Compelling story and characters. I hated for it to end, but the ending was satisfying. Loved the theatrical setting.

The steady pace of the story delves deeply into the intricacies of marriage. Through the mundane, everyday actions of the characters we discover the ins and outs of keeping secrets. The secret in this case involves the main characters husband and best friend. There isn’t anything earth shattering, but to the individuals involved it rocks their preconceived notions of trust and predictability.

I needed a feel good palate cleanser and Good Company absolutely fit the bill. I will 100% be going back to read the Nest because Cynthia absolutely can write.

I absolutely LOVED the Nest and was SOO excited to read this book. Similar to the Nest, this book explores family dynamics, friendships and second chances. I really enjoyed Sweeney's writing style for this book.. but overall, this book fell a little flat for me. The plot wasn't really captivating and found that it just dragged on a little bit. I did enjoy the POV shifts but found that some of the transitions in POV happened all of a sudden which left me a little confused at times...
I enjoyed the audio version of this book and thought the narrator told the story beautifully.

I had the pleasure of reading Good Company & was gifted an audio Arc, as well, from Netgalley for an honest review. I happened to enjoy the story as a listen, better than the read. Narrated by Marin Ireland, she was able to give the story a little oomph, pepped it up a bit.. My review of the story is the same.
Lifelong friends and secrets, who doesn’t love a story with real life problems. Two lifelong friends and their husbands create Good Company by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney. The friends come from different worlds and yet end up in the same school. One is from Queens and one is from Manhattan. Their differences aren’t too great and they are able to forge a friendship. Both find themselves to be young actress’s and one is better than the other. Flora and Margot are the heart of the story. Flora then marries Julian, also an actor & Margot marries David a cardiac surgeon. As the years go by, each friend’s life has highs and lows and their friendship is the glue that keeps things together. They cross cross the country for acting work, summer in Larchmont NY for summer stock and think that the others life is some how better than the other’s. Then a deep secret comes to light and the author shows how friendship and secrets don’t always mix and can some secrets just be too big to heal from? I loved The Nest, by D’Aprix Sweeney. To compare the two is not even possible apples to oranges. The author can tell a very descriptive, story and her characters are so good. I enjoyed this story a lot but there were parts that seemed to be over kill. But it is an excellent example of friends, different lifestyles and social standings and how to overcome and hold on to that friendship. This was a four star read for me. I have shared this book on my Instagram page and shared my review as well. As always I am so glad I got this ARC from Netgalley and the author.

It took me a little bit to get into this book. Once I got into it, I was hooked.

The story kept me interested. It was real life. It was things that people go through everyday.

I really thought it was going one way and it went a different way. I enoyed it.

I really enjoyed the narration. It was very good.

Good Company is Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney's second novel. This is a character driven, slow burn kind of read. Flora believes that her life is pretty much perfect. She's happily married to Julian who runs a small theatre company. They have a daughter Ruby that is heading to university and her best friend Margot who always has her back is finding her own success as a television star. Flora believes, "you never know what goes on behind closed doors, but she knows what goes on behind her own closed doors!" Or does she?

This is a story about marriage, friendship, infidelity, betrayal and how quickly marriages and friendships can unravel. When Flora finds Julian's wedding ring that he said he had lost she knows something is wrong. When she finds out the truth she feels like her whole world is caving in on her. She has sacrificed a lot for their lives. Was it all for nothing?

If you are looking for action you won't find it here. The novel is very well written. It's written in third person and gives the perspectives of Flora, Julian and Margot. There is some interesting symbolism along the way and in the end, it does all come together.

One of the most difficult things for me was how it jumps around. It goes from the present, to the summer the ring was lost, to a few years after that summer. Because of the back and forth of three different people, I found that I didn't connect as much with these characters as I did with the characters in Sweeney's debut novel and it felt a bit choppy.

