After being rescued from her abusive mother, Emma goes on to live a charmed life with her father and his wife – at least until a tragedy befalls the whole family.
This is an older Nora, and one I picked up because the premise reminded me of those family saga/career girl dramas from the 80s that I love, and indeed I wasn’t disappointed in that regard. In many ways this is a coming-of-age story for Emma, and there was plenty of drama and excess to soothe my drama loving soul.
The central mystery was engaging and horrifying, and though I guessed who the villain was the revelation of the motive came as quite a surprise to me. I also loved the relationship between the members of the band and appreciated how their stories were fleshed out.
However, I did feel like the domestic abuse storyline felt kind of out of place in that it seemed tacked on to Emma’s life. I also found Michael’s behavior frustrating when he was pursuing Emma in California – I know it’s a romance novel, but the fact that he was rushing her to commit to him right after everything that happened left a bad taste in my mouth.
