⭐ REVIEW ⭐

Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty.

Publication date: Sep 14th 2021.

When I received an early copy from @netgalley and @panmacmillan I squealed! I was so excited, a new book by Liane!!....

It pains me to say that I didn't enjoy it.

I DID like the way it was written, to begin with. The lead up to Joy's disappearance through the eyes of each family member alternating chapters with short snippets through the eyes of random secondary characters, like the uber driver and waitress in present day.

BUT, this then got on my nerves when I was starting to get invested and then it was shut down by the random character popping up in the next chapter with too much backstory for no reason.

I didn't warm to any of the characters, either. By the end, I just wanted Joy to hurry up and be dead already, quite frankly.

I feel it was too detailed and too long.
It could have been much better, but lacked that punch at moments of revelation.

But form your own opinion, as I have seen plenty of high rating reviews for this book already.

I have loved so many of Liane's books and she will always be a blind buy author for me, and this has not changed that.

⭐⭐

This latest release from Liane Moriarty is a gripping family drama and an absolute page turner!

This book was so much more than a mystery about a missing woman and a suspect husband. It covers the complex nature of family dynamics, relationships, expectations and sibling rivalry.

I enjoyed how the story switched between past and present day and the storyline’s weaved together perfectly. There was great character development, it displayed how beautifully flawed both humans and families can be and how we all have skeletons and baggage.

I couldn’t wait to find out what happened to Joy and who was Savannah and what was she up to! Just when I had a theory about what was happening, it was quickly disproven with the many twists and turns that I couldn’t have predicted.

By the end all loose ends were tied together seamlessly. I did find that bringing Covid into the storyline so close to the end seemed out of place and unnecessary. However, that being said it didn’t take away from my overall enjoyment of the book.

If you love a family drama then I highly recommend this book! I’ve only read two of Liane Moriarty’s books and I’m now adding her other novels to my ever-growing TBR pile!

One of Liane Moriarty’s best!! I could not put this down.

This novel tells the story of the Delaney family - a family whose lives are consumed by tennis which is complicated by the fact that none of them ever quite lived up to their potential. When the mother, Joy, goes missing, her four children and husband are forced to examine if their lives are really as happy as they appear on the surface.

Liane Moriarty’s strength is her characterisation. She writes beautifully complicated characters, who all have depth, flaws and strengths. Her examination of family dynamics is always interesting and I love how she makes a point in this novel about how incidents and memories are so often skewed by each individual‘s perspectives, hang-ups and old grudges - which means nothing is ever black or white and no one version of the truth exists within families, or even society at large.

My only disappointment is that I read this book in 24 hours and now I have to wait years for her next one 😭

"On the surface they seemed loving and cheerful but she could sense dysfunction bubbling ominously beneath their sporty, matter-of-fact demeanours."

Liane Moriarty uses a character in her book to perfectly capture how the reader will be feeling about the family in Apples Never Fall. This latest masterpiece revolves around a retired couple, their 4 adult children still struggling with sibling rivalry, a mysterious houseguest, and so much tennis. She weaves a complex web of misunderstood family members and their history, with a creepy suburban vibe common in contemporary Australian literature.

Moriarty writes books so full of tantalizing nuggets and teasing clues that I have to race through the pages to the end. I can't not keep reading. She gets me with every secret and I gasp more than once with each one. Another gem from a brilliant storyteller!

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan Australia for the opportunity to read this book.