Bitches or Besties - you need to decide

Blurb:

Are they really bitches?  That depends on who you ask ... Rachel, Clare, Tina and Jane are four friends awaiting the arrival of a fifth at a secluded Cape Cod bungalow where they spend an all-girls weekend every year since reconnecting at a reunion.  But the fifth woman doesn't show.  Instead she sends a note that reads - "I've run off with one of your men."

Has she?  Is it a prank?  Do they run for the phone or try to enjoy the weekend without her?  Fast, funny and filled with Harris' trademark snappy dialogue you'll recognise friends and maybe a little of yourself as the women are forced to reevaluate their friendships, their marriages and their memories.

Inspired by a classic Hollywood film, The Bitches of Brooklyn is for every woman who's ever had a best friend and wondered ... is she really??

Review:

I have just finished this book and don’t really know how to rate it.  It was alright but overall this reader was disappointed.  The premise was promising but the execution fell short for me.  Apparently this book was based on the 1949 film drama ‘A Letter to Three Wives’.

There were quite a few characters and after the initial introduction, the four friends told their story (both forward and back) in alternating chapters so it is feasible that some people may get confused by these multiple points of view.  The proofing errors did not help in this regard, as instead of starting a new line for a new speaker the text continued on.

I do think that in any group of friends you will find these characters and this reader identified mostly with Tina although my background was totally different to hers.  The insecurities of all these women seemed to be something that anyone could experience and it was nice that these women were over thirty.

After a while, though the whole thing got tedious, each of their insecurities was constantly repeated and there was honestly too little action.  There was little suspense and sometimes the writer digresses to things that are not pertinent to the story.  There are also certain plot lines that are brought up and nothing is really resolved, plus things happened without a previous introduction.  There appeared to be something missing though as the ending was sudden and rushed sweeping many of the plot holes under the carpet.  In short this novel left this reader non-plussed – there was definitely something missing here as though the author was not sure how the book should end.

This reader read an ARC which had numerous punctuation and typesetting errors.  Many times it was difficult to understand who was doing or saying what as they were all ‘speaking’ in the same voice.

As stated above this book had a lot of potential and fell short.  But, there is obviously an audience for a book like this but it was not my cup of tea.

Full Disclosure: ARC received from Netgalley for an honest review.

I rated this one star on Netgalley and 'I did not like it' on Amazon (2 stars) and Goodreads (1 star).