Nine days! It took me nine days to read this book and it NEVER takes me that long to finish a book!
I didn’t re-read the book description before starting Before and Again, so I went in completely blank to what the story was going to be about. It did start off well, with an opening that was attention grabbing, but my attention was not held for long.
Mackenzie Cooper took her eyes off the road for just a moment and the resulting collision was enough to rob her of everything she held dear. Now she lives in Vermont under the name Maggie Reid. She’s thankful for new friends though they know nothing of her past. She takes satisfaction in working as a makeup artist, as covering up scars is a skill she has mastered. But when a friend’s teenage son is accused of hacking a powerful man’s Twitter account, Maggie is torn between pulling away and protecting herself. As the stunning truth behind their case is slowly revealed, Maggie’s own carefully constructed story begins to unravel as well.
Stunning truth?! Umm, no!!! While this side story was the most interesting aspect of this book, I found the reveal lacking and rushed through. And Maggie’s carefully constructed story? That line makes this out to be a bigger deal than it really is, when it’s rather anticlimactic in my humble opinion. What I felt like I got instead was a lot of whining from Maggie. Now I know she experienced something horrible, but I just couldn’t sympathize with her character.
This story moved slowly with actions repeated and repeated in detail each time. There were some interesting factors, but they felt buried under all the uninteresting tidbits. The epilogue does close out everything addressed in the book, but when I closed the book, I closed it happy that I had finally finished. I admit I skimmed a lot of the last 25% because I just wanted to be done. I should have just quit but I had invested days and wanted to see it through.
I should say that lack of an interesting story wasn’t the only reason it took me so long to read this book. Life got in the way when one of my cats became ill. However, this book held little to pull me back when life did settle down.
My first book by Barbara Delinsky did not leave me eager for more, but I’ll give her a second chance one of these days.
Advanced copy of Before and Again provided by NetGalley.
PS – The cat is fine now 😊
Rating: 2 stars
Reviewer: Jennifer
Title: Before and Again
Author: Barbara Delinsky
Release Date: June 26, 2018
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