Hey Dearies!
I did finally take a break from thrillers! (I know you are shocked!)
This one was actually recommended to me through Kindle Unlimited, and I did know there is also a movie for it. I saw the trailer for it, and when I saw it was based on a book, I wanted to read it before I saw it. I tend to see movies before I find out they are based on a book.
Plus, my friend had read the book and seen the movie and said it was definitely worth giving it a go. Mind you, this was the same friend who recommended all the thrillers I’ve been reading!
Before I go any further, I will be comparing both the book and the movie, so if you haven’t read or seen either one, a spoiler alert is in place!
The book first starts out with Morgan, Chris, Jonah, and Jenny when they were teenagers. Morgan is dating Chris, while her younger sister Jenny is dating Jonah. You can tell that Jonah has feelings for Morgan, and to be honest, they seem more compatible with each other than Chris and Jenny.
Anyway, Morgan finds out she’s pregnant after she graduates high school; Chris and her get married and raise their daughter, Clara, together. It fast-forwards to Clara being 15; Morgan and Chris are still happily married, and her sister, Jenny, ends up having a baby with Jonah, and they are engaged to be married.
It starts back out at Morgan’s birthday, where they are all gathered to celebrate. While they are waiting, Clara is running late because she helped her crush, Miller, get home. He was moving the speed limit sign closer and closer to his grandfather’s house, just so they would be able to get pizza delivered.
Clara ends up calling her Aunt Jenny to tell her all about it, just like any other teenager; they would rather tell anyone else but their parents because, in their minds, they don’t understand what it’s like to be a teenager.
Which is something I used to say to my mother when I was a teenager. Granted, when I look back now, she did understand, to a point; however, she was a teenager in the 90’s while I was a teenager in the 2010’s.
Moving forward to the following day, Morgan ends up watching her nephew since Jenny is going back to work, as her maternity leave is over, since Morgan is a stay-at-home mom. So, Chris, Jonah, and Jenny all go off to work. It’s all fine until Morgan gets a call saying that Chris has been in an accident.
When she gets to the hospital, she sees Jonah there, and she finds out he was called because Jenny was in a car accident. Come to find out, Chris and Jenny were both in the same car that killed them both.
At first, both Morgan and Jonah were confused about why they were in the same car together because they thought that Jenny was going back to work today at the hospital and Chris was going to work as well.
However, after they got calls from the hotel saying that Chris’s vehicle was still there and Jenny’s bag was waiting to be picked up, they found out that Chris and Jenny were having an afair that no one knew about. Of course, Morgan doesn’t want to believe it and tells Jonah not to tell Clara why Chris and Jenny were in the car together.
As a mother myself, I understand exactly why Morgan wanted to keep that information hidden from Clara. She always thought of her dad and aunt so highly, and if she found out that they died in a car crash because they were having an affair, it would crush her. However, telling her what happened would’ve prevented Clara from acting out against her mother.
Since Morgan didn’t want to tell Clara the truth about what happened, she started to resent her mother. This is when Miller comes into play. At first, he has a girlfriend, but is off and on with her until it finally ends; that’s when they start getting closer, not just as friends, but more.
So doesn’t Jonah and Morgan- Jonah finally confesses that he’s always had feelings for her and that he knows deep down she did too as well. Of course, Morgan is too stubborn to admit them, but over time she finally does. Clara ends up catching them kissing and thinks that her mother and Jonah were having an affair, and ends up convincing Miller to have sex with her for the first time.
Which I give props to Miller because he asked several times before they got ready to do the deed, and she just told him yes. Of course, Clara wasn’t ready, and Miller was more mad that any time her mother pissed her off, she would use him to get back at her. Which any other guy would just leave and not talk to her about it, but he ends up staying with her and comforting her.
Finally, both Morgan and Clara sit down and talk about what really happened between Jenny and Chris, not to mention that the “baby” Jonah and Jenny had, Chris was actually the father. They really had a heart-to-heart about it.
Now, the movie does follow the book fairly well; the only thing that it missed, which I’m glad it missed, was the film project Miller and Clara were working on. I honestly didn’t really care about it when I read it, but the prom video Miller made for Clara was perfect.
Overall, both the book and the movie were really good. I honestly loved the mother-daughter relationship and them both learning how to cope with not only the death of their loved ones, but also having to learn to move on without them in their lives.
I did watch the movie with my mom; she didn’t read the book, but she liked the movie as I did. We both ended up crying at the end too. I actually preferred the movie over the book. The book also was slow getting into it, and it did take me longer to really get into versus other books that I’ve flown right through.
What did you think about the book? Or did you see the movie first and then read the book? Let me know in the comments down below!
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