I enjoyed the book A Simple Favor and I actually liked the movie in a different way and just as well, which is kind of unusual for me. (I nearly always like the book loads better).
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are honest and my own. This post contains affiliate links. See disclosures for more detail.
About the Book:
Charlotte has everything in life that she ever could have hoped for: a doting, artistic husband, a small-but-thriving flower shop, and her sweet, smart five-year-old daughter, Daisy. Her relationship with her mother might be strained, but the distance between them helps. And her younger brother Rocco may have horrible taste in women, but when he introduces his new girlfriend to Charlotte and her family, they are cautiously optimistic that she could be The One. Daisy seems to love Ruth, and she can’t be any worse than the klepto Rocco brought home the last time. At least, that’s what Charlotte keeps telling herself. But as Rocco and Ruth’s relationship becomes more serious, Ruth’s apparent obsession with Daisy grows more obvious. Then Daisy is kidnapped, and Charlotte is convinced there’s only one person who could have taken her.
Ruth has never had much, but now she’s finally on the verge of having everything she’s ever dreamed of. A stable job at a start-up company, a rakish, handsome boyfriend with whom she falls more in love with every day—and a chance at the happy family she’s always wanted, adorable niece included. The only obstacle standing in her way is her boyfriend’s sister Charlotte, whose attitude swerves between politely cold and outright hostile. Rebuffing Ruth’s every attempt to build a friendship with her and Daisy, Charlotte watches over her daughter with a desperate protectiveness that sends chills down Ruth’s spine. Ruth knows that Charlotte has a deeply-buried secret, the only question is: what? A surprise outing with Daisy could be the key to finding out, and Ruth knows she must take the chance while she has it—for everyone’s sake.
My Thoughts:
I gave this book 3/5 stars
I liked this book but I didn’t love it. There are some clever twists, but overall it suffered from too much jumping around–too many back and forths between present and past and the two main characters. And I didn’t really like either Charlotte or Ruth, I thought they weren’t very well developed and some things that happened majorly required suspension of disbelief, and I just couldn’t always get myself there.
I thought that this one would probably be better as a movie than on the page because then we wouldn’t know from the beginning really who was lying and who was telling the truth.
For a soapy, fairly fast-paced thriller, this one is a decent choice if you just take it at face value and don’t think it’s going to be too surprising.
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