The premise of the book is good, however the actual story dragged. There are multiple instances of the author repeating information and for a majority of the book is the same conversation being hashed out with different characters in different rooms, with little to no new or detailed revelations to advance the story. At times it felt as if the plot was at a standstill. Most of the motives and harbored resentment for Sadie that Kimiko, Amy, and Em had were super juicy is barely touched on and treated like an afterthought. We don’t explore a lot of the tangled relationships the group of girls have with Sadie. At times, I found myself speed reading or skipping paragraphs because it was taking forever to get to the point.

Even with all the issues, the conclusion is good, I guess. It wraps the story neatly into a bow, but given how the story was set up, I was hoping for more cat fights or arguments or revelations or even for the characters to piece together more of that night.

One of the things I have to mention is how Kimiko was written. She was half Japanese and half Italian and the author mentioned cornrows and kinky hair like girl…don’t play with me. I had to go back and make sure I wasn’t tripping because the way I kept reading words I was thinking Kimiko was a lil Black or something. Those are only words that I would associate with Black culture. Like describing the ritual of sitting between someones legs and getting your hair CORNROWED is for sure Black people shit.

THIS PART OF THE REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!

June was an annoying, insecure character who ignored all the signs that Sadie’s life wasn’t what it seemed. I mean the day June got on that property Ethan texted to see her and made a move. And June was still jealous.

Kimiko, Em, and Amy all had wayyyy better motives and backstories that show how manipulative Sadie was and they never really mention it. Like Sadie was writing a whole book about Em’s weird relationship with her mother’s boyfriend. Sadie lent Kimiko business money and threatened to ruin her if she didn’t get her investment back, plus she had a kid that was in juvie for selling drugs which was mentioned multiple times, but it really had very little to do with the story. They talked about Kimiko’s son more than Sadie lending her money. And Amy…poor Amy. Sadie knew how sleezy Ethan was and how messy Amy was and pushed them together and Amy got preggo. Sadie was gonna pretty much take that baby and try to start a new life with her gardener, Leo, who was recovering from losing a son. 

Sadie was a fucking bitch! And the conclusion being that Sadie’s daughter, Dakota killed her accidentally to run off with her boyfriend to LA and Ethan helped dispose of the body? LAME!