Oh, my! DEFINED BY OTHERS is a very dark tale about secrets, sadness and surreptitious observation. The novel explores how much we seem to care what others think about us and how discovering the secrets of others makes you feel about people you once though were friends and pleasant neighbors. Decent read.

Anne’s husband left, her parents are moving out of their home, and her high school friend died. She is at crossroads when she is “gifted” with her former friend Amanda’s “game.” It is a tale of adults cyber bullying other adults, which I found so disturbing and immature. The author kept “telling” instead of “showing” which just alienated me even more from the story. I really wanted to like this book, but I was continually disappointed by the poor writing and the soap opera story line. I had to force myself to finish it. Anne prided herself in knowing just the right word for every situation (which was annoying). My word for this book is juvenile.

My thanks to NetGalley for an Advanced Readers Copy of this book. All opinions are my own and not biased in any way.

Great read. The author wrote a story that was interesting and moved at a pace that kept me engaged. The characters were easy to invest in.

Description
A word, a single word defines a moment for Anne. She needs to find a new one when her spouse, Frank, leaves her at the age of forty-seven, coming out of the closet literally in a closet. She finds herself back in her hometown of Skvallerby, Connecticut among her high school friends which she had left in her past. An inheritance from a frenemy leaves her with the means to meddle and spy on the lives of mutual acquaintances. In an attempt to run from her reality Anne becomes engrossed in a game of fun and flirtation with her friend and fellow sufferer Connie. Their fun games turn into a deadly reality. It is no longer a game. Life, death and not even a defining word can stop the reality of manipulation.
Dang, This was seriously some harsh stuff to deal. I enjoyed and it shows what Facebook can do.