Before I start the review today, two announcements and some minor “housekeeping” issues (as my grad school professors used to say).

First, Diane Wassick is the winner of The Power of Habit! Congratulations, Diane! Thanks to all who entered their email addresses- I’m working on some subscriber perks, so if you haven’t subscribed yet, consider doing so!

Second, if you’re interested, I was quoted in an article by Laura Vanderkam over at FastCompany on 7 Secrets From People Who Kept Their New Year’s Resolutions.

There was a small glitch with subscriber emails on Tuesday when posts that I’d only updated, not posted, were emailed out; I’ve been told by the program’s tech support that the glitch has been fixed, so the only emails you should receive will be new posts (3-4 times per week).

There have also been some problems recently for people wanting to comment. (Thanks to Ana of anabegins for pointing this out to me!) This has been resolved, so please feel free to comment once more! I apologize for the website issues- I’ve been back and forth with tech support for the past week.

On to Friday Book Review!

I seem to have read Liane Moriarty’s work backwards. This past year, everyone was talking about The Husband’s Secret; it was one of the top 5 bestselling novels of 2013. And yet, every time Amazon recommended it to me, I passed it by. It sounded like just another story about multiple women being pissed off at the men in their lives (and occasionally at each other). However, when I found Moriarty’s Three Wishes on my library’s e-book download, it seemed worth a try, and I ended up enjoying it quite a bit. So I decided to finally see what The Husband’s Secret was all about.

A brief summary: Cecilia Fitzpatrick has the perfect life- a handsome, doting husband; a successful business; three beautiful, intelligent, quirky daughters; and the queenship of St. Angela’s PTA (the Austrialian version). One afternoon, while organizing the attic, she stumbles across a letter from her husband that says, “Open after my death.” The results of this letter bring Cecilia’s world crashing down. Other parts of the story are narrated by Rachel, St. Angela’s secretary, bitter and lonely after her daughter’s early death; and Tess, whose marriage is in turmoil after her husband reveals he’s in love with Tess’s cousin and best friend. By the end of the book, the three women’s stories are tangled and tied up in ways none of them could have anticipated or desired.

My thoughts are:

1. It was a page-turner. I broke my rule of never reading fiction before bed for this book, and lo and behold, I got to sleep much later than usual. (Fortunately, Edwin chose the next morning to sleep in a bit, so no harm done.)

2. It was well-written. All three point-of-view women were strong characters, and their voices were distinct.

3. It includes a lot of pain, death, fears, infidelity, betrayal, and other things that can be difficult to read. Moriarty does not sugar-coat them. I found that a bit of a departure from Three Wishes, which has almost a tongue-in-cheek quality.

4. Reading the climax was like watching a car crash in slow motion. You can’t look away, but it’s horrifying.

5. I figured out what the husband’s secret was pretty much right away, which was disappointing. I also figured out the twist at the end, a crucial fact the narrator tells us that the characters themselves never get to know. (I usually don’t like that kind of device, but I thought it worked here.) However, I was interested enough in the progression of each character that I didn’t care that I’d guessed the main points of the story, and there were still some surprises.

Verdict? I’d definitely recommend it, but keep in mind that it’s a deceptively heavy read.

Any suggestions for what novel I should read next?