“You only get one mother.”

Cozy on the coast until, I guess, the murder. Started strong, loved the setting and atmosphere. Interesting family relationships created supplemental tension but did kind of shift and overwhelm the main plot sometimes. Circled back around to end with a cutesy little bow. Sometimes it’s nice to take a break with a less than tedious weekend read, and this might be that for you!

Buuuut, the plot was very repetitive and dragged in places leaving runs and rips in my attention span. Characters were less dimensional than intended, often oddly misogynistic, and kinda sorta just… mean for no reason? Can’t really un-ride the bike of calling your granddaughter a huge mistake…twice. That’s not very girl-boss of you. I think Simon had half conversations about bigger social problems but the follow through wasn’t there and the meaning fell apart, creating a disappointing lack of awareness.

2.5/5 I think if the dial was turned more towards mystery than unprocessed family dynamics, this wouldn’t have been so underwhelming.