Sunday, November 27, 2022

We Knew All Along

We Knew All Along by Mina Hardy
12/6/22; 261 pages
Crooked Lane Books

We Knew All Along by Mina Hardy is a recommended domestic thriller.

Jewelann Jordan attends her 25th class reunion hoping to see the high school student who broke her heart, Christian Campbell. She does connect with him as well as a few other women she previously knew in school. After the reunion, Christian inserts himself into her life and somehow has her husband, Ken, renting him their carriage house. Jewelann is certain Christian's plans include threatening her marriage to Ken, hurting her son, Eli, and ruining her life.

As Christian's presence becomes increasingly oppressive and complicated, there are apparently other things going on with Ken that has Jewelann questioning his odd behavior. She is worried that he will discover her shopping addiction, let alone her latent feelings for Christian.

The novel is well written with a strong opening that pulls you in. Then it slows down to a melodramatic crawl until the novel is almost over. Yes, it returns interest with a strong ending that presents some huge, unbelievable twists but that doesn't make up for spending most of the novel with a group of very shallow disagreeable people. Admittedly, shallow disagreeable people can be entertaining, as can all manner of unbelievable plot elements where you are required to suspend your disbelief.

Yeah, I'm all over the place on this review. It is sort of a domestic thriller but also kind of a romance novel focusing on bad behavior. If you can find a histrionic, but surprisingly entertaining plot, with unappealing characters fascinating, then give it a try.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley.

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