Ten years ago, June’s beloved husband drowned on their honeymoon. Josh’s body was never found. Now, a decade later, June is finally ready to move on. She owns a natural wine bar in Brooklyn and is engaged to a patient, supportive man named Kyle. She’s excited to begin a new chapter in her life, enjoy a picture-perfect wedding, and start a family.
But out of the blue, she sees…him. Josh, her first husband. Is this just a hallucination from the guilt June carries about finally moving on, or is it possible that her husband never died in the first place?
June tries to forget about this vision, chalking it up to grief and nerves, but soon enough, she stumbles across a website for a winery in Napa, and the owner in the photo is identical to her dead husband. With her upcoming wedding looming and a fiancé who’s already worried she hasn’t left her past behind, June flies to Napa for answers. But she’s not prepared for all the secrets she’s about to unlock, because everything she thought she knew about her first love is a lie.
Review:
If there is one thing I’ll say about Ms Flynn - she nails an opening like nobodies business. That gut-punch, stomach dropping one-liner that everyone tries but few succeed that absolutely hooks you in and this was no exception. Right away I was invested in June and her string of misfortune.
The story was a bit of a slow burner, jumping between times and perspectives - it built up a brilliant anxious energy at the start but for me it faded around halfway when we kept asking the same questions without anything really moving, with the time jumps between 2022 and 1999 being a little jarring and throwing me out of the pace. The ambiguity at points just left me a tiny bit unsatisfied instead of being mysterious.Each storyline was carefully carved out, the characters living separately and slowly figuring out how their lies and lives intertwine with a mixture of real, heartfelt emotion and intriguing, thrilling intensity. And of course, we need to talk about the setting — glorious. It could only be better if the book came with a glass of Chablis. It’s a stunning, immersive and vivid portrait of the sun setting over the vineyards, of luxury and opulence with a dark undertone.
A fabulous domestic drama with fabulously written metaphors. Best paired with a good bottle of wine.
- I was gifted a reviewers copy of this title in return for a review.
- This title contains subjects including sexual assault, violence and murder.
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