E-Reader Addict Rating: 🌟🌟🌟
Jamie Beck is queen of the dramatic family/framily saga (such as the St. James and The Cabots series, and the Sanctuary Sound series). And there’s not much I love more than a multi-book series full of complicated relationships and drama! So I was really looking forward to this new Potomac Point series. But as I have discovered, sometimes the first book in a new Ms. Beck series isn’t necessarily the best one.
After a series of…let’s call them misfortunes…involving the men in their lives, the Turner women are facing challenges. In their own ways, mother Madeline, and sisters Amanda and Erin are forced to face the baggage from the past and admit they need each other to get through the ordeals they are all facing.
It’s hard to give much more than that as a synopsis without giving spoilers. I will say this is a much different story than what I’m used to from Jamie Beck – and even she has said If You Must Know is more women’s fiction than romance. She’s not wrong. There’s only a scant amount of romance in this book. Instead, this is a very character and plot driven story about all three women.
Amanda and Erin couldn’t be more different, and even as adults they have lingering issues from their childhood that caused resentment to fester between them. When a huge betrayal sets the whole family into turmoil, working together gives them a chance to get a different perspective on the past and form the bond they should have had as sisters all along.
Dear ole mom is a piece of work…instead of helping her daughters deal with the issues they are facing (one of which she had a hand in), she’s more concerned about mitigating gossip in their small town and keeping her sister from finding out that all their lives have caved in.
While this may not be the “typical” Jamie Beck story, what IS the same are the complicated relationships. The fantastic writing. Excellent characterization. These poor women had one bad thing heaped on top of them after another so it wasn’t necessarily a fun or pleasant story to read. I was on edge pretty much the whole time and not at all certain the bad guy would get caught and things would all end up okay. I suppose I can’t really even tell you that if I don’t want to spoil things! I will say this: the first half of the book had a slower pace and I wasn’t sure if I was liking this book or if I would even continue with the series, but then things picked up and I couldn’t put the book down. And yeah, I want to read the next book in the series…even if there’s hardly any romance to be had!
* thank you to NetGalley and Montlake Romance for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review
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