After the Fall

by Kylie Ladd

“That’s the thing about falling.  It doesn’t go on indefinitely, and it rarely ends well . . . ”
 
In her page-turning fiction debut, neuropsychologist Kylie Ladd delivers a searing portrait of two marriages united and betrayed by friendship.
 
“I had been married three years when I fell in love,” begins Kate, a firecracker of a woman who thought she’d found the yin to her yang in Cary, her sensible and adoring husband.  For their friend Luke—a charismatic copywriter who loves women and attention in equal measure, and preferably together—life has been more than sweet beside Cressida, the dutiful pediatric oncologist who stole his heart.  But when a whimsical flirtation between Kate and Luke turns into something far more dangerous, the foursome will be irrevocably intertwined by more than just their shared history. 
 
After the Fall follows the origin and fallout of the most passionate of affairs through the eyes of all four characters, unveiling the misunderstandings and unspoken needs that lie beneath our search for love and connection.  The narrative moves effortlessly between past and present, painting a nostalgic picture of the two marriages at their most idealistic—the exact moment when like turned to love—and at their most volatile.  Thanks to the boundless compassion with which Ladd draws her characters, one can’t help but root for them as they wrestle between newfound desire and remembrances of time past, all the while spinning toward an inevitable conclusion.
 
Steeped in psychological insight and raw emotion, After the Fall is an unsettling novel of the many ways we love and hurt each other.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Romance, Audiobook, Chick Lit, Australia, Drama

291 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Kylie Ladd is a novelist and freelance writer. Her essays and articles have appeared in The Age, Griffith Review, O Magazine, The Sydney Morning Herald, Good Medicine, Kill Your Darlings, The Hoopla and MamaMia, among others. Kylie's first novel, After the Fall , was published in Australia, the US and Turkey, while her second, Last Summer, was highly commended in the 2011 Federation of Australian Writers Christina Stead Award for fiction. Her previous books are Naked: Confessions of Adultery and Infidelity and Living with Alzheimer's and Other Dementias. Kylie’s third novel, Into My Arms, has been selected as one of Get Reading’s Fifty Books You Can’t Put Down for 2013. She holds a PhD in neuropsychology, and lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her husband and two children.

Reviews

[Lesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

idk how Australians even have time for infidelity what with all the deadly spiders they have down there

[Mary Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't think I could look my husband in the eye for at least an hour after i read this one and I didn't even do it!!!

A book told for many different point of views: a wife cheats on her husband, a husband chests on his wife, and it devastates everyone.

I read this one in about a day and a half, unable to put it down once I got wrapped in the scandal of Kate and Luke. My heart was literally pounding, wondering why they would do it and how they would make it out the other side in one piece. You feel for every single character; cheer for some and feel sad for the others.


This book is an insiders glimpse to a marriage on the rocks, devastated by adultery. I've never read anything like it and I;m not sure my heart would be able to.

As a reader I was put in their positions. I felt what they felt and cried when they did. I blushed and I was ashamed ... and then the end comes, and while it leaves things open for speculation, you know whats going on.

READ BETWEEN THE LINES.


I think we all know how it feels to become too comfortable in our marriages, and this book gives us an idea of what it would be like to be unfaithful.

THIS BOOK WAS A TRIP!!!


I mean, what if the one you married isn't the one who was born for you?


The cover is beautiful. It takes place in Australia, which was a nice change. All of the characters are relate-able and the title of the book is used in one of the most intense parts of the book.


What happens after the fall?

[Chris Howe · Rating 4 out of 5]

OK, I gotta admit right up front that Kylie’s book does not fall into what would traditionally be on my ‘must-read radar’. Or of any of my read radars. For starters: no Nazis. No car chases. Not even a gun. I mean, no guns WTF? All good writers when they sit down at their desks should think “What would Matthew Reilly do?”. When stuff gets interesting she doesn't use italics to let her readers know. Again, Mr Best-Cussing-Seller Reilly does that.

That said, it’s not shit at all.

In fact, it was a surprisingly cracking read. I may be unable to read about good looking & rich people with problems without thinking boo-the-fuck-hoo (I struggled with The Chimney Sweeper’s Boy by Barbara Vine for exactly the same reason, I just didn't give a fuck about the characters). However, Kylie is a wordsmith. The dilemmas feel genuine and repercussions aren't solved with easy solutions. The characters evolve in a satisfactory manner. To her great horror, I may even classify the book as a page-turner (take THAT, literary snobs!).

