Done. Like a week and a half ago. I liked it well enough, but there was just something about it that left me meh. Maybe it was the ending with Jane, you know the part where suddenly she seemed all calculating and cold where Edward was concerned. Maybe it was the first time Emma called Edward ‘Daddy’. Which, ewww. (Dear authors, There are LOTS of names out there. Can we please stop naming everyone Edward? I blame Twilight for this.) Maybe it was because I never trusted Simon, mostly because I could never figure out why he was hanging around the story so much, unless to end up being the bad guy. Mostly though I think it was because Emma and Jane sounded almost identical in their POVs. I don’t know how many times I had to flip back to double check who’s name was at the beginning of the chapter. I know they author was trying to convey the idea that Edward was trying to make them into the same person or at least the newest version of his ideal woman, but the women in their own heads were different people. Their outlooks and experiences were different and should have been shown, even if only in the little things like tone or word choice, as such.
I agree that the story veered too much in the Christian Grey direction (I’m going with what I’ve heard about those books, as I couldn’t bring myself to get to the halfway point of the first book, the writing was so bad). It would have made a better psychological thriller if the author not made it all about Edward setting up the same sexual situations with different women.
Why does it seem like every Brit authored mystery/suspense novel to come out lately is full, from page one to the author’s picture on the back cover, with crazy people? Because holy cow were all of these characters immensely unlikable and mentally unstable. Except maybe the neighbor with all the kids. In that way this book reminded me of The Girl on the Train (ooh…not only are these books full of crazy, they have ‘Girl’ in the title).