I'm glad I read it, but I think it's important to know that it is not a fast paced novel at all. It's more about how people deal with things and we are along for the psychological journey.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Audio for the audio of this novel. It was narrated by Marin Ireland who did a superb job. She especially did a great job with Ruby - who drove me a bit crazy like she was supposed to. Bravo to Marin.

Bookworm Rating: 🐛🐛🐛🌱

Good Company by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Audio for a complimentary Audio ARC for an honest review.

I found the narration by Marin Ireland very enjoyable. I always look forward to listening to her narrate. She didn't disappoint.

The author explores the relationships between two couples over 20 years and what happens when Flora discovers that her marriage wasn't as perfect as she thought. If you enjoy character driven stories about relationships, you may like this book.

#GoodCompany #NetGalley

I found this to be a good family drama with a look at what it’s like to grow up in a family who’s in the theater. It gives you a little scandal, romance, the arts, family life, and it’ll leaving your hoping for summer to get here quick to check out your own theater in the park! The books flowed really well & had a good pace to it. It’s a solid novel.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I struggled with this one. The writer was good and the characters were really well developed and likable. I just felt the pace was really slow.

Julian and Flora and David and Margo have been best friends for a long time. The two couples are close and enjoy theater and supporting Margo and Flora’s acting endeavors. While together at a theater camp, Julian claims he lost his wedding ring while swimming. Flora finds Julian’s wedding ring in the bottom of a filing cabinet years later. She waits to confront him until after their daughter Ruby’s graduation party. He has no good answers, and the truth alters Flora’s love for Julian, her trust in him, and changes what their life may look like now. The glimpses into the life of a television star and the camaraderie and work of a theatrical group were so enjoyable. I enjoyed the struggle of how to go on when secrets come out and trust dissipates. Great book with characters that are varied and well developed.

Good Company was a portrait of a marriage. Nothing much happens most of the time. You just go on with your life waiting. When things do happen, you are waiting for them to be over. That's how I read this book. I was waiting for something to happen most of the time and then waiting to see how it would end. At times it was touching and thought provoking, but overall, I feel like I've read this story before.

This book was delightful. The writing was superb and the plot was original. We can all identify with at least one of the characters in the book, but probably with bits of everyone. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is in a relationship or who has a strong friendship with someone, or both.

First off what a GORGEOUS cover!! Good Company was a most anticipated read for me this spring and it’s the Read with Jenna April book club pick but I’m sad to say it was a bit of a disappointment. I LOVED her first novel, The nest but this one just didn’t achieve the same level of character investment for me. Good Company is a character-driven novel that explores the complexities of marriage and friendship as they get tested by infidelity and secrets. It reminded me SO MUCH of Firefly lane with three friends - married couple Flora and Julian and Flora’s best friend Margot - all actors but childless Margot shoots to stardom when she lands a role on a popular television show and Flora struggles with finding a career after being mostly a mom for so long. The story is slow-moving, switching between past and present and from different character’s perspectives we learn how a twenty year marriage and friendship can slowly deteriorate. Overall I really struggled to stay interested but people who like a good character-focused story (and maybe aren’t die-hard Firefly lane fans) should enjoy this too, especially if you love reading about the acting life. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for my advance digital review copy.

Good Company looks into marriage and relationships, it's one of those unique novels where you feel like nothing much is happening yet somehow it covers the whole span of a marriage. Good Company is well written and switches between two time periods, present and back into Flora and Julian's relationship. It also includes various points of views through many of the characters. Over all an interesting read but a rather slow burn.

I did really enjoy the narrator and I think she kept me interested and invested in the novel, instead of if i had been reading it myself I feel it would of dragged on

If you have been or are currently in a long-term relationship then I highly recommend this read.

Flora and Julian have been married for over 20 years and have a teen daughter, Ruby, who will soon be off to college. They share everything, even their love of acting. Julian runs a theatre company, “Good Company,” in Manhattan and Flora is a successful voice actor. Their whole world and friend group revolve around arts and entertainment.

