This was one weird and interesting book.

It was sort of creepy too with Ana and her obsession with Nancy, who moved to Hawaii with her husband Chuck and her twin sons Jed and Cam. Chuck worked at Costco and I guess Nancy never had a job.

She meets Ana at a yoga session that she's conducting and from there it gets sort of crazy and interesting.

Not really my kind of book but I liked it though somewhat. ( )

This could be classified as an adult coming of age book in a way, and was quite strange.
 
I was expecting more magical realism, but this was far more psychological than anything else. I wanted it to be more of a thriller, and I think it could have succeeded more if it embraced this category over women's fiction.
 
The fascinating look at a sort of mid-life crisis going on was quite poignant, and the best part about this book was definitely seeing how Nancy's relationship with her husband evolved in relation to her own space in the world.
 
The end made the book worth it, and the sort of sad feeling, but the lack of regret (to be ambiguous without spoiling) added more of an honest note to the novel.
 
Overall, though, this book felt wondering, and I couldn't quite get absorbed into why I should care about what was going on.
 
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. ( )

I wasn’t a fan of the plot and really could not connect with either of the lead female characters. I could not get into this story line and almost didn’t finish this book. ( )

Things haven’t been too great for Nancy and her family. Her husband has cheated on her and her teenage sons are lighting illegal fires. It’s time for a change. Their move to Hawaii is an effort to make a fresh start. And things do seem a bit better there. Nancy and her husband have some romantic evenings and she’s hopeful that their relationship has a chance. She begins a yoga class where she meets Ana. Ana is very different from Nancy. She isn’t married, has no children and is a free spirit. Nancy is quickly pulled under Ana’s spell. Instead of calling her Nancy, Ana calls her Nan, which is the letters of the alphabet contained in both of their names – ying and yang. But as their friendship grows and Nancy is pulled more completely into Ana’s world, things take a darker turn.

The blurbs I read about this book promised an emotional punch but I never became emotionally involved in this book at all. I didn’t care about any of the characters and found the two women to be quite annoying. The story does pick up towards the end and I found some interest in it. I was saddened to see the teenage boys taking the brunt of their parents’ poor choices. Overall to me it was an average book with some entertainment value.

This book was given to me by the publisher in return for an honest review. ( )

When I think of psychological novels, I instantly think of the words "goose bumps, head case, lack of sleep, paranoia." I love a really good psychological thriller. Yet, I would not associate this book with any of the words. It was kind of like I was waiting for both shoes to drop. If there was intensity, I did not experience none.

Additionally, Nancy was not a warm welcoming character in the way that I did not get to know her well before she was falling into Ana's grasp. Ana was not flashy in the way that she manipulated Nancy. Actually, I needed and craved this. Which, I did get a tiny bit towards the end of the story but by then it was too late for me. Also, when Nancy started brushing off her family and they were falling apart due to her, I felt bad for them. Not the thriller I was hoping for. ( )