What Matters Most

by Cynthia Victor

Lainey Wolfe and her best friend, Farrell Cole often joke about swapping lives. Then the unthinkable Farrell and her husband are killed in an accident, and Lainey must step in to care for her children. Lainey soon discovers that Farrell's life was not as perfect as she had thought.

Genres: Mystery

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book almost lost me at first. I was a little put off by some stuff in the beginning and I almost stopped reading it. It got better though and I had to know how it ended. I felt the ending was rushed compared to the rest of the book and could have been better. Still, I´m glad I finally read this book that has been on my bookshelf for over a decade. I would give it 3.5 stars if I could.

Lainey has been best friends with Farrell since grade school and she loves her kids Riley and Tim. At a Christmas party at their house she admires the life her friend has. She finally gets a job offer to design her own cartoon character and her career is about to take off when she gets a call that rocks her world. Her friend and her husband have died in a freak accident and Lainey had agreed to be their guardian if anything happened to them. She never thought anything would really happen and realized she had been too quick to agree to just drop her life and take care of her friends children in their own home. She does love the kids though and she did her best to juggle her job and take care of them while they are going through the trauma of losing both parents but she notices some things that bother her. She starts to wonder if it was really an accident that took her friends life.

[Stacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Book! I enjoyed it from beginning to end. The storyline moved perfectly. The characters were very realistic. Very well written.

[Hanka]

"Na čem nejvíc záleží "

[Jennifer Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really loved this book! First time I've read this author and I will be collecting all of her books!

[Jessica Degarmo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a lot going for it, yet at the same time, it has fallen short of the mark.
The first issue I have is with the characters. There is a woman who is having an affair with a married man, a man who has cooked books and done money laundering, a boozer who is the apple of his parents' eye, a woman who cheats on her husband by being a call girl for the evening. The characters are all human, and very obviously flawed, I'll give the author that, but it is very hard to relate to them, especially the woman who tried out the call girl life. She has a beautiful home, two adorable children, a husband who is a stick in the mud, but a good man nonetheless. Why would she feel the need to try something so drastic, even if she was a whild child in her earlier years? The parents of both Farrell and Lainey are horrible people as well, and the reader ends up hating a majority of the characters before half the book is over. It makes it difficult to invest in the story when the characters are so dislikeable.

Second, the book lagged in the middle. The first third was ok, as it set up what was happening, but I almost think we find out who the villain is too soon. We already know who did it; now we're just waiting for the rest of the world to find out. The whole middle section of the book is very boring day-to-day stuff, and there aren't enough events that take place to really further the story. I did end up making it through, and I guess it was ok, but still, we learned who the bad guy was way too early, so it ended being sort of anti-climactic.

I think the writing is tight, which is a good thing, and the plot itself, while a bit unbelievable, is interesting enough to warrant reading the book. I'm not sure who I'd recommend it to, though. It's not really a romance, and it's not really a thriller. It's not really literary fiction. It's just a story, and a mediocre one, at best.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the book had a slow start, but once the book moved into was was promised on the back it was a fast read. I thought the part with the neighbor's husband at the very end came out of nowhere, but beyond that a good book.

[Melissa (Semi Hiatus Until After the Holidays) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good mystery, but a bit long. Characters a bit caricatured and not totally realistic, but it helps propel the story.

[Kylie Briggs · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm so torn - complex characters and a plot with potential but the writing is just awful and she doesn't seem to know how to wrap things up with out losing sight of who her characters are.

[Anne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't get into. Stereotypes, possible ending/s seemed obvious, characterisation trite/cliched.

[Chris]

Ned. Titel: stille tranen