I picked this up because I usually really enjoy Susan Mallery books, and this sounded right up my alley.
Cut to some of the most unlikable characters I've read in a long time.
Lets start with Clare - the main character. She is a concert pianist who is estranged from her sisters. She has led a sheltered life, in which it seems she's only met her sisters a few times since childhood. I know a lot of people didn't like her, but I found her quite sympathetic. She's a gentle soul, without a mean bone in her body - which, yes, does make her a bit of a doormat. But my sympathy for a character who was a pretty nice person was what made the conflict in the book so unbelievable.
I understand the idea of conflict and why its necessary, but for it to work it needs to be realistic conflict based on reasonable assumptions. Instead, we get Nicole, Clare's twin sister. A twenty eight year old woman who is so toxic, she has spent her entire life since she was six sitting around stewing to a life-consuming degree on her deep hatred for her sister Clare. She doesn't just dislike her, she's built her life around her hatred for her. She spends her days and nights sitting around ensuring that everyone she knows (including their younger sister Jessie) is aware that Clare is the worst, most horrible person in the world. Her mind is a shrine to hatred. She is consumed by it, and it is clear right away that she's full of shit and it isn't justified. The conflict isn't in the relationship, all the conflict lies in this one awful character.
I should mention - Clare's terrible crime -being taken away from the family when she was six, to go and become a prodigy and presumably be put on the treadmill to earn a bunch of money for her shitty family. Their mother joined her on the road and was killed an an accident six years later - which Clare survived. Nicole at the age of 28 - yes, that's right 28, still believes that it was Clare's fault their mother died while accompanying her on tour when she was 12.
The weirdest part of it is that Nicole has had almost nothing to do with Clare for the last twenty two years, but has made all kinds of assumptions based on what she imagines she must be like. Clare is essentially a stranger to her, but her own bitterness means she's sat around for her entire miserable life building up an image in her head of what her sister must be like, thus reinforcing her hatred, and ensuring she retains her position as Victim-in-Chief.
Example of the things she says to Clare:
"Why would I want to spend time with you? You're just an egotistical, selfish, mother-murdering princess."
"Because every night after her death, I prayed God would turn back time and make it you instead of her. I still wish that."
"At least you had mom with you, until you killed her."
Those are the reactions of a child. You would imagine that at some point, she would have thought about it as an adult and realised that a six year old didn't have a lot of agency in the situation, and it certainly wasn't her fault that the mother died on tour with her six years later. But instead, this toxic person has internalized her own bitterness to the point that she hasn't grown emotionally since she was twelve. This is one of the most unlikable female characters I've ever read. I can love and appreciate complex female characters, but this one isn't complex, she's just really awful. Any time she starts being passably pleasant to anyone, something happens to trigger her sense of being aggrieved by life, and she reacts with vitriolic spewing of hate.
Another thing that was odd - I understand how toxic people poison everything, and often go out of their way to poison relationships, but it seemed like every single person she encountered (even the staff at the bakery Nicole runs) have heard all about Clare and what a shitty person she is. Really Nicole? Even the servers at your Bakery have to hear the whole saga of your estranged sister who you never expected them to meet? Then the Bakery staff are rude to Clare in a way that would never fly in any workplace, or any social situation.
Jesse, the younger sister isn't much better. She's a shallow, lying grifter who doesn't add anything to the story. She is also in conflict with Nicole - who found her mostly naked in bed with Nicole's husband. But hey, what's Nicole getting so uptight about, they didn't actually have sex, right? Yes, this is her attitude throughout the whole book.
Wyatt, the love interest is a nice enough guy, but a bit boring. There is no real spark between them, and he comes off as a jerk periodically throughout the book. He starts off hating Clare because of what her sister has told her - though he admits right off the back that Nicole is a bitter person - he doesn't actually bother to look any deeper. You would also expect that even if you'd heard shitty things about a friend's relative, you'd still try to be polite. Nope, like everyone else in the book, they are flat out rude to Clare. Have these people never heard of manners?
I'm not going to read the next two books, because while i liked Clare, the relationship seemed like it was more about convenience for both of them, and Nicole and Jessie were both lousy people who I can't ever imagine wanting to read more about.