Intriguing enough to make me want to know how it ended, however, it was unfortunate that the characters were all despicable and completely unlikable. It truly was a struggle to read about them. And the twist at the ending was not all that surprising. Relatively predictable within the first little bit. Not sure how I exactly feel about this one, it's probably someone's cup of tea, I just prefer coffee.

2.5 stars rounded up.

2.5 stars. The age gap was just a bit too much for me. But, there was more than one twist in this well-written book, this was one book very worthy of the one-sitting read.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of <i>The Opportunist</i> in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

<h4 style="margin-top: 84px;">The Gist</h4>

Elyse Friedman's <i>The Opportunist</i> is a darkly comedic and sharply observant novel that dives into the complexities of family dynamics, deceit, and ambition. Set against the backdrop of contemporary life, this novel explores how far people will go to secure their fortunes and the hidden costs of opportunism.

<h4>The Details</h4>

The story centres on Alana Shropshire, a struggling artist who becomes embroiled in a morally dubious scheme involving her wealthy and dysfunctional family. The plot thickens as secrets unravel, and Alana must navigate a web of manipulation, family secrets, and personal ambition.

Alana is a well-crafted protagonist whose artistic sensibilities and moral dilemmas make her a relatable and engaging character. Her evolution from a passive participant in her family's drama to a more assertive and self-aware individual is compelling and believable.

Each secondary character is distinct and contributes to the unfolding drama, highlighting different aspects of familial and societal pressures.

Elyse Friedman’s writing is sharp, witty, and deeply insightful. Her prose captures the nuances of her characters' personalities and the absurdities of their situations with a deft touch. The dialogue is crisp and often laced with dark humour, enhancing the novel's satirical tone. The pacing is well-maintained, keeping readers engaged with a mix of suspenseful and reflective moments.

<h4>The Verdict</h4>

Overall, <i>The Opportunist</i> by Elyse Friedman is a compelling and thought-provoking novel that skillfully blends humour and drama. Its incisive look at the darker sides of family and ambition makes it a standout read. Friedman’s ability to create multi-dimensional characters and her keen observations on human nature ensure that the story resonates long after the final page.

Short synopsis: Alana is sent by her siblings to the west coast to break up her Dad (76) and his 28 year old nurse turned fiancé.

My thoughts: This was a completely bingeable read full of greed, and the lengths someone will go to for money. Each character is completely unlikable, and I couldn’t decide who I liked the least.

The time shifts got a bit confusing, but overall this is a great domestic suspense.

I loved this book! It's well-written, enjoyable, and a great read. The author did a great job of writing in a way that captures the readers attention, and makes you not want to put it down until you're finished! I would highly recommend it!

A quick and fun family thriller that brings all the scandal and suspense! I loved this book and all of the characters.

Alana has been on the outs with her multi-millionaire father and brothers for many years. A single mother to a child with a rare form of muscular dystrophy, Alana's life is stressful and hard, but in no way would she trade it to become involved with her family again. Until her brothers reach out to her with news their father intends to marry his very young nurse, which of course puts their inheritance in jeopardy. The brothers convince her to join them on their father's private island to chase off the nurse and save their futures.

As with all domestic thrillers, the plot twist changes everything, and this one will cause the reader to gasp out loud! Friedman succinctly pulls off an epic twist making this one of the best books in this genre I've read for a while. If you are looking for your next snow-day or beach read, grab this one!

I knew this would be a good one, but still, OMG!!! What a compulsively bingeable and immensely gratifying page-turner! It's so readable and riveting that I couldn't tear myself away. Nor did I want to.

I thought I had most things figured out but the book managed to still surprise and thoroughly entertain me. I was also left thinking about it for the rest of the day: The storytelling, the two awesome leads, the subtle character development, the ingenuity of it all... damn.

I'm usually quite critical about how female characters, including minor and non-leading ones, are portrayed and written in books that explore feminine rage, and The Opportunist passed with flying colours. There's no pretense here.

