So of course I had to read this! And finished in just a few days lol.
It's really good. Well written. Believable (except maybe the healing time line was a tad quick). So much to relate to. Not deeply triggery since it's a very sympathetic portrayal of a BS, but yeah, there were a couple of "ooh" damn, I know that feeling" moments.
Spoiler alert.
The ending, when the WH wrote that mind-bending manipulative bs letter asking her to come join him???? Holy fuck. Can you imagine if she'd received that letter earlier? It would have hoovered her right back in.
The not knowing who her WH really was AND EVERYONE ELSE DID. Fuck, btdt.
Thinking she had "grown up" and had the life she really wanted but it turned out all to be built on a lie and untrue. Fuck, btdt.
When she tries to sell the Birken bag and finds it's a fake. Oof. I took a guilt gift (diamond tennis bracelet) my xWH gave me to a jeweler to sell and as I handed it over I said "it's entirely possible it's not real", but thankfully it was.
That so many people blamed her for what was happening!
That at first EVERYONE thought she knew! And had known! Because yeah, that's why women stay with philanderers, because they know and choose to turn a blind eye. Yeah, right 
That her WH had isolated her from everyone. Her childhood best friend, his family, her family, the other mothers at the school, (all the while making her think it was her idea) so that when the rug was ripped out from underneath her feet she had NO ONE to turn to.
That the forced NC imposed on her by her WH saved her. She got to avoid doing the pick me dance. She got to avoid the aching pull of wanting someone standing in front of you but not trusting them unless you can see every text, email etc. Truly, that NC saved her bacon since by the time the hoovering happened she was so detached she did the right thing (although again quite realistically I thought, the cop had to tell her that once again her husband was lying to her and manipulating her, she still didn't see it, even at the end).
That as you went back over in your own mind things that had been stated (like when the friendship with another couple ended, and the WH blamed her saying she must have done something to make the other wife hate her) and then later when you find out what her WH really is, you the reader think back on that and realize "oh" and that in fact the other couple rejected them BECAUSE of the WH's behavior.
That having kids in terms of healing helps you. That she had to focus on caring for her son meant she stepped outside of herself and did that. I've always thought that having children, from that perspective, was beneficial. Healing is always aided by giving to someone else.
That the kid, as young as he was KNEW TOO. That even not really understanding, he saw. He understood something wasn't right, and that whatever it was, was not a good thing.
As for the treatment of the main character. She knew she came off as holier than thou. And when she finally realized that whoever she was married to wasn't the guy she thought, a good portion of her pain was realizing that maybe she didn't know what she thought she did. That she was embarrassed. It was all so public. How I could relate to that! That you are the subject of gossip. That recognition that nothing, NOTHING, is as you thought, even who you thought you were! I also liked how the book really focused on her, and not on detailing what a fuckwad her WH is. It gave you enough detail to realize that he was sociopathic but didn't delve into it. The point was to tell her story. That moment when things go wrong and you start to wonder, and then proof arrives and then oh. Just oh.
My only criticism of the story was her healing timeline was pretty fast. But maybe the sequel will show her grappling with triggers moving forward lol.
[This message edited by cayc at 11:01 PM, January 17th, 2015 (Saturday)]
