mystery

MUCH less dramatic/exciting/interesting than I thought it would be, and very predictable. And anti-climatic. I did like the dual perspectives which somewhat compared the 1950s housewife to a 2018 housewife though. ( )

A fun read. Two women, living 60 years apart, cope with the realities of being a wife and mother. Sounds familiar, right? But this book takes us deep into the women’s lives, the claustrophobic choices they are forced into, the daring steps into freedom.
It’s all about the lies told in a marriage, the shifting expectations. And it’s told in a way that keeps you glued to the page. There is danger here, real risk, real threat. How the women deal with it and keep themselves intact makes for a robust story.

I did find the sudden change when Ruth finds herself pregnant and becomes all motherly and dedicated and purposeful a bit of a stretch. Just being pregnant does not a whole woman make. And the change does not feel true to the character, who has fought getting pregnant throughout the book.
Both women leverage pregnancy to get what they want, which in the case of the 1950’s Nellie makes sense, but is repellent in the modern day scenario.
But then, she did learn to cook, and that’s all that matters, no? (Oh and she got an instant deal for her as yet unwritten book which is annoying.)

Still, a fun fast read. I might even have to try some of the included 50’s recipes. Or not. ( )

Alternating chapter that were set in the mid-50s with Nellie and Richard, who was the woman who lived there before Alice and Nate moved in and the other was in the (then) present of 2018 when Alice and Nate moved in. There were secrets in both their marriages and a lot of shocking surprises too. Alice finds old letters from Nellie and old magazines in the basement and finds out a lot about Nellie and Richard.

A fast 2 day read and a good book at that. ( )

Never really resonated with me. Meh. ( )