Paris Peralta has just been convicted of murdering her famous husband. Suddenly, the
quiet life she had ensured for herself bursts, and she is labeled as a golddigger who killed her
husband for the money. However, the fact that gets glazed over is that there was a similar crime
involving Ruby Reyes, nicknames the Ice Queen, who had killed her rich husband by stomping
on his neck with an ice skate. Paris knows she didn’t kill her husband and her lawyer is
determined to get her out of this mess. Consequently, Paris hides a secret- that her real name isn’t
Paris, and that she’s more related to Ruby Reyes than she would have liked. Enter Drew, a
podcast host, who was originally friends with Joey Reyes, the daughter of the Ice Queen, who
has been a victim of child abuse. Told in flashbacks through Joey’s diaries and the present
nightmare of Paris Peralta, the two stories manage to connect, revealing how the true murders
had taken place, along with the acts of desperation exhibited to flee from a horrifying past.
I loved this book. It had a good mystery and a good ending as well. I’m really glad that
they dealt with the mother rightfully without having to forgive her like all those Disney movies.
The characters were wonderful and I especially liked the details in the story, such as the weird
fetish of Asians and how terrible people can be. Emotions were conveyed accurately and were
very realistic. However, there were parts that were absolutely exhilarating, whereas the chapters
after that would be so hard to read. There were many forms of abuse told in the novel, and I’m
glad that the author shows how even after many years of abuse, the characters still are affected
by it and traumatized, which is highly realistic as all that trauma can’t just disappear in a flash
when they enter a great life (ahem, Harry Potter), and there are still lingering remnants of the life
that you had before. There were hardly any plotholes, and we even got to see what happened to
the main character’s old friends that were seemingly going to vanish after being introduced! The
ending in the book was satisfying, but it seemed a little rushed as well. Despite all that, this will
definitely turn out to be a good year with this on my shelf!!