Maybe it comes from Kylie’s dilly-dallying in the topic previously (you'll have to Google that, no not google images you sick… sigh…) but the plot feels real. I don’t know if you can compliment a book much more than by saying the suspension of disbelief was complete and the book itself completely enjoyable.

Chicks’ll dig it. Guys, I recorded UFC 110 Sydney. Let’s go watch it again because I’m feeling icky from reading chic-rom-lit-fic.

Lastly a public service announcement: Kylie Ladd is moving to a small country town in Northern Western Australia. You know people are going to start getting murdered once she does because of her… bio. She’s perfect murder story heroine fodder. Every thriller book has the small town cop who’s a single parent, the evil clergyman or the local Native American who just happens to know all the old stories (yes, even in Broome).

Well, Kylie is a highly regarded psychologist slash published author. If you don’t run screaming for the hills when she moves in next door you’ve got rocks in your head.

To top it off her husband is a IT specialist, which obviously really means “hacker”. Psychologists and hackers always live in Murderville.

Should I go on? (The answer is always yes). The cute-as-a-button psychologist loves her hacker husband and finds him adorable, despite the fact he’s not as handsome or suave as the single-parent cop who comes around to ask her for her help with a murder case. Hacker hubby helps her, right up to the point the psychopath traces the hacks back to her house and viciously kills him. You can see it, can’t you? Murder will follow Kylie because it MUST. Terry Pratchett called it narrativium.

Broome residents, you’ve been warned: get out. But come back for her wedding to the cop. It takes several books worth of murders so NOT TOO SOON! And don’t be a bridesmaid. I’m just saying.

[Molly · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's very well-written, but Luke and Kate may be two of the most horrible characters ever put to paper. Not horribly as in badly-conceived, just awful people. I'm not sure if they're meant to be or not. If they are, well, the author did a damn fine job in making me hate them. Low rating is mainly because it was hard to enjoy reading it. I'd read some of her other books, though, because I do like how she writes.

[Marisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Library Request, Audio book. I can't begin to tell you how much I hate infidelity, how it just sets a you on a path of destruction of the people you swore to protect, honour and remain faithful to. If you can't stay faithful you owe your partner the respect to leave them before you start an adulterous relationship, ultimately your choices could effect families. It's not just about the two adulterers, it has a much bigger reach and actually has more than the two of them in the adulterers bed...this book had me reeling from all the emotions of hate it evoked in me, hate for Kate, Luke, and the naïveté of Luke's wife for believe him after the Kiss. She should never have accepted his bull shite excuses, and please do not get me started on the most gullible of all Kate husband Cary, if there was ever a bigger fool I know of none. I try to respect his determination to accept his wives indiscretions and move on. But the last part said it all, he called and called, and Kate didn't answer the phone, where could she be, there was no trust, and he continued to ignore what happened at the wedding when Kate was going to go find Luke, she wanted Luke....leave her ass and take your baby with you. I hate Kate and Luke for what they did.

[Shelleyrae at Book'd Out · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a thought provoking exploration of an affair without judgement and almost brutal honesty. The author manages to suspend moral judgement without sacrificing empathy. It's not an easy subject to read about and may be too raw for someone who has had a similar experience but the honesty is refreshing.
The author uses alternating first person of the adulterers, their partners and friends with distinct voices. Each of the characters are well developed and the transition between perspectives is skilfully handled. The characters are very 'normal', the adulterers aren't uncaring villians, their partners are not saints - while not exactly average (impossibly good looks, doctors etc) they could easily be someone you know.
I was tempted to give After the Fall 5 stars - but even though the ending was as honest and real and as right as it could be, I wanted to see Kate and Luke punished - but in reality the truth is that it is the partners that usually suffer while the adulterers move on with their lives.
Well worth the read - highly recommended.

[Katharine. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a difficult book to write about, hence the reason I am late doing so. The story goes back and forth between all the parties involved. It takes place in Australia except for a small period of time. Cary, a doctor, loves Kate but felt pushed to marry her. He was happy with the status quo until he actually married. Kate, his wife, was a firecracker, whose vocation was anthropology. Cressida, a beautiful, calm doctor, knew Cary, and after she married Luke the two couple became friends. Luke was outgoing and was universally liked. One minor incident let to another. Luke and Kate fell in love. It was intense and very painful for their spouses. Cressida and Luke did not make it and she began dating an older man. Cary and Kate reconciled but it was heavy going. They had a baby. At the end of the book it was ambiguous enough to make you wonder if the two lovers were cheating again.
The book is well written. When a book engages me enough that I have a knot in my stomach I give it a 4 or a 5 even if the end leaves me unsettled.