Flora is at the point where she is evaluating her station in life and is questioning her fulfilment in her career, marriage and her friendship with her bestie Margot. At the beginning of the book Flora is looking for an old photo and stumbles across her husband’s wedding ring, which he said he lost many years ago …. This discovery sets Flora off on a journey to find out the truth in her marriage and her friendships.

If your life has been built on lies do you know who you really are? If you had the full truth then what decisions would you make? Do you ignore problems to keep security?

This book makes you think about all the things you left unsaid or turned a blind eye to in a long-term relationship. How many of us just go along to get along? Sweeney gets at the heart and the guts of marriage in this beautifully written and moving novel about love and friendship.

Like many other readers I was a huge fan of Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s debut, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘴𝘵, so was eager to jump into her sophomore novel 𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐀𝐍𝐘. This is the story of Flora and Julian, a voice artist and an actor. It’s the story of Flora and her best friend Margot, also an actress, and her husband, David It’s the story of Ruby, Flora and Julian’s daughter who’s beloved by all. It’s the story of a lost wedding ring, found in the most unexpected way. Told from multiple points of view, and moving back and forth in time, Sweeney delivers a story of remarkable friendships, and a single secret that topples them all. While I enjoyed listening to 𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺 very much, I think it lacked some of the intensity of her previous book. It was an easy book to listen to, beautifully narrated by Marin Ireland. I always appreciate that, but I wish I’d cared just a little more about the characters. ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫⁣
⁣
Many thanks to Ecco Books and @cynthiadsweeney for this free copy of Good Company.

Good Company is a book about how life doesn't always turn out the way you expect - about how our relationships, expectations, and wants are always shifting, sometimes in imperceptible ways until one day it's like there's suddenly a giant fault line. And sometimes, drastically, immediately, in reaction to an outside force. In other words, it's a novel about discontent - and how we find ways to be content.

It's highly readable contemporary fiction; a book you can certainly read at the pool but that will also (I hope!) give you much to think about. By the halfway point, my heart ached for these characters. If I have a critique, it's that I wanted more - deeper characterization, more drama, another 50 pages.

I recognized the narrator from Leave the World Behind, Anxious People, and Nothing to See Here, and thought she was well-suited to this book.

I'd recommend Good Company to all fans of domestic fiction, and certainly those who liked All Adults Here. As well as those with experience/opinions of NYC and LA, as both feature heavily here.

This is one of those books where not very much actually happens. That’s not necessarily a bad thing because I think it tends to mimic real life more accurately when there’s not as much “drama”. This book had such an interesting premise that could have really highlighted the depth of these characters, but unfortunately, not much happened AND the characters felt very surface level. I didn’t connect with any of the characters in any way - even though I empathized or identified with some of the struggles, there just wasn’t enough to them to make them seem like actual people to me.

The narrator was fantastic and did make the characters seem like everyday people.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Harper Audio, and Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

When I saw the cover and who the author was of Good Company, I knew I needed to have it. I was able to obtain an advanced listener’s copy and it was fantastic. Narrator Marin Ireland’s voice in various tones and inflections made this novel so enjoyable.

Additionally, Cynthia’s writing is superb. The story of Flora and her family as they go through a realization that shakes the foundation of her marriage kept me engaged and wanting to know what will be Flora’s final decision.

I loved the ending of this novel because it’s a positive and hopeful one. I don’t know how I would feel if it didn’t go that way, to be honest, but because the storyline of this family and their friendships were so captivating, I think I still would have enjoyed it.

Flora’s emotions were raw, real and so relatable that it was hard to stop listening to when life forced me to put the book on pause. I loved how she began to realize her worth and the sacrifices that she had made for her family and that she knew she had the power to decide which way she wants her relationships to go.

Overall, this was a wonderful book that tugs on your heartstrings and leaves you wanting to hug a loved one.

Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.