As with Nine Women, One Dress, Eliza Starts A Rumour starts out with a lighter feel. But as the stories of these women collide, secrets are revealed and the timely, emotional issues take over the story. These issues had more depth than I had originally expected and included: mental health, parenthood, marriage, and different traumas (I won't go into details due to spoilers, but I will include a trigger warning at the end of my review).
There is a lot of drama between these four women and while I found it to be a page turner, it also felt like the book was trying to do too much resulting in a bit of a chaotic and contrived feel. I liked getting different POVs from women from different generations, but there is a large cast and I sometimes found it hard to distinguish who was who, particularly when a few of the characters had names that began with the letter A. But the ending will give readers a solid kick in the feels and those who enjoy tidy endings will like how things wrap up here.
This suburban drama had more depth than I was expecting and with its timely issues it would make an excellent book club pick for readers looking for a slower paced but relevant story featuring female friendship, resilience, betrayals, and motherhood.
Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to the publisher for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
[Trigger Warning & possible spoilers below:
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sexual assault, agoraphobia, repressed trauma, #metoo]
My Rating: 3.5 stars
Author: Jane L Rosen
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Type and Source: trade paperback from publisher
Publisher: Berkley
First Published: June 23, 2020
Opening Lines: Eliza Hunt sat in the parking lot of her local
Stop & Shop. Her neck was soaked in sweat,
her hands trembling uncontrollably.
Book Description from GoodReads: The author of Nine Women, One Dress delivers a charming, unforgettable novel about four women, one little lie, and the big repercussions that unite them all.
It wasn't supposed to happen this way. When Eliza Hunt created The Hudson Valley Ladies' Bulletin Board fifteen years ago she was happily entrenched in her picture-perfect suburban life with her husband and twin preschoolers. Now, with an empty nest and a crippling case of agoraphobia, the once-fun hobby has become her lifeline. So when a rival parenting forum threatens the site's existence, she doesn't think twice before fabricating a salacious rumor to spark things up a bit.
It doesn't take long before that spark becomes a flame.
Across town, new mom and site devotee Olivia York is thrown into a tailspin by what she reads on the Bulletin Board. Allison Le is making cyber friends with a woman who isn't quite who she says she is. And Amanda Cole, Eliza's childhood friend, may just hold the key to unearthing why Eliza can't step out of her front door.
In all this chaos, one thing is for sure...Hudson Valley will never be the same.
Funny, romantic, raw, and hopeful, this is a story about being a woman and of the healing power of sisterhood.
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