[Correna Dillon]

I'm not sure what to say about this! unhappy endings and bittersweet endings all around i guess.

[James Tierney · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the Fall's narrative cycles almost entirely around the voices of four people, two couples. Kate & Cary, Cressida & Luke.
Initially friends, a mad insistent need draws Kate and Luke out of companionship into infidelity.

Displaying remarkable skill, Kylie Ladd has a different character narrate each chapter, intensifying a reader's reaction to each, as well as managing to weave the plot beautifully amongst the perspectives.

This close ear to each character's voice is key as it draws on an important impulse behind reading; the need for the familiar.
People and events in novels feel true because -perhaps in some previously unarticulated way- we know them.

Ladd's tremendous strength as a novelist is to realise that this form of identification is merely an invitation.
Start on this road but do not be sure of where you'll end.
A wronged partner is an easy character to sympathise with and their forgiveness welcome, but what if their forgiveness alienates something of the love?
The passionate, illicit energy that courses through a lover engages the senses in a fantastically earthy way, but what if its collapse hollows out something vital?

Kylie Ladd draws her characters like etching on glass. There's beauty and violence in each stroke.

[Priti]

I read the book some time ago but I had such strong feelings towards it that I kind of buried it under other books. It’s a riveting book alright, but I don’t know if I liked it or not. Baldly stated, it’s a story of extra marital relationship, which is common enough, but it has been told in a different way, which makes it pretty interesting. The four protagonists tell their stories from their own perspectives, stories that interlink them to one another four by threads of marriage, desire, infidelity and love (?).
My indecisiveness about the book stems from the fact that the book unsettled me, deeply. After I finished I remained disturbed for some days on account of this novel and I couldn't understand why. I mean there are stories galore of bad choices and bad relationships then why did this book make me so anxious? Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I was living the lives of all the four with them, and was unable to escape the consequences that were to befall. I am not sure.

[Rich Stoehr · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised, while reading Kylie Ladd's debut novel After the Fall, by just how completely I was drawn in. With hints and suggestions and teases I fell into this story. Its not an easy subject to tackle, but Ladd does so with admirable honesty and with a compelling narrative line from beginning to end.

The subject of After the Fall is adultery - or on a broader scale, the ebb and flow of intimate relationships, marriages, and love. Conventional wisdom would say that in such a story (as in most stories) there's a right side and a wrong side, but Ladd's tactic here is to allow each perspective to speak fairly, without taking sides. With four main characters, there is no clear-cut 'bad guy' and no obvious 'good guy' - no heroes, no villains. Just people with honest feelings and justifications for what they did. The characters feel genuine and three-dimensional, not cardboard cutouts or stereotypes. I was sometimes happy with each of them, and at other times frustrated by their choices and mistakes. In each of them I saw aspects of men and women I've known. And, if I am really honest, aspects of myself too.

After the Fall is told in turns by each of the four characters, and occasionally one of their acquaintances gets a short chance at the narration. Mostly, though, we get the story in snippets from Kate, Cary, Luke, and Cressida, the four main people involved. No one gets more than a few pages at a time before jumping to a new point of view. Sometimes it's even shorter; you might see a paragraph or two from Cary and then jump back a little and get a couple pages from Kate, then jump forward and have a page or three from Luke. It's a clever trick, but it doesn't come off as gimmicky. Instead, it lets the story spin out naturally. At one point while I was reading it I realized it was 1:30 in the morning and I had gone over halfway through the book without even noticing the time. To me, that's a hallmark of a story well told.

It came as no surprise to me to learn that Ladd is a psychologist. The early passages read a little like overheard therapy sessions, and the tone overall is slightly distant and clinical. I thought this would be a weakness, but the effect soon wore off as I was drawn into the story and got to know the characters.

