See Jane Snap - Bethany Crandell

Genre: Adult Fiction | Romance

Release Date: Expected 7th September 2021

TW: Drugs, Alcohol, Cheating, Dementia/Alzheimers

If you were to see Jane Osbourne, you'd think her life was perfect. She's the PTA chair, the envy of the other mothers at her daughters prestigious private school. She's got a charmed and stable marriage to Dan, a very attractive and successful surgeon who is perfect.

That's what you'd see anyway, but it's far from the truth. She's stressed out, her daughter is constantly in trouble and worst of all, Dan has been living a double life for the last eighteen yers with his secret boyfriend and Jane is trying to keep up their perfect appearances for the sake of his career and the life they've created together. But pretending to live a lie isn't easy and soon, she has to figure out if her false stability is really worth her happiness - or she's going to snap.

I'll be honest - I always feel awkward when a storyline like this pops up - the 'my husband is Gay' trope has been done countless times before and it usually is done in a really disrespectful and somewhat homophobic manner. This almost teetered into an uncomfortable place but Jane made it very clear that it was the betrayal itself that was the reason for her rage - not who the betrayal was with. Whether or not Dan was confused or not, these things definitely happen and can cause total chaos in the fallout.

I really like how Jane was so upfront and brutally honest with her emotions (to the reader, anyway). And when she starts to break she has to start looking inwards for a journey of self-discovery and learn to rebuild with the new her she's learning to know. She's a mother, a daughter, a sister, a wife - but she has no idea who Jane is without all the labels.

The final resolution to this story was strangely sweet - I felt like without me realising these characters had grown from vapid, two-dimensional beings into real humans right in front of me.

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to Bethany Crandell, Montlake and Netgalley for this ARC in return for an honest review.

Comments

REVIEW: This Could Be Us by Clare McGowan

Genre: Fiction | Literary Fiction Release Date: Expected 1st June 2023 Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group | Corsair Kate has done the unthinkable. She'd worked hard to build a perfect life for herself, while ignoring her growing unhappiness. But when her second child was born profoundly disabled, reality hit. Unable to cope, Kate left - disappearing without a trace. She ends up in LA, with a glittering career and a new family of sorts, but the guilt is still suffocating. Husband Andrew was left to pick up the pieces and care for their disabled daughter and angry, confused son. Bereft and broken, he leaned on Olivia, Kate's best friend. She's been by his side ever since, ignoring her own needs to meet his. Years later, Andrew has written a memoir about his daughter learning to communicate against all odds. But when Kate's new producer husband decides he wants to make a film of it, their worlds collide once again. Now, Kate must return to the life she abandoned and reck...

REVIEW: Live, Laugh, Lesbian by Helen Scott

Genre: Non-Fiction | Memoir | LGTBQ+ Release Date: 19th October 2023 Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Part memoir, part guide, part conversation and all queer joy — Live, Laugh, Lesbian is a brilliantly warm and friendly journey into the queer experience, not only from the author but from plenty of other lesbian, queer, bisexual and pansexual contributors who bring a unique viewpoint and voice and also show a beautiful diverse, intersectional scope of the queer spectrum and welcomes in queer people and allies of any kind to come feel the love. The book is very conversational, talking to the reader in a fun, friendly way — at times I rolled my eyes as the use of “famalam” but as a previous patron of Colours and Chicagos I’m not in a position to judge the Essex-isms. It’s full of anecdotes and observations that were witty and relatable as well as talking is through the more difficult side of queerness like dealing with workplace discrimination, religious trauma and coming out to family...

BOOK TOUR STOP x RANDOM THINGS TOURS: Thirty Days of Darkness by Jenny Lund Madsen

" This town has secrets that are best left alone." Author Hannah is a success, on paper at least. She's receiving critical acclaim and praise worldwide and her work is regarded as some of the best. She writes literature, not just books. But the reality is, outside of the literary circles nobody actually reads her work. But when she finally snaps at a book event and publicly criticises the genre fiction books that outsell hers, claiming they're easy and mindless she's challenged to write her own crime fiction novel in just thirty days by an author she loathes. Desperate not to lose to him, her editor arranges for her to spend a month in a quiet, cold village in Iceland hoping that the solitude will spark inspiration. But instead of writing a murder story - she's in one . Just before she arrives, the body of a young man is pulled from the icy waters and her search for ideas soon becomes a search for a killer. And if she's not careful, she might end up the...

On Bee's Bookshelf

Search This Blog