Don’t let the first part of this book fool you. It’s not as fun as those first chapters make you think. I got SUPER into the idea of the rogue therapist, but as the book went on it was less and less about her and her questionable—sometimes illegal—methods, and more just a standard domestic thriller, a genre I don’t read much of anymore, because they always seem to be three star reads for me. And this was a three star read, for sure. After how fast I zoomed through the first part, I didn’t feel the need to finish it after I realized what it was really going to be about.
So, let me explain this rogue therapist thing. The main character is Avery Chambers, who basically said fuck it to her professional accreditation when she realized there might be other ways of helping her clients that wouldn’t pass any sort of ethical standards. But, she thinks, the important thing is that they work. We’re talking breaking and entering, sabotage, corporate espionage, HIPAA violations, you name it. But she genuinely cares about her clients, and wants to help them, and she gets results. It’s a very interesting dynamic.
Enter the titular golden couple, Matthew and Marissa, who are there because Marissa has cheated on Matthew and they want her help (or rather, Marissa wants her help, and Matthew is mostly hostile) fixing their marriage. They are fully aware that she has lost her license; they just want her to help them.
The more we get into Matthew and Marissa’s story, the more I lost interest. Imagine your standard domestic thriller things, and you can probably guess a lot of what goes in the plots featuring them. I basically just wanted a book where Avery has clients and does weird and questionable shit to help them, but that’s not the book the authors wanted to give me. If someone else wants to write that book, I will buy it.
Chipping Away at Mt. TBR, July 2022—Book 24/31