simply_jaye_'s reviews
59 reviews

I read this straight after reading The Housemaid and The Housemaid Secret which may have been a mistake on my part as it didn’t pull me in as much as those books did. That’s not to say this book isn’t good too but I definitely prefer those.

The writing is very simple which I personally like as it makes books easier for me to read and get to grips with. I do think that it could have been fleshed out a lot more and more depth could have been given to certain aspects of the story to make it less likely that you could guess the twist.

Spoilers ahead!!!

I feel like some of the characters weren’t fleshed out enough such as Erika’s Dad and his whole storyline & more information on Jason could have been put in but I feel like it may have been left out on purpose to keep you off the scent.

I’m also not sure how I feel about the book ending with Erika once again having suspicions about her son when it was discovered that he was innocent and is living a happy life now but again, I suppose Frieda is trying to make you second guess yourself a little and maybe leaving crumbs for a second book?

wow. This took me a while to get through but I am so glad I persevered. The descriptive writing and storytelling was just amazing.
I’m not someone who gets put off food easily but I genuinely couldn’t read this whilst I was trying to eat or drink as it made me feel physically unwell. Never has a book given me such a visceral reaction like that.
I wouldn’t say it ever scared me but it definitely gave me the heeby jeebies!!

I loved how the book was broken up and we were given transcripts etc that did some of the world building and gave us the explanations we needed without it all coming from the boys (which wouldn’t have been possible anyway)

The last book I read was Wilder Girls which is a YA version of this I would say with a lot less information on the contagion. I started The Troop in January and just couldn’t get into it, it didn’t hook me but after reading Wilder Girls, I felt like it was a good time to jump back into this and I’m glad I did!!

4 star read as it didn’t hook me initially but once it did, I couldn’t put it down!

I really enjoyed this book although I do have some points which meant it isn’t a 5 star read for me.

First of all, the two different time lines and everything being so similar in the beginning were a little confusing and it took me longer to really get my teeth in to this book than I would have liked.

Other than that, I really enjoyed the pacing and how we were given just enough information, I love how Alma and Marnie weren’t brought into Vivs decision in the end.

Not sure how I feel after reading this. Very thought provoking but also very messed up. Beautiful writing but it just made me feel weird.

I struggled with this book to begin with and decided to put it down and read something else. I picked it back up yesterday and finished it this evening. I have to say I really enjoy Gabrielle’s writing style.
I think the reason I struggled in the beginning is because I’m not from a Jewish background so some of the phrases and words spoken went over my head but after Rachel’s POV is when I really started to get into the book.
I love how each of the POVs were written in a different style so you could properly distinguish between each character.

I loved the whole ‘girl makes mistake but makes a come back’ trope and I also liked the comments on feminism and how men are handled much differently to women when it comes to scandals.

The only thing that I struggled with was at the end of Embeths chapter and how certain things weren’t clearly ironed out etc but it didn’t spoil the overall enjoyment of the book for me.

Wow that took me a whole chunk of time to get through but it was worth it in the end!
I could only manage to read a few pages at a time as I struggled to get my head around the science aspects of the story.
I loved the aspects of connection and relationships. Building communication with Rocky etc.

I was quite sure why he didn’t head back to earth in the end because that was the plan and I don’t think that was ever explained but I think the ending was lovely.

Read as part of my local book club.
Overall an enjoyable read. I liked the overall storyline and the setting. Thought that it would go one way, maybe Karin being held captive out in the woods, but I felt the story had a satisfying ending.

Brilliantly written and very thought provoking.

Interested to see the screen adaptation of this. Maybe I’ll enjoy that more.
I understand what the author was trying to do here but I needed more. I would have loved for it to be a novel or for less repetitiveness and more depth would have also worked too.
The amount of talks about farts and ‘sis’ really took me out of the story and annoyed me a lot.

My first 5 ⭐️ read! I sobbed at the end of this book which hasn’t happened to me yet!
I loved the twists and turns, how you didn’t quite know what to believe or what happened until the end.
I enjoyed that there wasn’t chapters as such, just different points of view broken down.