Published: May 27, 2021
Boldwood Books
This title is available to read for free with a Kindle Unlimited subscription.
Nina Manning studied psychology and was a restaurant-owner and private chef (including to members of the royal family). She is the founder and co-host of Sniffing The Pages, a book review podcast. She lives in Dorset.
“All games come to an end, and eventually, one of us will have to declare the other the winner.”
Sasha and Caitlin have been friends since childhood, though their differences have always been kept at the forefront. Sasha is from a working-class family. Her parents worked on the estate owned by Caitlin’s family. Their friendship was not supposed to happen. But now Sasha is planning Caitlin’s wedding. Here comes the bride…
I found this book entertaining, but in a completely different way than I would typically when reading a novel. The imagery was stunning, the characters were well defined, but the plot wasn’t as intricate as I expected.
The twist’s reveal was well played, though it took almost the entire book to get there. There aren’t any devious dealings or deceitful motives. The twist is more realistic than that.
I liked Sasha’s character, despite her constant need to be praised by Caitlin. Caitlin was shallow and not very nice, but that was the point of her character.
This was my first novel by Nina Manning, and I would read her again. I did figure out part of the twist before the story revealed it, but the second portion did take me by surprise, so it worked out.
This is an emotional story from start to finish, and I found the underlying themes relevant. I enjoyed this title quite a bit. Well done, Ms. Manning.