bookchickdi: Margot Hunt

Showing posts with label Margot Hunt. Show all posts

Friday, December 14, 2018

For Better and Worse by Margot Hunt

For Better and Worse by Margot Hunt
Published by Mira ISBN 9781488088544
Trade paperback, $16.99, 336 pages

Margot Hunt's For Better and Worse begins with Natalie and Will Clarke meeting in law school, and soon they fell in love and married. Natalie and Will were very different- she was serious, decisive and driven, knowing from the beginning that she wanted to be criminal defense lawyer. Will was more laid back, handsome and athletic, and he made Natalie laugh.

On their first date they joke about committing the perfect murder, how to do it, how to cover it up and get away with it. Seventeen years later, it comes back to haunt them.

Nat doesn't know why Will is suddenly so angry with her. He hates her family organization calendar, hates knowing exactly what they are going to have for dinner every night. Nat notices that Will now uses a password for his phone and he is frequently texting someone. Is he having an affair?

That falls to the wayside however when their eleven-year-old son Jacob's school principal is accused of molesting a troubled student. Nat and Will doubt the accusation at first; they have known the man for twenty years, were good friends with him and his ex-wife.

When Jacob tells Nat that the principal molested him on a class trip, Nat is infuriated. She has defended people accused of this crime and she knows what trauma Jacob will be put through if he tells what he knows and has to testify at a trial.

The only solution to the problem as Nat sees it is to kill the man. She knows he did this and to prevent him from doing it to others and to protect her son's future, she concocts the perfect murder. When something goes wrong, she has to drag an unwilling Will into it and things begin to fall apart.

For Better and Worse is a propulsive thriller, and I read it in one sitting. The reader can put themselves in Nat's shoes, trying to protect their child. And once Nat makes the decision to kill the principal, you will hold your breath the rest of the way as you see things going from bad to worse.

The story is told first from Nat's point-of-view, and when it switches to Will's point-of-view, you'll find your heart in your mouth. Will doesn't understand why his wife would do this, and he begins to question who he really married. It is a roller coaster of ride from there.

You really don't know how this will end, and I confess that I did not see that ending coming. It will be a topic of discussion.

That being said, if you are looking for a thrill ride of a book, something to take you away for a few hours, For Better and Worse should be next up on your TBR list. Just remember to breathe while you are reading. I highly recommend it.

Thanks to TLC Tours for putting me on Margot Hunt's tour. The rest of her stops are here:

Margot Hunt’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Monday, December 3rd: Tales of a Book Addict

Tuesday, December 4th: What is That Book About – excerpt

Wednesday, December 5th: @bookishconnoisseur

Wednesday, December 5th: @mountain_reader_

Thursday, December 6th: A Bookish Way of Life

Friday, December 7th: Not in Jersey

Monday, December 10th: @girlsinbooks

Monday, December 10th: Books & Bindings

Tuesday, December 11th: @theliteraryllama

Wednesday, December 12th: Chick Lit Central

Thursday, December 13th: Girl Who Reads

Thursday, December 13th: From the TBR Pile

Friday, December 14th: Bookchickdi

Monday, December 17th: She Reads With Cats and @shereadswithcats

Tuesday, December 18th: Thoughts on This ‘n That

Wednesday, December 19th: Palmer’s Page Turners

Thursday, December 20th: Caryn, The Book Whisperer

Friday, December 21st: Thoughts from a Highly Caffeinated Mind

TBD: @everlasting.charm

TBD: Really Into This

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Best Friends Forever by Margot Hunt

Best Friends Forever by Margot Hunt
Published by Mira ISBN 9780778331131
Hardcover, $26.99, 384 pages

Sometimes you pair the perfect book with the perfect place to read that book. Last month I was lucky enough to have a few hours to sit on a warm Florida beach and soak up the sun, so I brought along a new book to read- Margot Hunt's Best Friends Forever. Three hours later, I finally looked up and took a breath, having finished the book. (Thank goodness I used plenty of sunscreen.)

Alice Campbell is making breakfast, getting her son and daughter ready for school, when two policemen ring her doorbell. They have questions for Alice about the death of her friend Kat's husband, Howard.

Howard had fallen to his death from the balcony of his and Kat's mansion. Everyone assumed it was a drunken accident, until the police came knocking. They asked Alice to come down to the station to talk about Kat and Howard.

Kat came from a wealthy family, and owned an art gallery on Worth Avenue, a fancy shopping district in West Palm Beach, Florida. Alice met Kat at JFK airport where she was waiting out a delayed flight to their new home in Jupiter. Kat bought Alice a martini and they bonded.

They became fast friends, even though their economic circumstances weren't exactly compatible. Alice and her husband Todd disliked Howard upon first meeting him. He was obnoxious, and condescending and rude to his wife in front them.

The story jumps back and forth in time, from the present, with Kat refusing to answer any of Alice's texts or phone calls, to three years before when the ladies meet and begin spending all their free time together, even taking girls' weekend vacations together on Kat's dime.

Todd and Alice run into financial troubles and Kat helps them out. Then Kat confides in Alice that Howard is physically abusive to her, in addition to the emotional abuse that Alice has witnessed.

As the police investigation proceeds, it is clear that Alice doesn't know everything about her best friend Kat. The suspense builds quickly as the police decide that Alice knows more than she has told them, and she has to use her wits to figure what happened before it's too late for her.

Best Friends Forever is a terrific suspense novel, one that fans of Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies will really enjoy. Like Moriarty, Hunt punctuates the day-to-day domestic life with a puzzle of a mystery to be solved. Also like Moriarty, Hunt sprinkles in a few clues that clever readers may be able to pick up on that help solve the mystery, and even though I thought I knew where it was going, the ending still caused me to gasp out loud. Suspense lovers should put Best Friends Forever on their TBR list, maybe for a long airplane trip. It will make the time fly by. (Just be careful who you talk to at the airport.)

Thanks to TLC Tours for putting me on Margot Hunt's tour. The rest of her stops are here: