Author: Anna Pitoniak
To be selfish. To be cruel, at times.
To harden your heart so that you need no one else.
When you realize how powerful this makes you,
you keep it to yourself.
Stella Bradley and Violet Trapp have been inseparable most of their lives. The stunning beauty, Stella is a traveler, though that is putting is loosely. With no direction in life, she wanders from place to place, living the life so many dream of without a care in the world. But is she happy? And when she sees life for what it is, is it enough living in the shadows of a family name?
Violet Trapp is exactly what her name leads you to believe. Trapped in a world for so long that was aggressive, perhaps even violent. Her parents were an awful sort, the kind you leave behind and never turn back. Violet is a beautiful girl with nothing to lose. Aren’t they the most dangerous, after all?
These two girls have a specific dynamic that, when kept perfectly in sync, works flawlessly. But when times change and the dynamics shift, trouble looms and in the end, whoever has the most ambition wins.
But what is the cost?
I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 because I feel that the author (or the editor) could’ve made some transitions a bit more fluid. Below are just my thoughts but I did really enjoy the book. I liked the author’s writing style and would gladly read another.
Read on but Beware: Spoilers!
[ Oliver seems to come out of nowhere. He is at no point even mentioned in the book in the first half and suddenly makes an appearance as if he’s always been there. It’s too jarring and just feels like it was added in at some point. Same goes for Violet with what she does to Stella. It’s clear they were trying to set you up to be surprised but also, given where she came from, weren’t all too thrown off – kind of a “oh yeah I see it now” but I just think there wasn’t enough of a lead-in. I was actually really frustrated when the boat scene happened. I would’ve much rather – in some ways – seen Stella destroy herself. I think we could’ve still had the chance to see Violet’s darker side while allowing a lot more plot. ]
The Nashville Wife Reads 