Gaele Hi
3.5 Stars – rounded Tash has it all – or that’s what she wants everyone to believe. A successful career as the manager of the local estate agent, a lovely home in an upscale development, a boyfriend who dotes on her and always is pushing for her to be more and better, some good friends and plenty of nights out in spectacular and expensive restaurants, clubs and social events. So why is she feeling so restless, and not wanting her boyfriend Adrian to come near her? Slowly Tash’s story unfolds as the nitty gritty of her life starts to come clear to the reader. Her friend and co-worker Emma, a solid bookworm who has a fascination with Poldark has convinced her to come to the book club – a first in the soon-to-be-open book shop owned by Millie and her husband, owners of the local café. Adrian isn’t thrilled with her finding her own entertainments of a night – preferring to control and direct her ‘after work’ life to suit him, and Tash heads out to the inaugural meeting with her snarky attitude and bad mood fully on show. What Tash doesn’t see, and won’t share because it is far more important to her that people find her ‘controlled and competent’ than human, is that Adrian is not only controlling and grooming her to become his property, not a girlfriend, she also misses that the people in her life: her parents, friends and even her new acquaintance Kit sees all is not right, and while they broach the subject with her, her prickles and lashing out in anger are off-putting. She wasn’t easy to like at all – and it is a testament to the people around her who never gave up worrying and offering help that she didn’t find herself truly without anywhere to go when she catches Adrian abusing her mother’s little westie, his rage in full effect. Georgia Hill managed to show a more insidious and dangerous sort of abuse perpetrated in relationships: the lengths to which Adrian would go to increase Tash’s isolation and paranoia about other people, her own behavior and keep her guessing about what is and isn’t real. With a bit of digging, a ton of determination and solid friendship offered by Kit, his mother and his giant Irish Wolfhound, Tash is finally able to make a clean break, and the revelations and discoveries she makes about Adrian have her reclaiming her own sense of self and anger – allowing her to heal. Sure, she’s still judgmental and more than a bit closed off, but those are things that , as she continues to redefine her life in her own terms will change, I hope. I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.
