Two cousins, Rory and Arden, and their families are the focus of this book. The two girls have been like sisters since they were infants, very similar in appearance and always together. Rory is the outgoing confident leader of the two and Arden is the quiet and somewhat awkward follower. Together their families own a restaurant and due to an unfortunately bad investment made by Rory's father they are now in danger of losing ownership of the restaurant and their financial well-being is in jeopardy. So the girls must both give up their dream colleges and attend a lest costly local school where, of course, they share a dorm room.

There is a fire in their dorm room and both girls jump from a window to save themselves. As a result, they are both in critical condition in the hospital. The story behind the fire begins to unravel as the girls and their families cope with what soon become life-threatening injuries for Rory and Arden.

Interesting characters portray themes of family relationships and secrets, lies, and cheating in a book that is a little bit mystery and a lot of emotion. ( )

This just did not catch my attention at all. The story is told in 2 parts: the first the present time when the girls are in hospital, and the second are flashbacks to before. The hospital events do not move at all until the book is nearly done. There's just no plot moved forward. Very drawn out plot and not all that interesting. ( )

Good book. It was a surprise. ( )

I was intrigued to pick up The Good Goodbye by its synopsis and immediately became hooked into the story from the very first pages. From the beginning of the novel, the story sets a fast pace. Once you are introduced to the main characters you are thrown into the midst of chaos. We see a tragic incident occur and the family as well as the readers are left to pick up the pieces surrounding the accident.

Each chapter is the point of view of the main characters and it constantly shifts throughout the entire novel. Having multiple viewpoints allows you to see the different perspectives of characters through one’s eyes and you also get a better understanding of how the characters react emotionally to each situation. Rather than getting each character’s back story at the start of the book, we learn more about them through the various viewpoints and flashbacks.

From the beginning, The Good Goodbye also presents this picture perfect family. As the plot moves along you find out things are not as great as it seems and tensions arise between characters. As the story unravels you’ll keep guessing what was the motive behind the accident and why did it occur. With each flash back you get a puzzle piece that helps you tie together the mystery as well as seeing past the facades of each character.

Since this novel is so suspenseful it’s hard to discuss it without giving too much of the mystery away. Overall, I enjoyed its many twists and turns that kept me on edge the entire story. Nothing is as it seems and soon as you put in trust in one character, the next chapter you might rethink your choice. The novel was well written and what makes this story so good is the fact that you are placed inside the character’s head rather than be a bystander.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for a honest and fair review. ( )

ARC received from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Natalie already thought she had her hands full with her restaurant going down because of a bad investment by her partner in business and brother-in-law. As it turns out, that was nothing when she learned her daughter and niece were injured in a fire, of which one of them might have been the perpetrator, and which killed a boy caught between the two cousins. Also, both are in a coma and may never wake up to tell their side of the story.

Narrated in three voices, Natalie, her daughter, and her niece, this is surely a page-turner. Right from the beginning the author drops hint after hint of how wrong things are, and I couldn't put it down, waiting for her next tip.

Natalie was a nice character to follow, I always looked forward to her parts. Even though the other two points of view were confusing the first time, I soon appreciated the effect of not having a defined present time, as it made each scene real. It's the classical life passing before before one's eyes. I said confusing but it's just a first impression; considering how this style could have gone wrong when you don't have any indication of when this flash of memory is happening, it was rather easy following. That was clever but mainly quite a brave choice.

When reading about some mystery, and the key to this book is really finding out what happened and why, a potential reader's question is on whether the book could deliver it, after all. Well... I thought the answer was too simple. There were so many twists and turns, I expected more of a bang, then a linear ending. The ends met, they did. At the same time, I hoped for more. This was presenting so many possibilities... You know, some stories make you feel lost and then exclude the options as it goes along. I had a feeling this book was wonderful in doing the opposite. You open it thinking: 'oh man, there was an accidental fire and the two poor cousins are touch and go', only to learn it was probably on purpose and there couldn't have been anyone else but the three. 'Could it?' is what you think after the next twist. This was marvelously done.

The book is well-worthy of the ride if a psychological mystery is what you're looking for. Still, the ending was rushed and unappealing. At the same time, it did get me crying. You've been warned. ( )