Prom Mom

I liked the concept and the writing was pretty readable, but I felt the pacing was off. The chapters from the prom were too short and from unnecessary perspectives. Not much happens at all in this book except for a messy set of affairs????? I didn't understand why Joe kept stringing 3 separate women along, and how amber was just egging it on? The ending made zero sense and was a big punch packed into a few pages. The COVID storyline also seemed like it was thrown in just for the heck of it. Overall, the synopsis made this sound like it was an obsession thriller, when it was just a very slow contemporary fiction. I didn't see (or understand) the stakes and wish the novel would commit to what type of book it was. Had it committed to a thriller/contemporary/romance instead of poorly mixing all three, I would have had a much better experience. 

Although I love mysteries, I'm usually not a huge fan of thrillers/suspense novels. I think this is because in a mystery, the crime usually comes at the beginning and I haven't developed a relationship with any of the characters, especially the victim. In a thriller, the evil act generally comes at the end, by which time I have generally come to know both the victim(s) and the perpetrator(s). I hate reading an entire book thinking that something bad may be done by or to any of the characters I've come to know and even like.
The three main characters, “Prom Mom” Amber, “Cad Dad” Joe, and his wife Meredith, were so well written that I liked and/or identified with all three of them at various points in the novel.The Covid-era setting provided just enough sympathetic detail to pull me further into the plot. So, although I was worried about the ending, about who was going to hurt whom and how—it was fine. A satisfying ending that didn't make me cringe. And for me that is the mark of good suspense.
Highly recommended, even for hesitant readers of suspense like me!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this novel to read and review.