In the end, I was impressed by After the Fall. It's a fast, compelling read with rich, believable characters and true insight into a difficult issue. Many will doubtless hate this story, for its balanced perspective, for its honesty, and because its a painful subject in the first place. For those same reasons, I admire it, and I admire Kylie Ladd for writing it. I look forward to more from her.

[Pamela · Rating 2 out of 5]

The theme of infidelity is nothing new.

Two married couples, Cary and Kate, and Luke and Cressida, are friends who socialize together quite often. Cary is a doctor who desperately wants children. Kate, an anthropologist, is an outgoing, flirty girl. Luke, an advertising exec, is a man every woman is after and who likes to have fun, and Cressida, a pediatrician, who is more dedicated to her patients than to her personal life. A couple of years into their respective marriages, Luke and Kate start having a passionate affair that goes on for several months.

The story is told from each individual. We learn how the couples met each other, what drew them together and what took place once the affair was discovered.

First off let me say that all four characters were not interesting. There was nothing special about any of them. I really did not care for either Cary or Cressida. They were not only unbelievable but I found them to be pathetic. I don't want to ruin the story for anyone but seriously, their behaviour was mind-boggling. I just could not believe how Cary or Cressida dealt with the affair. As for the ending, I felt that for one particular person that I, as the reader, was robbed of what happened to him/her. It just felt cut off. If you're looking for some amazing, explosive ending, you'll be disappointed.

I have read several novels about infidelity which are much better than this one.

[Cecily Bonney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Wow! Wow!
That is the only word that I can form now, I think I need a minute.
I was and still am beyond pissed at Luke and Kate for everything that they have done. I mean Luke is a prick who thinks he is God's gift to women and has a gorgeous wife. While she is in the hospital trying to save children from cancer he is out playing golf or going to the pub after work.
Then there is Kate who openly flirts with anyone out in public, even if her husband is there. Ugh...and her husband Carey is as sweet as can be, how can she do that to him?!
I listened to the audio version of this book and I was randomly cursing these two characters and then I sat back and wondered how often this happens. How often do couples become friends and then cheat on their spouses with those very same friend?!
I will say that I was not sure how this book was going to be. What I did enjoy was that I heard from Luke, Kate, and both of their spouses.
The ending killed me because I was so sure that it would go a unique way, but overall this is an obsessive read. As in I was determined to finish this book and see which one of them would come clean, get caught, and or get divorced.

[Jessica Smith-harper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, the tangled seaweed drowning of affairs. This book does, as promised, capture the "origin and fallout" of the affair that destroys two marriages, and does it beautifully. My complaint is this: the entire novel, though broken into chapters from the viewpoints of various characters, reads like Kate. The multiple voices effect only works if you can feel - not just read - every heart. And I could only feel Kate's. This book would lose none of the plot and probably gain in the characterization (Cary, in particular, suffers here - one almost roots for Kate to leave him; Tim seems to have nothing to offer except as a foil for Luke 's douchebaggery) if the entire novel were written for Kate's point of view. But I thought, overall, that it was a great book, and worthy of a read for those who enjoy taking a microscope to the human psyche.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually gave this one 3 1/2 stars.
This book was like sitting in a conseling session or a True Hollywood Story. Each of the characters would present their takes on the friendship that the two couples had before the affair, the events of the affair, and the aftermath. I got a good idea of the character's personalities from their stories and the stories from the other characters. It was interesting to see how it all ended and how all of their lives were affected and how they chose to deal with it.

I think it definitely could spark discussion at a book club, because I think it presents a hot button issue without being too biased.

[Somi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is heartbreaking. I kept thinking about it long after I'd read it. It is sad, it makes me sad.

A woman cheats on her husband with a family friend, their affair is passionate and despite the fact that they are both married, it seems to be true love.

But everything soon comes crashing down as the lives of both couples are torn apart by the discovery of the affair.

It is a good read. You will ask yourself a lot of questions, like, should marriage ever stand in the way of true love?

[Georgiann Hennelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a thought provoking exploration of an affair witout judgement and almost brutal honesty. The characters are very normal the adulterers aren,t uncaring villians, their partners are not saints. Its not an easy subject to read about and some may be offended by it but i found it to be a story without judgement and almost brutal honesty.I usually don,t read these types of stories but the book was loaned to me by a friend and i was really surprised that i enjoyed it.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly couldn't put this down. Loved the multiple narrators, loved how you got inside all their head and lives, loved the way the story unfolded, and how the same events were viewed so differently by each. A great read.

