Author: Liane Moriarty
Published: June 14, 2012
Genre: contemporary fiction
Hardcover: 416 pages
Source: borrowed from the library
My Rating: 3.5 stars
Synopsis (from GoodReads): From the author of critically acclaimed What Alice Forgot comes a wonderfully fun, insightful novel about the crazy things we do for love.
Ellen O’Farrell is a bit unusual. She’s a hypnotherapist. She’s never met her father. And she can’t seem to keep a relationship going (okay, that’s more normal that we want to admit). When Ellen meets Patrick, she’s hopeful nevertheless. But when he says he needs to tell her something, she fears the worst. However, when Patrick reveals that his ex-girlfriend is stalking him, Ellen thinks, Is that all? Actually, that’s kind of neat. She’s more intrigued than frightened. What makes a supposedly smart, professional woman behave this way? She’d love to meet her. What she doesn’t know is that she already has.
My Thoughts: I haven't read any of Liane Moriarty's work before but have read plenty of glowing reviews for What Alice Forgot. So, I figured that this book would be just as wonderful as her other one. While I still haven't read What Alice Forgot, I have fallen in love with Moriarty's work after reading this novel. Told from two women's points of view, who both happen to be in love with the same man, Moriarty tells a fascinating tale of falling in love and having love break your heart and not being able to deal with the aftermath.
The woman falling in love is Ellen, a hypnotherapist who meets Patrick through an online dating site. After their first few dates, Patrick reveals that he has a stalker, his ex-girlfriend, Saskia. Ellen becomes fascinated with Saskia and what her relationship with Patrick must have been like. As it turns out, Saskia is one of Ellen's patients, making things a bit more complicated. Ellen continues to date Patrick while Saskia continues to stalk them. Moriarty weaves an intricate story where you understand both women and why they do the things that they do. She creates this characters who seem life-like, people who are real and whose actions you could see being done by other women that you know.
The only downside for me was that the novel was a little long. I thing some editing could have been done without sacrificing any of the plot. I also didn't really like the cover (I know, I'm vain!), but other than those two things, I really enjoyed Moriarty's work. I cannot wait to read more of her books in the future.
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