Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for access to an early release copy.

In a line up of “who’s who” Lila Crayne is the main event and soon to be engaged to the tour de force director Kurt. And even without the author throwing out an “All About Eve” reference, even if there were too many references being thrown out, the line of “fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night” was still the summarization in my mind of the whole story. Even with her own Eve, in the form of Celia. Soon filming begins, where an obvious take of life imitating art.

For about the first half of the story, you are in the Lila’s POV either recounting her to her therapist or where she is filming and manipulating every aspect of her life. I think a missed opportunity was writing her more genuine. However, about 40% of the way in, you find out the therapist, Jonah, may have more on his mind.

At times, I appreciated where the author was delicate in handling the sensitivity of some of the trauma in the story; but other times completely dismissive. Because of how Lila was written as such a suspicious character, everything she confessed felt manipulative and fake. So unfortunately the twist doesn’t pack the punch it should, since Lila seems so disingenuous . Overall, I liked the ending. But the final chapter was unnecessary and made it abrupt where it didn’t need to be so I hope the final copy leaves it out. Please check trigger warnings on this one