[Fleur McDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful book - a page turner.

[Lisa Heidke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent debut novel by Australian author Kylie Ladd. Loved the premise of the story. Was intrigued to find out what would happen next. Definitely recommend it!

[Gillym · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this. Days after finishing, the characters still keep popping into my head especially Kate. Poor Kate. I somehow have great empathy for her even though I know I shouldn't.

[Libby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written from several different POVs in first person narrative style, the story is surprisingly cohesive. The characters are easy to care about, all of them flawed and inperfect. Great read!

[Bree T · Rating 4 out of 5]

fter the Fall is the story of two couples, Kate & Cary, Luke & Cressida. Cary and Cressida work together, so the two couples meet through that and become good friends. They are all at a wedding when suave, good-looking Luke sees Kate standing off to the side, staring longingly at the dance floor. Cary, who doesn’t dance, is outside, trying to escape the possibility of having to. Cressida is in the bathroom, so Luke asks Kate to dance. It is an innocent act that will quickly become not-so when the two kiss passionately and intensely in front of everyone, in front of their returning spouses. Cary and Cressida are forgiving of this indiscretion, probably more forgiving than I would be, but quickly there is the law laid down that there will be no more socialising. No more cosy foursome dinners and weekends away to the river.

But with Cary and Cressida working at the same hospital, they can’t go forever without the four being in the same room again. At a hospital fundraiser trivia night, Cressida is called upstairs to a patient, Cary away to fix the temperamental sound equipment. Luke and Kate take advantage of their spouses absence to rekindle what started at that wedding. This time though, there is nothing to stop them. They fall headlong into an affair, they fall headlong into love, they fall headlong into an obsession.

It’s written in an interesting way – the chapters are short, clipped, almost abrupt. They alternate points of view between Kate, Cary, Luke and Cressida so you get all four sides, but with a personal touch rather than just being told in a distant third person sort of way. They read like the characters are speaking directly to you, like you’re their therapist or their counsellor. Like they’re answering questions you have asked them. It was a very effective tool, I thought, because it places you right in there. You’re involved, whether you want to be or not! You get into each of the characters, you hear from them, you get to know them, you feel for them. And given I’m a massive voyeur who loves to peek into people’s lives, this is like story-telling gold for me.

It was impossible not to get swept away with this novel as it unfolded. I was amazed and yet disturbed at how easily these two characters fell into such a fully-fledged affair and how easy it was that they kept it hidden for so long. They saw each other nearly ever day, leading to their work being affected, such was their obsession, their total immersion into this affair. It brought me back to the themes in books recently read, both The Pilot’s Wife and The Post-Birthday World: how well do we really know someone? Especially when that someone is our spouse? The person we have chosen to marry, chosen to spend the rest of our lives with and yet – how well, really? Cary and Cressida seem blithely unaware of this affair as it carries on, apparently secure in the knowledge that the temptation has been removed now that the two couples do not socialise. How many people have found out their partner has had an affair and said ‘I never knew a thing’. This book shows you just how freaking easy it is for two people to fall into one. To fall into the subterfuge, the guilt (but not enough guilt to stop!), the deception, the pure thrill of the forbidden. The affair is discovered by mere chance, the discovery enough. Neither Cressida nor Cary demand the details (as I would, I have to know everything, even things that would cause me considerable pain) but it’s clear that it’s no longer the case of just a kiss anymore. It’s so much more than that now.

Despite the fact that your sympathies automatically go to the injured parties Cary and Cressida, it didn’t mean that I loathed Luke and Kate for their wrong doing and betrayal. At times, I did dislike them intensely for their cavalier attitudes to their partners, their carelessness but I was so fascinated by them and so drawn in by the story that I couldn’t get angry at the book. I did find Kate much more palatable than Luke and that the session Cressida has him attend with the therapist nails him aptly: the longed-for son, subject to adoring female attention his whole life, good-looking and with a truckload of conquests behind him. Although he intends to stay faithful to Cressida, it’s without surprise that he doesn’t. He’s shallow, self-involved and smug: ‘For seven months I was the happiest man in the world. Who wouldn’t have been? Two beautiful women whose faces lit up when they saw me, one always available if the other was elsewhere’. He shows very little remorse at all. When Cressida wants to apply for a fellowship overseas, he is quite happy to tell Kate that they’ll just be ‘on hold’ and pick up exactly where they left off after the two years of the fellowship is over and he returns from overseas. It’s that kind of attitude that has me skeptical that he ever loved either Cressida or Kate – he married Cressida seemingly because she was beautiful, well bred, and he says he loves her but he never actually shows that he loves her. With Kate, she is sick sick sick at the thought of Luke leaving to go overseas (indeed, she barely coped when she was parted from him for a week over Christmas) but Luke seems mostly unaffected by it other than being a bit angry when Cressida informs him she wants to apply. It is also Kate that forces things to a head with Luke, offering him the choice of Cressida or her and he must choose before the verdict on the fellowship comes back. She is forced into action, whereas he would’ve been happily passive.

