Growing up, Gwen and Iris were the best of friends, even if they couldn’t have been more different. Now Gwen is living her hometown dream, or so she reminds herself while juggling endless parenting drama, an unemployed husband, and a neighborhood pyramid scheme. Never mind that at age thirty-nine, her social circle still resembles middle school. Her life is everything she ever wanted it to be, but nothing like she had planned.

Iris was never destined for the ordinary. When she moved to Manhattan, she shed her old life for a better one—but not without a cost. From a distance, Iris’s life couldn’t be more charmed, but no one knows about the cracks in the image she’s worked so hard to cultivate. No one knows the real Iris at all. Except for Gwen. But Iris and Gwen haven’t spoken for years. Until…

When Iris’s past catches up with her, she turns to the one person she could always count on—but she isn’t the only one keeping secrets, and as Gwen scrambles to preserve an illusion of domestic bliss, she finds herself wondering when they went from telling each other everything to sharing nothing. Now, a little wiser, and most certainly a little older, Gwen and Iris discover that the truest of friends accept you just as you are, and that loving yourself is sometimes the best way to find happiness.

No. of pages:- 305 pages

Publisher:- Cedar House Press

Date published:- will be published14th September 2021

Genre:- Women’s Fiction

Rating:- 3/5

I thought the front cover looked so cute that I decided to try out this book. But the book to me was OK in general.

Gwen and Iris were best friends but Iris moved to New York after getting married and Gwen is now a struggling mother of three, juggling with every day life. They haven’t spoken in years until one day, Iris decided to visit her hometown in Wisconsin and reconnect with her old friend.

The story is told from the perspectives of Gwen and Iris. To me the plot started a bit slow and it was a bit boring at first and to me the characters seem to be always whiny all the time complaining about weights and in general every thing. None of the characters to me were likable in my opinion. However, the writing was good and towards the middle, the story got a bit interesting with Gwen and Iris bonding and trying to bond with each other. The ending was a bit expected.

Overall, this was an OK book–worth three stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.