Status Updates From The Ex

I prefer the alternate ending cuz it does answer a few questions except her telling Cassie to dump Joel id have to read her reasoning that make a convincing argument

+pacing
+unpredictable big twist
-Anna still being in Joels life is huh
-wuthering heights references, chill

I'd rec to casual thriller readers as a quick entertaining read if you need to kill some time

4*, don't come between a woman and her doctor

Okay wait. So apparently the physical book has a different ending than the audiobook, in the former Anna uses the tracking app she had for Joel on Lydia and sees her frequenting the bookstore and stalking Cassie, so she decides to finish what Lydia started and does the slut graffiti and poisons Cassie w peanuts framing Lydia, she tells Cassie to leave Joel so she ends up saying no to his proposal

It was an easy read w good pacing so it really wasn’t hard to just stay engaged cuz nothing spectacularly highbrow was occurring. I really had low expectations and they were exceeded so idk if that’s a good thing or not.

The actual ending where Cassie never tells on Anna is super weird, she got her happy ending she was obsessed with so she just doesn't want to ruin that? Too many secrets b/t Cassie/Joel

The ex not being F made sense cuz 1. She’s never named in her chapters and 2. The ex is clearly unreliable off the rip 3. The ex says she's less attractive than the new gf but everyone around called F so beautiful so either she has super insecurities or it’s a little lead for us in the right direction. The most confusing part was really that they were both Italians w good cooking skills and Deans name was a copout

It did have me having to really try and calculate a timeline here because Joel is 36 but he dated Anna for 10 years then Francesca for idk how long, a year off then met Cassie...

I actually figured Lydia was the harasser but I didn’t think the “new gf” were different ppl in the alternating POVs so that was a nice genuine surprise twist for me.

Now the twists, the first one with the Ex being Anna was great. The ex is never named in her chapters but Dean being her husband was stupid cuz he’s called Connie by some and Dean by others so it would’ve been a nice foreshadow if the naming were a littttttle less subtle than that nonsense

Joel is not giving “dream man” like 3 woman seem to believe, if anything I was more sold on Dean. He never defended Cassie when Lydia was being unreasonably mean to her and he really kept a lot of secrets from her like hey my ex died and I’m only just now recovering from it or hey Anna and I dated FOR 10 YEARS

Review:

A popcorn thriller that is wayyyyy better than her other book I read. I got it rec’d to me and I have to say I’m into it. It’s got the usual eye rolling parts of how obsessed these women are over a milquetoast doctor but at 1.5x speed it’s a perfect listen while I work. It is plot-driven cuz the characters are all pretty 1D w lackluster dialog

- Wait so Dean is from Chicago but doesn’t know how much a hotdog costs?? Ok….
- Honestly the most unbelievable thing is that Anna and Joel became friends a year later after she was lowk stalking him thru find my, like their last confrontation was NOT friendly

Notes:

- The cover is ehh
- unrelated but why does everyone have ocean blue eyes in these books?
- How do 2 ppl have such differing views on their relationship? Joel wants to break up and Francesca wants to get married… yeah maybe it’s not working
- Oh geez, Cassie thinks wuthering heights is the greatest love story of all time….and she’s hasn’t dated in forever girl you’re 26 chill
- Ooh what’s in Cassie’s apt???

Anna slipped sleeping pills in Francesca’s wine that night, she left clues it was staged to frame Joel but it was ruled a suicide and thus the 3 ppl who wronged her got hurt: F, Lydia and Joel tho now she’s good w Joel but doesn’t want to be crossed again

The secret in Cassie’s apt was her grandpa would forge first edition books to make thousands

Cassie sees Francesca’s necklace in Anna’s dresser, but chooses not to say anything since she got her happy ending thanks to Anna, she accepts his proposal

Lydia is on trial

Lydia is going to couples therapy and it’s pretty much gon end in divorce and she might lose custody etc etc and she resents Joel for what happened to F her bff and he gets to just move on w Cassie and be happy and she’s too young etc etc

Joel and Anna rush to Cassie’s apt where she’s passed out Lydia by her side

She lives

The ex/ Anna goes back to Dean after seeing F and they start dating, F does that night and she was pregnant, Joel couldn’t date for over a year and him and Anna become friends again as she’s completely in love w Dean and moved on

