On a Quiet Street

Big drama, little substance, no suspense.[a:Seraphina Nova Glass' 8061717 Seraphina Nova Glass https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1698280601p2/8061717.jpg] “[b:On a Quiet Street 58977601 On a Quiet Street Seraphina Nova Glass https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1639154572l/58977601.SY75.jpg 88799696]” was, frankly, not for me. I gave it a genuine attempt, making it to 33%, but ultimately, I had to DNF. The novel starts with a mix of intrigue and melodrama, but it quickly veers into territory that felt clichéd and overly contrived – more akin to a soap opera than a compelling thriller.The premise had potential: a gated community told about through multiple points of view, revolving around Paige and her devastation over the hit-and-run death of her son, Caleb. Yet, rather than diving deep into authentic, layered characters or gripping tension, the book becomes bogged down by outlandish twists and unconvincing developments. For instance, Paige's emotional descent pivots to her seduction of Finn – her best friend Cora's husband – in a toilet at a ball no less. That moment was more cringe-worthy than dramatic. Meanwhile, Cora eyes Paige's estranged husband, Grant, and Georgia, supposedly agoraphobic, turns out to be a prisoner of her controlling judge husband. It's all a bit much.The writing was mostly mediocre at best, and the pacing felt like a dying snail on a steeply ascending slope. With four perspectives that sound strikingly alike, none of the characters felt distinctive or gripping either. At 33%, still mired in shallow drama and soap operatic antics, I decided to cut my losses. One star out of five.Blog Facebook Twitter Mastodon Instagram Pinterest Medium Matrix TumblrCeterum censeo Putin esse delendam

In the minority it seems but I thought this was so far fetched and hard to keep up with. I kept getting all of the characters confused and who was in a relationship with who. The twists had me rolling my eyes. 

2.5 stars for me. Honestly, it was fine I didn't hate it but I found it weird and annoying that Cora and Georgia's chapters were first person pov, while Paige was third person. Like why would you do that?????

Het begin was een beetje stuitend.
De proloog was enorm sterk, met veel intrige en emoties, maar dit werd dan opgevolgd door nogal banaal lezende hoofdstukken, in contrast met die eerste sterke proloog.
Mijn intrige nam dus in eerst een duik, maar de aanvankelijke teleurstelling ebde snel weg eenmaal alle introducties achter de rug waren en we echt in het verhaal konden duiken.

En jezus, wat een verhaal zeg! Zoveel drama! Achter gesloten deuren is deze straat allesbehalve stil! Deed mij met momenten een beetje denken aan Desperate Housewives.
Er waren wel een paar rare intermezzo's en gedragingen van de personages, die verder niet werden opgevolgd, maar dat deed voor mij geen afbreuk aan het geheel.

Zeer vermakelijke en meeslepende huiselijke thriller, met schokkende wendingen en een bevredigend einde.

Most of my feelings about this one are wrapped up in how it ended. Spoilers are not specific but will tell you what to expect from the ending so read at your own risk. It's tough to read a lot of this book because it's a lot of people being relentlessly cruel to each other and a lot of “they don't know what we know” frustration, but while I spent a portion of the book worrying that this would be one of those “everybody loses” kind of dark reads, it wasn't, and because the ending was satisfying, I ended up liking the book.