Wow! What a fantastic read! Strawser's debut is a deep entanglement of friendships, relationships, responsibility, love, romance, guilt and a whole lot in between. For me, this novel evoked the memory of other books like Gone Girl, Interference, and Girl on the Train, except that in this case, it all seems so much more plausible and relatable. You can imagine how everything got so complicated and there is a thread of love and understanding that weaves through the story and props it all up in a much more human and positive way. The book is a page-turner and I ripped through it in just two nights. This one will be high on the book lists in 2017.

What a fabulous book. I was solidly hooked by the end of chapter three (you'll see why), which was exactly when my kids woke up from a nap. A few hours later at bedtime, I leaped for the book again. The story is filled with so many emotions, revelations, conflicts, complications, and secrets. Strawser was the puppeteer expertly keeping it all together at exactly the right timing and pace. While a similar situation better never happen to me, the storyline felt plausible and heart-wrenching, so well done and captivating. Plus, as someone who once had a friend who checked the Miss Connections on a daily basis, I especially enjoyed that element of the story. All in all, a wonderful debut, and I can't wait to read more from Strawser in the future.

What makes a man walk out of his marriage taking with him his young son and leaving his totally unsuspecting wife sunning herself on a Florida beach? This question ignited my interest and so began my interlude with Violet and Finn. Violet is happily married and enjoys being a full time mother to Bear. They are enjoying a little holiday together as a family and so, when she realises the inexplicable has happened, all signs of Finn and Bear have been removed from their hotel room, she is catatonic with despair.
All sorts of questions were going through my head at this point. Had the two been abducted, did Finn have a secret life or was he simply escaping from a marriage in tatter?.
It was not long before I had answers to my questions and the story then became one of trying to reunite mother and son. From this point I found the story a little far-fetched but reasonably enjoyable. Could you really marry someone and be together so long without any inkling that something was intrinsically wrong? Would your joint friends really hold back on sharing the history behind the man you love?
Anyhow, putting this aside it was an OK read and an unexpected take on events.

Thanks to Net Galley & St Martins Press for an ARC of this book.
Finn - meets a stranger on a beach & feels an instant connection but before they get a chance to talk the are separated. Finn places an add on line but the wrong girl responds but he finds himself in love with this new girl and plans to spend his life with her but feels that to do so he needs to see her on the beach and replace the image of the first girl he met.
Violet - meets the strange handsome man on the beach and can't forget him. It's 2 years later that her friend comes across an on line note which she knows is for her friend Violet from the man on the beach. Finn doesn't fill Violet in though on what has taken place since they last met.
Caitlin is Finns friend. They are both married now - Finn to Violet and Caitlin to George, they are both now parents and all seems good although all four of them have secrets and Finn is struggling with the past. He makes another impulsive decision and kidnaps his child leaving Violet distraught, All the secrets come tumbling out when Caitlin tries to help her friend out trouble.

I had been dying to read this book ever since I heard the premise: while on a beach vacation, Violet’s husband Finn took their child and walked out on her with no warning and leaving nothing behind. It quickly becomes evident that Violet’s seemingly perfect life was undercut with secrets. It’s a rare book that can make me sympathize with someone like Finn (especially how he first appears, with his kidnapped child in tow and slinging blackmail threats), but author Jessica Strawser has constructed such complex, three-dimensional characters that I couldn’t help but hope things worked out for all of them, Finn included. I stayed up way later than I should have, eagerly turning pages as the secrets behind the characters’ motivations (and misconceptions) were gradually revealed. (I have to admit, I harbored the same misconception as one of the characters and was surprised to find out I was wrong!)

It was an excellently poignant book. The writing was brilliant, and the storyline was faultless.

This turned out to be a pretty complex story of serendipity, secrets, omissions, and regrets. Compelling read.

Violet and Finn have what appears to be the perfect marriage complete with young son Bear. While on vacation at the beach, Finn kidnaps Bear and disappears. Violet is devastated and leans on her friend Caitlin for strength. Then out of the blue, not only is Finn destroying Violet's life but he is now blackmailing Caitlin into helping him hide. As each of these strong characters narrate various chapters, you figure out Finn isn't a terrible man, he is just hiding so many secrets he can't handle his life. This is the first book from Jessica Strawser and I'm impressed. her plot and characters are very believable and real. I think she will be a recognized name in the near future because hopefully she's working on her next novel.

I would recommend this book, however I didn't enjoy it enough to buy it. It was a little long in descriptions and scene setting for my taste. I prefer thrillers/mysteries to move at a quicker pace. It was intriguing but then boring and switch between those two extremes too much. I did enjoy the mystery though!