you’re not the right reader for this book. That is very fair.
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Yes the title and cover are both so fantastic! And thank you I try to be fair and not downright mean
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