I enjoyed the character development in this novel; the characters quickly draw you in and are complex and engaging portrayals of those in a creative field. However, I found myself wishing the plot were a bit stronger. It felt like there was excellent setup and then it fizzled as we approached the end of the novel. Still, I believe this would be a good option for book clubs as there is much to discuss about relationships and different phases of life.

Good Company
By Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney

A wonderful character driven story about friendship, marriage and everything else in between, in this emotionally charged read about actors Julian, David, Margot and Flora. Told in two timelines about their lives in New York and in Los Angeles as Sweeney explores complex relationships, secrets, and lies.

I love reading about the lives of actors and theater not just on screen but off screen as well. I love the voice each of these characters had which made for a delightful read. Sweeney wrote so deftly of complex relationships, infidelity, cost of success and the drive to keep a marriage work. This was fantastic!

Flora finds her husband's supposedly lost wedding ring and things are totally changed for her, her husband, her best friend and daughter. Secrets are revealed. Relationships change. As we go through the past, we see just how we got to the point we are at.. Their lives are a little different from the norm, they are all theater people, actors. It is how the main relationships began. I feel as if there was a lot of love between them all but also a lot of disappointment.

Did I love this book as much as The Nest? No. I did enjoy it and enjoyed the interaction between all the main characters.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book for review.

This book was a decent story overall. I enjoyed the character development, and I feel the author has a good writing style. There were just times that too much detail was given that I didn't need or care about. There were also some places I feel like could have gone deeper. Nothing really was missing or didn't make sense, I just feel like there could have been more happen in some situations. Overall, it was an okay story.

I don’t really read mysteries, I’ve gone off thrillers and rarely pick up a romance, so my ‘fluff’ is usually some kinda rich people problems, marriage and friendship stuff that I can fly through without getting too heavy.
This is one of those kind of books. Two couples, marital and friendship betrayals, career disappointments, children, ambition. I love flawed characters that behave like an actual humans... sometimes kind, sometimes petty, sometimes brave, sometimes selfish... etc.
Well written, easy read.... not something that’ll stay with me but definitely solid. I can see why it’s a celeb book club pick.... it’s got some good ‘what would you do?’ situations going on.....

This is a well written look at marriage and family by examining adults involved in the acting world. I look forward to reading further books by this author.

Unfortunately this book did not capture my attention the way I had hoped. I will be looking forward to reading more of this author.

This was a beautifully written story. The character development was spot on, enough to want to know about everyone but not too much you disengaged.

This story follows Flora and Julian, their daughter Ruby and their best friends Margot and David. We hear some of the story from each of their perspectives.

The story focuses on the finding of Julians first wedding ring he claimed to have lost, and the subsequent discovery of what really happened.

While I wasn’t exactly satisfied with how the book ended it was a nice ending. I wish the book had gone on a little longer exploring the result more. However I’d still give this book 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Happy #pubday to @cynthiadsweeney !
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This book is the newest brook club pick for @readwithjenna and for good reason. It is a insightful and unflinching look at what makes a marriage, what makes a friendship, and how it doesn’t always look like what you thought it would.
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This novel takes place over the course of a summer, with glimpses back to past events as they are brought to light. I loved how the author explored the nuances of the motivations of ALL of the characters, and I found myself unable to put this down once I was invested in Flora, Julian, and Margot’s lives.
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I loved her previous book #thenest and I am so thankful to @netgalley , the author, and publisher for the opportunity to have read this ahead of publication! It’s available today!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Ecco/Harper Collins for the opportunity to read and review the sophomore book by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, whose debut novel The Nest was such a big hit. 4 stars for an intriguing look into the family and friend relationships as they evolve.

Flora and Julian were the couple that made it. They met in NYC and were part of establishing a small theater company in upstate NY, Good Company. Their good friends, Margot and David, have been part of their lives throughout their 20-year marriage and the birth of their daughter, Ruby. As Flora is preparing for Ruby's high school graduation party, she discovers Julian's wedding ring, the one he said he lost years ago, buried in a long-forgotten drawer in a file cabinet. And suddenly everything she thought was true has been upended.

We learn of the backstories of all the characters over the last 20 years and are privy to the way life's events change all of us. We are all flawed and doing our best but many decisions that people make will come back to haunt them. This is also about how we move forward and how forgiveness can look. Plus it was an interesting look into community theater!

I really wanted to like this book, but it just wasn’t for me. The plot moved very slow and it was really hard for me to get into the book. I couldn’t tell who the main characters were supposed to be and would have been even more confused if I hadn’t read the synopsis. I feel the characters lacked depth and the story had no real arc. Overall, it was a no for me. A big thank you to the publisher for providing me with a copy and allowing me to give my honest review of the book.

Good Company was such a fun, interesting and at times emotional read that had me turning the pages and want to know more about all the characters involved. It explores subjects like marriage, love, friendship and parenthood; all of which are in a constant state of growth and change, sometimes good and sometimes not as expected.
We find Flora in a beautiful enviable marriage, her daughter Ruby; smart and intuitive embarking on life after high school, and her lifelong friend Margot in a career that tho perhaps stalled has been financially fulfilling. After a long lost secret resurfaces it is up to all of them to figure out how this will change them; whether for better or worse.

This book was a page turner both for its exploration on relationships and its deep dive in emotional response.

“Good Company” is a character study on two married couples, which details their relationships within their respective marriages and with each other. However, their story was not as interesting as I thought it would be. It includes bits of back story at various points, but at no time did their development allow me to really connect to these characters. Decent book, but not an unforgettable one. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

This story had a promising start, but soon fell into a very slow-moving tale. While some description and backstory help the reader identify with the characters, there was so much of that here I felt overwhelmed. I was into the second half of the book before the story really started to move forward.

