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This Is Not Over by Holly Brown

When I first read the premise of this novel, it reminded me of an experience I’d had with airbnb. It was my first time renting and I really wanted to make sure I adhered to all of the rules that the homeowner had set. However, I was shocked to find out that I had been given a negative review. When I contacted the home owner, she explained that it was because I hadn’t posted my own review. Once I did that (and gave her a 4/5 star rating), she changed her own review about me. The premise of this novel is quite similar in that regard so I thought it would be interesting to see how the author would take a case of miscommunication and turn it into a thriller. Here is my review:

You’ll have your deposit within seven business days, just like it says on Getaway.com. I’ve put through a refund to your credit card for the full amount, minus $200 to replace the sheets. I couldn’t get the stain out despite professional laundering and bleaching. . .
Miranda

All Dawn wanted was to stay in a beautiful beach house with her husband for a long weekend. But after receiving this email from Miranda, the home owner, Dawn was furious. No one should be able to email her like this, making up lies for no reason. Dawn was determined to teach Miranda a lesson.

Beware of your “host”
I wouldn’t leave a review on Getaway.com at all, if I didn’t feel it was my civic duty to warn others . . .
Dawn

Miranda cannot believe her eyes when she sees the negative review she received from Dawn. She may a doctor’s wife, but she relies on the rental money from the beach house. She was going to teach Dawn a lesson.

These 2 very different women each believes that they are right. But how far are they willing to go to win this battle?

I’m going to be honest here, I really didn’t like this novel. I will admit, I wasn’t expecting any kind of crazy thriller. But this was just a little more preposterous than I could handle. The story is told from alternating points of view and each woman gets her chance to tell her side. I didn’t like either woman. They’ve got so many issues and they really just never think things through. Their self-centered attitudes and belief in their own righteousness drove me crazy. By the first 70 pages, I could see myself getting bored as the story started to pull away from this dispute and start to focus on other areas of their separate lives. And again, I didn’t really care about what else they were going through, or what their past was like. Both of these women were married but I couldn’t take either of their marriages seriously. Dawn’s marriage seemed very juvenile and lacked any substance. Miranda’s marriage was like something out of the 1950’s, where the husband is always right and it is the wife’s job to look pretty and cook nice dinners. This really bothered me because I like females to have a stronger role than that in the novels I read. I had figured out the ending by the halfway point; it was not as thrilling as one might expect. At the end, I was just wondering why this novel was even a good idea. It really didn’t have that much to do with the renting idea that it started with and it just got more and more ridiculous the further you read it. Also, the ending, while technically making sense, didn’t actually work. Overall, this novel failed for me because it’s story lacked the thrills I was seeking and the characters were very unlikable. For those reasons, I’m giving this a 1/5 stars.

Happy reading ~