The Opportunist by Elyse Friedman was a quick book filled with some unlikable, greedy characters from a dysfunctional family. I found the story to be just okay - it was a fairly quick read and did have a twist at the end I was kind of expecting but not exactly sure how it would play out. I have not read anything by this author before but I would one of her other books at some time in the future.

This was a quick read for me. However, it did not leave much of an impression. I am not likely to remember it a year from now. It was a good beach read (which is where I read it). If you enjoy a wealthy people behaving badly type book then this one is for you. There is some family drama as well.

Alana has been called to visit her billionaire father who is recovering from a stroke and announced he is planning to marry, Kelly, his nurse who is much younger than she is. Alana's two brothers, wealthy in their own right, ask Alana to plot with them to cancel the wedding and keep Kelly from acquiring the bulk of the family's wealth. As the plot builds, readers will wonder which of Ed's children is plotting to kill the others, and Kelly. The Opportunist is a definite weekend binge read full of wealthy, evil characters.

A fun, surprising family drama filled with twists and double crosses

Overview:
: When Alana Shropshire’s seventy-six-year-old father, Ed, starts dating Kelly, his twenty-eight-year-old nurse, a flurry of messages arrive from Alana’s brothers, urging her to help “protect Dad” from the young interloper. Alana knows that what Teddy and Martin really want to protect is their father’s fortune, and she tells them she couldn’t care less about the May–December romance. Long estranged from her privileged family, Alana, a hardworking single mom, has more important things to worry about.

But when Ed and Kelly’s wedding is announced, Teddy and Martin kick into hyperdrive and persuade Alana to fly to their father’s West Coast island retreat to perform one simple task in their plan to make the gold digger go away. Kelly, however, proves a lot more wily than expected, and Alana becomes entangled in an increasingly dangerous scheme full of secrets and surprises. Just how far will her siblings go to retain control?

I thought this book was really fun! I didn't really like any of the characters as people, but I don't think I was supposed to. And it's true what they say - the rich are different.

This was like an inside peak at a dysfunctional, wealthy family. I actually found it funny in places. For some reason it kind of reminded me of the Knives Out family...lol

Thank you to #netgalley. the publisher and the author for an ARC which did not impact my review.

While I appreciated the plot twist, the characters were so unlikeable that I was really unable to enjoy the twist other than as an indicator that I was almost done with the book

I really enjoyed this and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to have read it! What a wonderful book!

The Opportunist by Elyse Freidman turned out to be a really realistic story with unique characters. I was pleased with the inclusion of Lily, a girl with a rare form of muscular dystrophy because I have disabilities myself and always feel there are never enough characters with disabilities in books.

The people are wealthy and it's really interesting to get into their lives and their secrets. Quick pacing and good attention to detail.

Thanks to Elyse Fredman and MIRA Books for my eARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review.

4.5 stars

Rich people problems - lifestyles of the rich - what's not to enjoy? I loved the salacious drama in this one and there were a few twists I did not see coming!

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: The Opportunist

Author: Elyse Friedman

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 5/5

Diversity: Character with muscular dystrophy

Recommended For...: thriller, mystery, contemporary, psychological thriller, adult readers

Publication Date: December 6, 2022

Genre: Thriller Mystery

Age Relevance: 18+ (sexual content, abelism, cursing, fatphobia, alcohol consumption, sexism, domestic violence, sibling death, child sexual abuse, romance, animal violence, cancer, suicide, death)

Explanation of Above: There is some romance and sexual content in the book, including sex scenes. There is some domestic violence scenes shown and one scene shown of child sexual abuse including other mentions of it in the book. There are abelist comments and fatphobic comments made, including things about diet and weightloss. There is cursing in this book along with alcohol consumption. There are sexist comments and cancer is mentioned. Death of a sibling and others are shown and mentioned, as well as a scene of suicide mentioned. Cancer is mentioned. There is a hunting scene shown and mentioned in the book in regards to deer.

