Category Archives: Melanie Gideon

Review: Did I Say You Could Go by Melanie Gideon

Title: Did I Say You Could Go by Melanie Gideon
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Genre: Contemporary, Domestic Mystery, Suspense
Length: 368 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

A suspenseful, gripping novel about families and friendships torn apart at the seams by obsession, secrets, and betrayal with relentless twists and turns that hurtle forward to a shocking confrontation.

When Ruth, a wealthy divorcé​e, offers to host the Hillside Academy kindergarten meet-and-greet, she hopes this will be a fresh start for her and her introverted daughter, Marley. Finally, they’ll be accepted into a tribe. Marley will make friends and Ruth will be welcomed by the mothers. Instead, the parents are turned off by Ruth’s ostentatious wealth and before kindergarten even begins, Ruth and Marley are outcasts.

The last guest to arrive at the meet-and-greet is Gemma, a widow and a single mother to her daughter, Bee. Ruth sets her sights on the mother-daughter duo, and soon the two families are inseparable. Ruth takes Gemma and Bee on Aspen vacations, offers VIP passes to Cirque du Soleil, and pays for dinners at Michelin-starred restaurants. For Gemma, who lives paycheck to paycheck, Ruth’s largesse is seductive, but as the years go by, she can’t shake the feeling that she’s accruing an increasingly unpayable debt. When Ruth’s affair with a married Hillside dad is exposed, and she’s publicly shunned, Gemma uses it to sever ties with Ruth.

Six years later, when Gemma finds herself embroiled in a scandal of her own—Ruth comes to her defense. Their renewed friendship rehabilitates their reputations, but once again, Gemma starts to feel trapped as Ruth grows more and more obsessed with their relationship.

A relentless page-turner, Did I Say You Could Go is the story of friendships steeped in lies and duplicity. It’s about two families who, when pushed to extremes, cross the line with devastating results.

Review:

Did I Say You Could Go by Melanie Gideon is an attention grabbing domestic mystery.

Ruth Thorne is a divorced, wealthy mom to fifteen-year-old Marley. She is disciplined about her appearance and she browbeats poor Marley who struggles with her weight. Ruth is clingy and needy so she does whatever it takes to keep her stranglehold on her friendship with widow Gemma Howard. But how far will she go to make sure Gemma will not abandon her again?

Gemma is in danger of losing her business after a very public scandal. So she a gratefully renews her relationship with Ruth after her former friend publicly comes to her defense.  Gemma is a hands-off mom who trusts Bee to make the right choices. Will this parenting style blow up in her face as Bee makes once bad decision after another?

Marley is extremely introverted and after their mom’s friendship imploded so did hers and Bee’s. She tentatively accepts Bee’s attempts to bring her into her circle of friends, but Marley is initially cautious. Things are going well between the teenagers, but will Ruth’s tight grip on her daughter ruin Marley’s opportunity for acceptance?

It does not take long for Gemma to remember why she gladly took the chance to end her friendship with Ruth. She is naïve and trusting and quickly feels beholden to Ruth. With her life finally back on track, how will Ruth react to Gemma’s promising new relationship?

Did I Say You Could Go is an engrossing mystery with a twisty-turny storyline. Ruth is obsessive, calculating and outright cruel so she is virtually impossible to like. Gemma is an appealing character whose precarious financial situation leaves her vulnerable to manipulation.  Resuming their friendship is an easy decision but trouble is on the horizon for both the mothers and their daughters. With stunning plot twists,  Melanie Gideon brings this mesmerizing domestic mystery to a jaw-dropping, unpredictable conclusion.

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Filed under Contemporary, Did I Say You Could Go, Domestic Mystery, Melanie Gideon, Mystery, Rated B+, Review, Simon & Schuster Inc, Suspense

Wife 22: A Novel by Melanie Gideon

Title: Wife 22: A Novel by Melanie Gideon
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Genre: Contemporary, Fiction
Length: 400 pages
Book Rating: B

Review Copy Obtained from Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

For fans of Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary and Allison Pearson’s I Don’t Know How She Does It comes an irresistible novel of a woman losing herself…and finding herself again…in the middle of her life.

Maybe it was those extra five pounds I’d gained. Maybe it was because I was about to turn the same age my mother was when I lost her. Maybe it was because after almost twenty years of marriage my husband and I seemed to be running out of things to say to each other.

But when the anonymous online study called “Marriage in the 21st Century” showed up in my inbox, I had no idea how profoundly it would change my life. It wasn’t long before I was assigned both a pseudonym (Wife 22) and a caseworker (Researcher 101).

And, just like that, I found myself answering questions.

7. Sometimes I tell him he’s snoring when he’s not snoring so he’ll sleep in the guest room and I can have the bed all to myself.
61. Chet Baker on the tape player. He was cutting peppers for the salad. I looked at those hands and thought, I am going to have this man’s children.
67. To not want what you don’t have. What you can’t have. What you shouldn’t have.
32. That if we weren’t careful, it was possible to forget one another.

Before the study, my life was an endless blur of school lunches and doctor’s appointments, family dinners, budgets, and trying to discern the fastest-moving line at the grocery store. I was Alice Buckle: spouse of William and mother to Zoe and Peter, drama teacher and Facebook chatter, downloader of memories and Googler of solutions.

But these days, I’m also Wife 22. And somehow, my anonymous correspondence with Researcher 101 has taken an unexpectedly personal turn. Soon, I’ll have to make a decision-one that will affect my family, my marriage, my whole life. But at the moment, I’m too busy answering questions.

As it turns out, confession can be a very powerful aphrodisiac.

The Review:

Melanie Gideon’s Wife 22: A Novel is a clever, fiendishly funny and sometimes bittersweet novel that takes a thought-provoking look at long-term marriage. Alice Buckle is fast approaching middle age and feeling a bit lost as her children are growing up and her marriage begins to flounder. Her participation in an anonymous marriage study takes her back to the early days of courtship and marriage to her husband William. But it also reveals her current dissatisfaction with her marriage and she soon enters into an intense on line relationship with Researcher 101.

Alice is a typical suburban wife and mother whose marriage has gotten lost in the detritus of day to day living. She is easy to identify with as she worries about her son and daughter and struggles to overcome her irritations with William. The marriage study is, at first, an escape from her daily life, but quickly becomes an obsession as she discovers an attraction to Researcher 101.

Wife 22: A Novel has an eclectic and charming cast of characters. Nedra is Alice’s best friend and she is the type of friend who calls it like she sees it. She is brutally honest with Alice but their friendship is strong enough to survive the rough spots.

Alice’s children Zoe and Peter are typical teens. At fifteen, Zoe is indifferent to her mother and their relationship is often tenuous. However Alice shares and close relationship with Peter and their scenes are hilarious and quite touching.

Wife 22: A Novel is an easy read and Ms. Gideon has an appealing writing style. The dialogue is well-written and quite humorous. The questions Alice answers are insightful and interesting. The plot is unpredictable and fast moving.

Wife 22: A Novel by Melanie Gideon is a fun and engaging novel that incorporates various social media with the first-person narrative. Google searches, e-mail, Facebook status updates and chats along with texting and a hilarious Twitter exchange bring Alice’s story vibrantly to life. A fresh and innovative approach to storytelling that will appeal to anyone who utilizes today’s technology.

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Filed under Ballantine Books, Contemporary, Fiction, Melanie Gideon, Rated B, Wife 22