Her Pretty Face by Robyn Harding

Her Pretty Face by Robyn Harding
352 pages Gallery/Scout Press (July 10, 2018)
review copy via Goodreads giveaway

The author of the bestselling novel The Party—lauded as “tense and riveting” by New York Times bestselling author Megan Miranda—returns with a chilling new domestic drama about two women whose deep friendship is threatened by dark, long-buried secrets.

Frances Metcalfe is struggling to stay afloat.

A stay-at-home mom whose troubled son is her full-time job, she thought that the day he got accepted into the elite Forrester Academy would be the day she started living her life. Overweight, insecure, and lonely, she is desperate to fit into Forrester’s world. But after a disturbing incident at the school leads the other children and their families to ostracize the Metcalfes, she feels more alone than ever before.

Until she meets Kate Randolph.

Kate is everything Frances is not: beautiful, wealthy, powerful, and confident. And for some reason, she’s not interested in being friends with any of the other Forrester moms—only Frances. As the two bond over their disdain of the Forrester snobs and the fierce love they have for their sons, a startling secret threatens to tear them apart.

Because one of these women is not who she seems. Her real name is Amber Kunik. And she’s a murderer.

In her masterful follow-up to The Party, Robyn Harding spins a web of lies, deceit, and betrayal, asking the question: Can people ever change? And even if they can, is it possible to forgive the past?

I won this one via Goodreads so I put it on my to-review list of reads for the summer and it did the trick as a interesting but quick read. Read in one day it was an intriguing storyline with multiple points of view. The main character Frances just wants to belong in a world of catty moms and loves that the beautiful newcomer Kate pays attention to her. Two families become intertwined as their children become close friends, and then the parents.

The summary does not set the tone properly as it feels like it is more of a dark creepy read channeling the undertone of a Law & Order SUV episode as we try and decipher all the deep dark secrets everyone seems to have. When Kate's daughter doesn't mind meeting up with a stalker things get exciting and the secrets start to reveal themselves and then Frances is scared for her life when she discovers how twisted Kate really is. But is she really twisted or was her past transgressions just a mistake? Can she change? Who can Frances trust? Can Kate be forgiven for things she has done years ago? Good storyline, quick read recommended to fans of the suspense genre.


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