I was very excited to read this book. I've been hearing wonderful things about Berry's books on Booktok, and I even follow her. Unfortunately, this book was very difficult for me. Here's why:

While the story itself was good... a group of mothers torn apart by the murder of one of their friends, full of red herrings to keep the reader from guessing the ending, paced unveilings and a heart racing finish...

The book was heavily unedited. I was shocked to read there was a team of professionals working on this book with Berry.

I am going to spoil now so be aware.

At one point Jade brings baby Iris to Whit's house while she is taking her older daughter to an appointment. Whit then installs a carseat into her car so she can bring both her son, Asher, and Jade's Iris with her in the car. When Whit arrives at her destination, there is mention of Whit holding Asher but where is Iris? As this story line progresses, Jade never returns to pick up Iris, if you've read the book you will understand why this could not have been left out, if Jade and Whit would have interacted in any way to return Iris, it would have been incredibly impactful to the plot. Fastforward hours later, Whit goes to Jade's house. Jade's husband is at the store with both of their children. I was yelling at the book - WHERE IS IRIS?! and HOW DID RYAN GET IRIS?!?!

The other entire plot point that was just so sloppy I could not excuse it was Abby living in Whit's house. We have an entire interaction between Jade and Whit, another between Colin and Whit, we have a concern about a second carseat being seen by Colin all while we are to believe Abby is at the house with her son? No. There is no way she was there. The interaction between Colin and Whit would have been completely different if Abby was actually staying there.

And the third point. Tommy and Colin were best friends from college. Kiersten met Tommy then introduced Whit to his best friend Colin. That is how they hooked up. At the end of the book Colin tells Whit that he was screened by Kiersten through the dating ap. No you were not! You were Tommy's best friend! None of that happened! I almost threw the book in the river when I read that!

These three major plot issues had me distracted to the point where if I had not been so excited to read this book, I would have put it down. Then there were the minor issues like believing Whit was shocked Kiersten was pregnant, Kiersten not knowing about Colin's gambling addiction, Whit saying they shared husbands regularly but then we switch to it happened a couple times in 20 years.

Many people loved this book. I just can't excuse such massive plot issues.