The Perfect Divorce

Thank you to netgalley and blackstone publishing for the ALC.

This is one of those rare cases where the sequel is better than the original. Even if the twists were kind of predictable, I still enjoyed the game of cat and mouse. The pace seemed fast and it definitely had some darkness.

The narration was spot on in this audio book.

I was really looking forward to this book, but it turned out to be just okay. While The Perfect Marriage hooked me from the start, this one felt a bit underwhelming. There were a few twists that grabbed my attention, but overall, it lacked the depth I was hoping for. Disappointed, because I really wanted to love it.

I wanted to love this so bad. The Perfect Marriage was my book club’s first book. Our club loved it and most of them ranked it 4 to 5 stars (I gave it 5). We own her entire catalog and couldn’t wait for The Perfect Divorce. I had it preordered and everything. My wife bought the blood red version, and I got the signed copy with sprayed edges. We also got the audiobook. We wanted the full experience. WELP, that was a mistake.

Let’s start with what I like:

1. Adam Lazarre-White narrated Sheriff Hudson’s character (He does S.A. Cosby’s Books).

2. Short Chapters

3. Quick read

What I disliked:

1. The all men are idiots and/or cheaters trope. Authors really need to develop male characters. There are a million ways to make your reader hate a character.

2. The all police are idiots trope. I believe these tropes are only used to make Sarah's character appear extremely intelligent. In one scene, Sarah’s husband (Bob Miller), who is a successful lawyer, has to be interviewed by law enforcement. Bob and his attorney agreed to the interview (which would never happen). While speaking with law enforcement, Bob makes incriminating statements. He also has text message conversations with a killer about a murder he set up (including incriminating photos).

3. No character development. A decade has passed in the book and Bob and Sarah are the same people they were in The Perfect Marriage.

4. Predictable ending.

5. And of course, Bob and Sarah’s rich ass hired a guy to do some work around their home. You probably already pictured him. If not, let me help. A Hispanic male named Alejandro. He’s full of tattoos and an ex-inmate. Rich people stereotype of Hispanics.

6. Sarah said that during the case with her ex-husband (Adam), Sheriff Stevens gave her sensitive information. She said that the new sheriff (Hudson) wouldn’t do that because he’s professional. For the rest of the book, Sheriff Hudson shared sensitive information with her.

7. There were multiple POVs which I have no issues with. But all the characters had the same voice. It was like they were all Jeneva Rose. It was ridiculous. Sheriff Hudson, Sarah Morgan, and Bob Miller all talked the same. It was this one phase that they all used repeatedly, “Matched my gaze”. OMG, it was so annoying. “He met my gaze,” “She met my gaze”, “he matched my gaze”, “she matched my gaze”. This was almost in every chapter of the beginning and middle of the book. Why is everyone saying the same thing? I’ve heard no one say that in real life, so I find it hard to believe that everyone speaks like that. Anyway, I DNF’d multiple times. I only continued reading so I could discuss it with the book club.

The sequel proved unnecessary, and hopefully, there won’t be a third one.

Dear authors: Women readers don’t like to read about women being overly sexualized and made to look unintelligent in books. And men don’t like to be stereotyped as being all cheaters and lack common sense. That is all.

I’m giving it a generous ⭐️⭐️⭐️