One thing that attracted me to this book is it features characters who have different roles in the entertainment industry. For me, the parts of Good Company that focused on the theatre company were among the best because they brought back some personal (non-professional) memories.

The story centers around the life of Flora and Julian. Their daughter, Ruby, and close friend, Margo, are an integral part of their lives. However, trust issues get in the way and relationships are not what they seem when looking at them more closely.

I never really connected with characters. I wanted to, but just could not get there. This could be due to the fact that relationships that originally appear to be sound often deteriorated. Marriages were strained and friendships stretched to the limit.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy of this book. No promise was made of a positive review and any opinion shared here is strictly my own.

An introspective character driven novel that explores shifting dynamics in marriages, friendships and parenting. Flora, a voice over actress, is preparing to celebrate her daughter Ruby’s high school graduation when she discovers her husband’s lost wedding ring. Hidden in a filing cabinet, the ring had been supposedly lost many years ago in a pond. The revelation that follows shatters the idyllic life that Flora thought she was living.
What follows is a languid journey for the reader detailing 20 years of the characters lives, mistakes and secrets, raising challenging questions regarding love, trust and commitment.
Although well written with well developed characters, I struggled to connect to the story and the ending for me fell flat without any clear closure or resolution.

Good Company is a character driven novel centering around two couples and their shared history and respective careers, marriages and family. A realistic take on the issues that arise in relationships and friendships as life happens. I found it to be a slow paced read but so relatable and the story telling was so well done.

I was fully invested in the friendship between Flora and Margot, even more than the romantic relationships in the book. The three main characters were all actors (be it voice, stage or television) and I found it very interesting to read about their various jobs and careers. If you enjoyed Marriage Story on Netflix this one has some similar vibes and I think you will enjoy this book like I did!

This is a novel that explores the most intimate relationships-marriage, friendship, and mother-child relationship. It felt very character driven. There are multiple points of view and it goes back and forth in time so you see multiple sides to each story. It deals with perception versus reality. What appears on the surface in a seemingly perfect relationship is not always the case when you peel back layers.

Floras’s daughter is getting ready to graduate from high school and when she is looking for an old photo she wants to gift her daughter she comes across her husband’s supposedly “lost”wedding ring. Suddenly she finds herself questioning the man she has been married to for many years. Flora’s best friend Margot plays an essential role in the book and her own marriage, vulnerabilities, and decisions are also tested.

This book I found to be captivating at times but also a slower read. As I find to be the case with a lot of character driven novels. The difficulties of pursuing a life in the theater and acting realm is also discussed a lot in this book. How growing up in the entertainment world had an impact on Flora and Julian’s daughter, Ruby.

I think this would make for a great bookclub book. It poses questions about forgiveness and sacrifice. Overall, a thought provoking book!

When Flora goes looking for an old photo to gift her daughter, she instead finds her husband’s original wedding ring… one he said he lost two decades ago. Flora soon realizes that her seemingly rock solid marriage isn’t built on honesty, and her lifelong friendships are implicated as well. Looking back over her past, Flora has to decide what she wants for her future.

The Nest is one of my favorite books, and I was initially crushed to find I didn’t like Good Company as much. However, after thinking it over, I realized there is much to love about this one. The character driven plot, layered friendships, mother daughter relationship aspect, stories within stories, slight elements of suspense, and interesting setting in the arts community were just a few aspects I really enjoyed. The only thing The Nest had that this didn’t was the element of full circularity, and that true to life mix of coincidence and fate that I love in novels.

This well written novel that explores the couple's marriage and what secrets it may hold.
It was a good read for me but not great.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley in exchange for fair and honest review.

When Flora finds her husband Julian’s wedding ring that he supposedly lost 15 years ago, she’ll have to decide what’s truly important to her.

One sentence summaries don’t quite work as well for this book, because, while not lacking in conflict per se, nothing happens. It’s literary fiction, where the tension comes from the characters’ interiority and emotions. And there is A LOT of interiority. Don’t get me wrong, I love interiority. I love getting deeply inside someone’s head. And I normally don’t have an issue with the classic “show v tell” debate. Sometimes I prefer authors just tell me what’s up. This book was almost all telling though, and it was definitely more boring. Sweeney writes very well, but an info dump is still an info dump.

Julian runs a theater company called Good Company and he and Flora are theater actors, though Flora works mostly in voice overs. Margot, Flora’s best friend, is a long running star of a hospital drama. We get multiple POVs throughout the book (some more flat than others), but most of them are Flora’s and Margot’s, and we know the central conflict is these women’s, with others and with each other. I really liked the inside baseball aspect of the theater and Hollywood scenes. It feels juicy and really worked well with the entertainment business in this book.

The story takes place over just a few days, when Flora and Julian’s only child, Ruby, graduates from high school, and when they’re preparing for the company’s annual summer production. Because of the shortness of the present, almost the whole book is told in the past. Kind of like how Little Fires Everywhere had a lot of going back to the past to explain stuff, but this book didn’t do that nearly as well as LFE did.

To be completely honest, if I didn’t get this eARC from NetGalley, I probably would have DNFed it. It wasn’t bad—on the contrary, it’s a very well written, extremely in depth and honest character study—it just isn’t very compelling. I think Sweeney’s debut, The Nest—even though I had some issues with that, too (see my review of it from last fall)—was better. In The Nest, there was more going on outside the characters’ heads. A better interior-exterior balance makes for more interesting reading.

Anyway, Good Company comes out today, so if highly (purely) character driven stories are your thing, pick this one up! Otherwise, keep working on your TBR.