Tag Archives: Liane Moriarty

What I’m Reading: Big Little Lies

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image via Goodreads

From Goodreads.com:
Big Little Lies follows three women, each at a crossroads:

Madeline is a force to be reckoned with. She’s funny and biting, passionate, she remembers everything and forgives no one. Her ex-husband and his yogi new wife have moved into her beloved beachside community, and their daughter is in the same kindergarten class as Madeline’s youngest (how is this possible?). And to top it all off, Madeline’s teenage daughter seems to be choosing Madeline’s ex-husband over her. (How. Is. This. Possible?).

Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare. While she may seem a bit flustered at times, who wouldn’t be, with those rambunctious twin boys? Now that the boys are starting school, Celeste and her husband look set to become the king and queen of the school parent body. But royalty often comes at a price, and Celeste is grappling with how much more she is willing to pay.

New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for the nanny. Jane is sad beyond her years and harbors secret doubts about her son. But why? While Madeline and Celeste soon take Jane under their wing, none of them realizes how the arrival of Jane and her inscrutable little boy will affect them all.

Big Little Lies is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, schoolyard scandal, and the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive.

My review:
This is the second Liane Moriarty book that I’ve finished (the first being The Husband’s Secret) and it’s safe to say that she’s becoming one of my favourite authors. Spare time to sit down and read is a rare thing for me and I found myself opening up Big Little Lies whenever I could!

I adored all of the main characters and the storyline was amazing, although at times I found Madeline to be a little bit self-absorbed and annoying. Moriarty was very clever to “give away” (kind of) what happens at the beginning of the book and use that to build up the rest of the story, which is probably why I couldn’t put it down. I needed to know what happened, dammit!

I also really loved how Moriarty used humour but still kept to the seriousness of the subject matter. The lesson learned for sure in Big Little Lies is “Nothing is ever what it seems.”

Despite me being annoyed by Madeline, I still give Big Little Lies 5 out of 5 stars. I’m looking forward to reading my next Moriarty book, for sure!

What I’m Reading: The Husband’s Secret

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What I'm Reading

From Goodreads.com:
At the heart of The Husband’s Secret is a letter that’s not meant to be read

My darling Cecilia, if you’re reading this, then I’ve died…

Imagine that your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine, too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret—something with the potential to destroy not just the life you built together, but the lives of others as well. Imagine, then, that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive. . . .
Cecilia Fitzpatrick has achieved it all—she’s an incredibly successful businesswoman, a pillar of her small community, and a devoted wife and mother. Her life is as orderly and spotless as her home. But that letter is about to change everything, and not just for her: Rachel and Tess barely know Cecilia—or each other—but they too are about to feel the earth-shattering repercussions of her husband’s secret.

Acclaimed author Liane Moriarty has written a gripping, thought-provoking novel about how well it is really possible to know our spouses—and, ultimately, ourselves.

My review:
The Husband’s Secret was such a good read! I honestly had a hard time putting it down once I started reading. Between the chapters alternating between each character’s storyline, and the intense, “What is going to happen? What is she going to do?” feeling I had at the end of every chapter, I haven’t read a book so fast in a long time! And the ending! It’s always amazing how the innocent are the ones to suffer. (Vague reference there to avoid any spoilers ;))

My only wonder was how Tess’ character tied into everything. Really, I felt that if her character was omitted from the main story line, the plot of the story would still remain relatively the same. Not to say that I didn’t enjoy her story — I think there could be an entire novel based solely on her. (Although I’d say that Emily Giffin’s Something Borrowed, has a slightly similar plot).

The whole point of The Husband’s Secret was to focus on all of the “what if’s” there are in life, as noted in the epilogue. After reading that, I really couldn’t help but think about some of my own “what if’s.” What if I didn’t do journalism? What if I went to a different university altogether? What if Kyle and I never started dating? There are so many of those questions that we’d never know the answer to.

Overall, I give The Husband’s Secret 4.5 stars out of 5.