Be careful who you think your friends are

The book was better?… cbr10bingo

So I literally picked up this book from the library because I saw the trailer for the movie.  It couldn’t have fit better into cbr10 bingo if I tried!  I’m someone who likes to read the book before watching the movie or TV show, so there are probably a lot of these that could fit this category.

Looking at some stills from the movie and reading a little about it (today after I’m done reading the book), it looks like they’re going to tweak the story a little bit.  Sometimes I like that, because not everything that works in books works on a screen.  Sometimes it bugs me though, especially if it’s just change for the sake of change.

I definitely liked this book.  I’ve read some reviews that said they didn’t like the format, because it goes from mommy blog posts, to different character chapters.  I personally liked it a lot, because it gave real insight into the characters.

Stephanie is a mommy blogger with a little boy named Miles.  She lost her husband in a tragic accident a few years prior to the story, and she’s basically starved for friendship.  Emily is the mom of Miles’ friend Nicky.  They become acquainted after Emily shares an umbrella with Stephanie one day picking up the kids from school.  We at first get almost the entire story from Stephanie’s perspective, which is told through the aforementioned mommy blogs and Stephanie chapters.  I liked the layout because Stephanie didn’t always tell the truth in her blog posts, and she explained things further in her Stephanie chapters.

Then something happens, we get a little more Stephanie, and then we hear Emily’s perspective on all the stuff that’s happened.  We get one or two chapters from Emily’s husband, but he’s definitely not the star of the show.  It’s definitely these two ladies.

I absolutely pictured these two as the two main characters while I was reading, which was kinda cool.  This next still from the movie kinda sums up their relationship:

Stephanie is mostly in awe of Emily.  Like for the entire book.  Emily holds all of the power in their relationship, and she knows it.

They both seem to be good moms though, and mostly put the needs of their sons first.  They also both have dark secrets.  Emily doesn’t even share them with her husband, but Stephanie shares hers with Emily.

I liked these characters, even though they weren’t really likable.  It’s a good thing when you have unlikable characters, but you still care what happens to them.  I liked this book, and I’m exited to see the movie!