Not only is it difficult to read this novel as a fiance (did I mention my husband works nights? Up to 3 hours away? And often doesn’t get home until after midnight (or does he???) when I’m long in bed) it’s also hard to read as a mother. Cressida works in paediatrics, with children who have cancer and the story of Emma, her first patient, woven so cleverly into this tale, is heartbreaking. Equally as heartbreaking were the scenes featuring Emma’s parents and her little sister Shura. I just wanted to scoop her up and hug her and tell her that it was okay, she was special too. And yet I sympathized so much with her distracted parents as they watched their older daughter deteriorate. I’d have read a whole book on just that family even if I bawled my entire way through it. Sick kids are my Achilles heel. And sick old people…. oh wait, this book has that too!

Is this book for everyone? No, probably not. But if you can get past the subject matter and dive in, then you’ll find yourself praying that you’ve got a lot of oxygen in your tank because you won’t want to come up for air. It’s addictive and mesmerizing and you’ll keep turning pages until you reach the ending. The pacing is quick, the style conducive to being utterly devoured. Anyone who reads my blog knows I like neatly tied up endings, they don’t always have to be happy, but I usually like to be left without questions if the novel is stand-alone. This one leaves me with plenty, and lots of reflections and I’m still mulling it over right now.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked this up on a whim and surprisingly really enjoyed it.

It was an interesting look into infidelity as it has the POV’s of all the involved parties. Luke and Kate were such horrible well written characters. Luke especially who didn’t see a reason in keeping his mistress and his wife and couldn’t understand why Kate didn’t want that.

It was difficult to keep track of who was married to whom at the beginning. And there was an instance at Luke’s( I think) rehearsal dinner where he described his fiancé as looking like she was 12 👀 extremely weird thing to say.

It really showed how some many relationships and friendships were damaged by the affair. The are extremely selfish
I was happy Cressida left and got her self a new man. Cary should have left too!!! He really just swiped everything under the rug and tried acting like it was normal. Also why didn’t Kate get an abortion? It is never indicated that she wanted the baby and not from Cary. Maybe it was to make him happy. The ending really annoyed me though, I wanted to know what Kate was up to all those times. Cary should have left her then tbh.

[Jo Rice · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story was written from 4 main perspectives - the two couples whose lives are changed by the affair of one wife and the husband in the other. The only character I really warmed to was Cressida, whose husband Luke (a good looking character who has had few struggles in his charmed life) has an affair with Kate, who I found had few redeeming qualities. Cary, Kate’s husband, I found to be gullible and weak, and I got frustrated with his actions. An easy and quick read, with short chapters from these characters POV, making it a page turner from start to finish.

[Emma Balkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kylie Ladd has skilfully explored various perspectives on an affair in this novel. Very readable and the alternating perspectives added depth to the story. A book about a villain or antihero, a book with song lyrics in the title, a book from a celebrity book club, a book you meant to read in 2017 but didn’t get to.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bounced around a little too much but once I got used to that I enjoyed the story. Enjoyed might not be the right word, I definitely got pulled into the deception and wanted to know how it would end for all.

[wrkatreading · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good story with infidelity. Told differently than I’ve read before. As a reader you don’t get too I involved with the characters so you won’t be flinging your device or book at any walls. You just read on and wonder what will happen next.

[Agathajross · Rating 4 out of 5]

wow, I couldn't put this book down, read it in one day. Gritty, realistic, sad. I liked how it was written. I didn't like Luke or Kate - immature adults. But, sadly, this story could have been real life.

[Faye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well as usual a great story from Kylie Ladd. Lots of characters but easy to read as each chapter is dedicated to a character.