But she likes Cassie and knows who’s stalking her

Lydia is the one who convinced Joel to leave Anna

Cassie finds slut written in her closet

“The ex” goes to the current gfs apt and it’s Anna going to Francesca, who’s huh? So F is the girl Joel met after breaking up with Anna who is now pregnant and pretending to befriend Cassie, I guess it makes sense cuz the ex always called the new gf “Olive” and she’s Italian

So that means Francesca is the one who has debts to a loan shark and Joel broke up w her because of it

Cassie eats leftovers and it has peanuts, Joel saves her and when given the chance to come clean w her secret instead she say Francesca has been harassing her but Joel says can’t be her cuz she killed herself after he broke up w her and he’s felt guilt ever since

Ohhhhhh dam. Guess it makes sense cuz no one ever calls “the ex” in her POV chapters by name

Double date w Lydia and she’s a trip, apparently F is her daughters godmother LMAO

PI says Cassie is in such debt she took out loans from bad ppl and F should prolly warn Joel

F goes to earn him but he obviously thinks she’s lying and it doesn’t help she admits it’s cuz of a PI and that she tracked him via an app

Francesca’s grandma is having chest pains late at night so she calls Dean to come check on her

Cassie continues to get blocked calls

Francesca’s cousin is a PI so guess what her next move is

Joel gives Cassie a copy of his house key, she sees Maureen the homeless person outside staring at her (same one who stole Francesca’s wallet?)

Francesca finally goes on a date w Dean

The bookstore is trashed, Joel confronts Francesca about her antics and says to stop, her inner monologue thinks they’re getting back together lmaooo

Another friend of Joel’s Ana comes by and tells Cassie that she never liked F and Joel broke up w her because she was dishonest about things

She runs into the wife of Joel’s med school friend, lies she’s engaged w Joel, F’s card gets declined

For Lydia’s costume party she suggests Cassie dress as cleopatra and it’s a disaster cuz that’s what Francesca wore last year and despite ending their friendship she talks sooo highly of how beautiful she is to Cassie

Francesca decides to go to Cassie’s bookstore tonight knowing she’ll be at the Halloween party

Dean waits for her outside F’s restaurant, Joel told him who she is and he’s persistent to go out w her

Cassie goes by F’s restaurant but runs into Joel, they are clearly both lying about why they’re in the area but she can’t call him out on it without exposing her own lie

F steals Cassie’s keys, copies them real quick

F follows Joel to the park, tries to get better look at one of his friends while he orders food, she thought she knew all his friends but doesn’t know Dean, he clearly flirts w her, she refuses to give her # or even her name cuz then Joel might find out

Cassie gets home from sleeping w Joel and slut is written on her apt door, whatever secret she has is what her grandpa left behind

Francesca continues to stalk her

Cassie’s bookstore front is covered in red paint, the oboe reason it hasn’t gone ballot yet is tied to the secret in her apt

They go to a date at the zoo and Joel’s friends are there, the one who cut off Francesca incl, her daughter remarks that F and C look similar and they kinda hound her that Joel wants kids rly badly, so C ends up being really insecure about it all

Francesca maid going to move into her grandmas apt in the city

She goes to the restaurant thanks to find my again and ends up seeing the pair’s first kiss outside

Cassie feels someone following her home and she’s hesitant to call the police cuz she can’t have them see what’s in her apt…

Francesca’s friend kinda cuts her off cuz she’s married to Joel’s friend

he does approach her but says like hey I can’t keep paying for your rent but it’s been 6 months and his med school loan payments are racking up, she also gets her wallet stolen

Cassie and Joel go on a first date, some guy Joel knows comes up and says omg I finally get to meet the infamous perfect Francesca lmaooo, Joel says he’s exaggerating and she wasn’t perfect but he doesn’t want to talk about it

Joel has an awakening after a man similar to him drops dead of coronary which leads him to break up w his longtime gf Francesca, she didn’t mean to kill anyone lmao

Cassie, working a struggling used bookstore has crush on frequenter Joel, who’s 10 years older

Francesca fabricates a sexy date night post online then goes to sleep and a run in at a coffee shop w Joel since she still has him on find my,