Catherine McKenzie has been a recent favorite of mine. I've only reviewed one other book of hers, Arranged. The book Hidden is currently on the Kindle First list for March, which means that anyone who has Amazon Prime is able to download it for free before it's publication next month. You can ask Nick, I was pretty darn excited about this being one of the four options to choose from in March.
Since I haven't been reading very much lately I was extremely excited to have a book that I was looking forward to reading. Now, only if my expectations had equaled my reality. There was just something about this book that really didn't sit well with me. The layout was probably the thing I had the greatest problem with. Jumping around from person to person. The first time it switched from Claire to Tish I was completely confused and it took me longer than I think it should have to realize that this part of the story was someone else. Another issue I had was my inability to feel for the characters. Since finishing the book this morning I have been trying to find a reason why a connection wasn't made. While combing my brain for an answer the only thing I could come up with is that the characters just really weren't likable to me.
Claire's character seemed sort of vacant and unresponsive. Even when there was the real tragedy at hand the story didn't make me feel like there was anything really strong and emotionally pulling there. Please remember that I went into this book with a positive and excited attitude towards it. Finding fault was not my aim. When it comes to the character Tish I got some of the same feelings towards her. Just a lack of something that would make her seem real. Maybe I was searching for some kind of hidden strength in each character as I read through, there definitely wasn't anything like that. Strong female characters are something that is taken as a given in women's literature anymore.
The subject matter of the book could be summed up essentially by saying two women lost something that they know they can never replace. Love and companionship are the two most difficult things to find in this sad world. I can't imagine what I would do, were I in Claire's position. Claire needed to find a reason to think that Jeff got even with her in some way. She needed closure by discovering something hidden that would put him even with her past transgression. Overall I gave the book a 3 out of 5 stars and part of me is thinking that I'm probably just being nice because I enjoyed her other works so much more.
I am looking forward to many more great works from Catherine McKenzie in the future. And if you aren't part of her reading group on Goodreads, you should be. 52 Weeks, 52 Books I don't participate as often as I'd like, but this is a great group that is always reading something interesting.
Happy reading.
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