This was quite the read: a needy, insecure girl named Ruth with a complicated relationship with her emotionally unavailable mother, yet one who dotes on Ruth’s brother, Tim, the golden child of the family. Ruth becomes starstruck by her fabulous, famous actress aunt, Vanessa. Upon entering university, begins spending as much time as possible at Vanessa’s mysterious, luxurious, and eloquent home, Wilton Place, which holds family secrets that threaten to turn Ruth’s world upside down.
Ruth is an extremely relatable character for those who never feel good enough for their mother, then watch that mother cater to a sibling. The reader watches Ruth grow up from an awkward child and teen into a blossoming young woman under the heavy influence of her aunt.
Despite Ruth being relatable, I found this book to be too long. It felt like it took forever to get to the story. Even about 70 percent of the way through, I still found myself wondering what the story was about. There is a lot of fluff and filler about how Ruth spent her time at university and Wilton Place. It became repetitive very quickly, with only tiny drops of mystery to keep the reader going. It built up to a rushed final third of the book and to a reveal that, frankly, felt like a let down to me.
The climax and plot twist were predictable and Ruth’s actions towards the end were cringe-worthy. Curiosity regarding the family secrets were the only things that kept me reading. The romantic plotline near the end didn’t interest me at all. In fact, it almost made me not finish the book.
I felt like the romantic plotline destroyed Ruth as a character. C.E. Rose spends much of the book focusing on Ruth’s search for an authentic self away from her family only for her to mimic and copy Vanessa until the very end, giving Ruth a conclusion that felt inauthentic, as if Ruth never went through much character growth at all beyond becoming just like Vanessa. Ruth gave up her future and her potential music career for a man instead of venturing out to find who she really is, stunting her growth completely. Ruth’s character arc started out strong, but felt like a flop near the end.
That being said, Rose did some excellent things in this story. Her writing of Vanessa’s manipulation of Ruth and mental issues without revealing the entire picture right away was really well done. The book displays human relationships as what they are: complicated, tangled, and often living in the shadows of secrets from the past. Rose also wrote the resentful mother-daughter relationship with accuracy, as well as the Golden Child Syndrome that ran strong in the family. She approaches topics like mental illness, suicide attempts, and sexuality with sensitivity and consideration.
I would liked to have seen more focus on the family mysteries and how Ruth unraveled them, instead of on her mundane day-to-day life. This book had tons of potential, but I think it needed some more editing and rewriting. All in all, an intriguing read that deserves a chance (other readers might just be less picky than I am).