Review -- Best Intentions

Best Intentions
by Emily Listfield
Atria, 2009
338 pages

I want to thank Lauren from http://whokilleddeirdre.wordpress.com/ for sending me an advanced copy. Best Intentions became available on May 5th.

Summary: A wife and mother of two, Lisa navigates through a rocky career and an uncertain relationship with her husband. During a visit from and old college friend, Lisa begins to question the intentions of her husband and her best friend. When allegations of an affair surface, Lisa makes a desperate decision that ends in tragedy. Grieving and guilt ridden, Lisa must fight to discover the truth about the people she loves.

Review: Emily Listfield has written a compelling and engrossing novel that I had trouble putting down. She takes the reader into Lisa's mind, which is filled with the anxiety and insecurities of work, marriage, and family. The second part of Best Intentions has Lisa working through a mystery in which all the people in her life may not be what they seem. I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery, wanting to know more, looking carefully for clues. Overall, a fantastic read for anyone who enjoys character driven mysteries. Rating: **** out of 5

Want a second opinion? Check out Dot's review.

Friday Finds -- 4/24

My Friday Find this week is Best Intentions by Emily Listfield. Here is the Barnes and Noble description:

What happens when you think you know the person you love — and you're dead wrong?
From the acclaimed author of Waiting to Surface comes the story of four college friends whose reunion reawakens old desires and grudges — with fatal results. After tossing and turning all night, thirty-nine-year-old Lisa Barkley wakes up well before her alarm sounds. With two daughters about to start another year at their elite Upper East Side private school and her own career hitting a wall, the effort of trying to stay afloat in that privileged world of six-story town houses and European jaunts has become increasingly difficult, especially as Manhattan descends into an economic freefall. As Lisa looks over at her sleeping husband, Sam, she can't help but feel that their fifteen-year marriage is in a funk that she isn't able to place. She tries to shake it off and tells herself that the strain must be due to their mounting financial pressures. But later that morning, as her family eats breakfast in the next room, Lisa finds herself checking Sam's voicemail and hears a whispered phone call from a woman he is to meet that night. Is he having an affair? When Lisa shares her suspicions with her best friend, Deirdre, at their weekly breakfast, Deirdre claims it can't be true. But how can Lisa fully trust her opinion when Deirdre is still single and mired in an obsessive affair with a glamorous photographer even as it hovers on the edge of danger? When Deirdre's former college flame, Jack, comes to town and the two couples meet to celebrate his fortieth birthday, the stage is set for an explosive series of discoveries with devastating consequences.
Filled with suspense and provocative questions about the relationships we value most, Best Intentions is a tightly woven drama of love, friendship and betrayal.

Doesn't it sound fantastic? Click here to go to Emily Listfield's website.

Have a great weekend,

Jess