5th March 2020 Sphere Books
Book Description
At the luxurious Serenity Spa Resort on the Californian coast, guests arrive ready to celebrate what is set to be the wedding of the year. But things are about to go horribly wrong…
Among them are four brilliant but desperate women – Ginger, Lulu, Emily and Kate – all harbouring a secret they’d do anything to protect.
Just twenty-four hours later, a man is found dead at the hotel, in the ensuing investigation, each of these women confess to the crime, insisting they acted alone.
The police know they’re lying, but why?
My Thoughts
Thank you to Millie Seaward at Sphere for approaching me and offering me a copy of this book, for fans of Liane Moriarty was enough to sell it to me! And there were similarities to Liane Moriarty, it particularly reminded me of Little White Lies, with four women as central characters, a dead male and both sharing domestic abuse as one of their themes. The book begins with the investigation into the death, so the reader was thrust straight in, the characters are distinctive and the plot was easy to follow so this was not a problem, although there was a sense of needing to catch up – I do like to know what is going on in a book and I am a stickler to detail!
I enjoyed the way this book was written, the first few chapters serving to introduce us to the main female characters via a police interview post murder, where each woman details her arrival at the luxury spa and confesses to murder. Throughout the book the police interview is returned to whilst the story itself is told in the third person narrative, detailing the lives of each of the women as their paths converge at the luxury resort. The entirety of the book takes place over a couple of days at the Spa during the lead up to what promises to be a very exclusive wedding.
As with any book about women and for women I had my favourites, I didn’t warm to Ginger at all but especially liked Lulu and Kate, both women have their secrets, as do the others and this story is about the way women can and do support each other. The glamorous location added an extra layer of appeal and a few late twists added some intrigue. An epilogue tied things up nicely and overall this was an engaging piece of contemporary fiction which I enjoyed.
About the Author
Originally from St Paul, Minnesota, Gina LaManna has also called Italy and Los Angeles home. After studying numbers and equations in college, she realised multiple choice tests were ‘just not for her’ and began writing books instead. She has previously self-published cosy mysteries and hit the USA TODAY list twice.
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