Julie's Review: More Like Her

Summary: What really goes on behind those perfect white picket fences? In Frances' mind, beautiful, successful, ecstatically married Emma Dunham is the height of female perfection. Frances, recently dumped with spectacular drama by her boyfriend, aspires to be just like Emma. So do her close friends and fellow teachers, Lisa and Jill. But Lisa's too career-focused to find time for a family. And Jill's recent unexpected pregnancy could have devastating consequences for her less-than-perfect marriage. Yet sometimes the golden dream you fervently wish for turns out to be not at all what it seems;like Emma's enviable suburban postcard life, which is about to be brutally cut short by a perfect husband turned killer. And in the shocking aftermath, three devastated friends are going to have to come to terms with their own secrets . . . and somehow learn to move forward after their dream is exposed as a lie. ~powells.com  

Review: What looks like a book about friendship turns out to be be much more in Liza Palmer's More Like Her. What it shows is that appearances are just that and sometimes we don't really know what goes on behind closed doors.

The book opens up with a 911 call about a shooting at a school. Immediately your preconceived notions are thrown out the window. We are then taken to the days leading up to that call and shooting. We meet Frannie, Jill, Lisa and Emma. Emma is the new headmistress of Markham School that services well to do families in the Pasadena area. Emma's husband is a Professor at nearby UCLA. The story is told from Frannie's point of view and because she doesn't like Jamie, as a reader you don't like him. While Emma might come off snooty, once you dig into her layers you realize there is much more to her.

While we get to know each of the girls through Frannie's eyes and then through some revelations, you realize that some people hold things close to their chest. They don't open up until something extreme happens. You realize that no one is perfect and everyone has their own demons to work through.

Ms. Palmer does a great job of moving the story along and making you wonder what's going to happen. I wish we actually did learn a little more about Emma and Jamie. What was the trigger? Was it her standing up for herself for the first time in her life? What it something else? All of the characters are well thought out and have a specific way of moving the story forward. I would be remiss if I didn't talk about how dreamy and delicious Sam was in the novel. Yet, no matter his heartthrob factor he has some serious issues to work through before he could offer Frannie what she needed as well.

Even though the ending was a little too neat, I was still happy with it. If you haven't read More Like Her, I definitely recommend it.

Final Take: 4.25/5

Alice's Review






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