This book offered such promise in the beginning. I like the author's writing style and the theme of "how much do we owe the ones we love?" is a provocative one with immense story-telling potential.

Sadly, I found the characters to be flat and the dialogue between them to feel manufactured. I think the author went to great pains to try and convey the inner turmoil faced by the main character, Carrie. But I never felt it as a reader. When an author has to resort to a line like "I couldn't bear it anymore" to convey her protagonist's pain, I have to roll my eyes.

The pace, too, was off. The middle of the book, where Carrie is in New York, seemed to drag on needlessly while the section where she returns to Madison is rushed, as if the author had a deadline to reach with her publisher.

I think what bothered me the most...aside from the fact that Carrie manages to live in one of the most expensive cities in America for nearly a year without holding down a job...is the behavior of certain characters that didn't feel real to me. Carrie escapes to New York City in the middle of the night without telling anyone FOR WEEKS and when she finally calls her mother, her mom's response is placid and understanding. Carrie also makes the decision to return to Madison for good, which is completely out of character for her. And please don't get me started on her enigmatic boyfriend Kilroy. I kept waiting for the "grand reveal" that would expose why he's so secretive and misanthropic, but the reveal (which the author squeezes into the last few pages of the book) left me thinking: "Really? That's IT?"

I think if you're going to center a novel around a self-centered protagonist, you better make sure that your protagonist feels real and three-dimensional so that we the reader can at least relate to her in some way. Carrie Bell is not well-developed. And in the end, that was my big takeaway of a novel that seemed to hold a great deal of potential.