Publisher: MIRA

Pages: 336

Synopsis: When Alana Shropshire’s seventy-six-year-old father, Ed, starts dating Kelly, his twenty-eight-year-old nurse, a flurry of messages arrive from Alana’s brothers, urging her to help “protect Dad” from the young interloper. Alana knows that what Teddy and Martin really want to protect is their father’s fortune, and she tells them she couldn’t care less about the May–December romance. Long estranged from her privileged family, Alana, a hardworking single mom, has more important things to worry about.

But when Ed and Kelly’s wedding is announced, Teddy and Martin kick into hyperdrive and persuade Alana to fly to their father’s West Coast island retreat to perform one simple task in their plan to make the gold digger go away. Kelly, however, proves a lot more wily than expected, and Alana becomes entangled in an increasingly dangerous scheme full of secrets and surprises. Just how far will her siblings go to retain control?

Smart, entertaining and brimming with shocking twists and turns, The Opportunist is both a thrill ride of a story and a razor-sharp view of who wields power in the world.

Review: This was an interesting read. The book is a duel POV told between Alana and Kelly. Alana is a single mom who is trying to raise her child when she gets a call from her estranged brother about their father’s new girlfriend who is significantly younger than him. The brother, fearing that the woman named Kelly is just using their father for money, employees Alana to help him out Kelly to their father. Alana’s POVs offer insight into the past, especially when more evidence and details are found regarding her sister, Lillian’s, death. Kelly’s POVs offer insight into her motives for being there, which may not be entirely for love. For the most part I thought that the book was really well spun and very twisted. I didn’t see the outcome coming but I’d love to reread it to see what clues there were in the book that might have led to this outcome. The book also did great making every character slightly unlikable and they really have you rooting for the murderer in the end.

The only issue I had with the book is that the ending is just a little too simple for me and kinda goes into the “it’s all a dream” trope in a way.

Verdict: It was really good!

This was such a juicy gem that I did not expect! I do love a drama about families with money, and when the elder patriarch is set to marry his 26 yo nurse and she is set to inherit a fortune, the brothers enlist the help of their estranged sister Alana who could care less. But then the wedding is announced and the brothers persuade Alana to fly out to their West Coast island retreat to help get the gold digger to go away. Things take a turn from here and holy cow, I did not see the ending coming, it was such a fun, quick and extremely satisfying read. I definitely recommend this one and want to mention the audiobook was great as well.

Thank you to NetGalley and MIRA Books for the digital copy to review.

When I opened this novel, I had no idea of where I'd be going and who I would meet. The hero, Alana, a struggling mother with an invalid child, is deposited into a land of obscene wealth, to help negotiate an even more obscene deal. Within this genre, critics rightfully compares Friedmann with Highsmith. It's deftly written, with characters I loved and hated in equal measure. Nicely done.

👰‍♀️Book Review:
Title: The Opportunist
Author: Elyse Friedman
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/4 stars

Okayyyyy.....that ending was like, Whoa 🤯. Literally the last chapter is just a few pages and it completely turned the whole rest of the book upside down! I liked the book, didn't love it so I was going to rate it 3 stars but the ending made me up it to 4 stars!

Alana Shropshire (say that three times fast) has been estranged from her father and brothers for years. She has better things to do than engage in their continuous drama, like caring for her daughter with special needs. But when her brother, Martin, contacts her with a money offer she can't refuse she's sucked right back in.

Their father, Ed, is 67 years old, getting to marry a 28 year old, Kelly. Martin and Teddy, Alana's younger brother, have plans to get rid of Kelly for good. Their plan is to pay her off but Kelly is not going to go away that easily. What was supposed to be a fairly easy plan ends up with family members dropping like flies. Who is this Kelly girl really?

Thank you, @netgalley and @_mira_books_, for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

Published December 6th, 2022