18-year-old Matilda’s life has been anything but easy. A father who is a famous painter ( the reclusive Kingsley Cello), who has never been part of the picture, and a mother who can not see beyond her own ambitions. When Matilda’s mother once again abandons her to chase her new lover in Mexico, Matilda is left to stay with her mother’s ex-boyfriend, Saar.

When an unexpected invitation arrives from none other than Kingsley himself, inviting Matilda to his seaside estate, Hidden Beach, Matilda feels things may finally be turning her way. Yet when she arrives, she finds that Kingsley is not there, and instead meets her half-brother Meer, his hippie-like bohemian mother, and wife of Kingsley’s, June, a former child star, Brock, and an unfriendly wild-child Tatum who wants nothing more than to leave this place.

As days turn into weeks while Matilda waits eagerly for her father’s return, she finds she is stumbled into a web of lies and deceit, and a connection to the Sinclair property across the water, where secrets can run thicker than blood.

Hmm…. while an interesting read, set five days from the big happening of the Sinclair property across the lake, this story almost stands on its own. Yes, it’s peppered here and there with a little Sinclair note, and reveals more as it goes along – but not as connected as I had hoped.

That said, it was still a good read – it reminded me a bit of the Cedar Cove Series by Debbie Macomber that I read, I think, long before I wrote about books…. It was a 12-book series about a fictional town, and each book was an address. While the books all tie together, the main storyline was about the people at the address the book was titled and their connections to one another and the town. I thought then, and still think now, what a brilliant way to write a series.

Back to the book at hand, while I wanted more of a connection to the two previous books – We Were Liars and Family of Liars, once I realized this was something different, it made for an interesting read. I didn’t feel this was as strong a book as the other two, but good.

Rated: 2.75 out of 5
Read Author Before: Yes
Read Author Again: possibly

Themes: absent parents, secrets and lies

Book Club Worthy – Probably, most books can be. Topics such as absent parents and growing up on your own, what we thought of the tie-in to the Sinclairs, the whole chicken scene (don’t get me going)….