Can’t Look Away

For those looking for a domestic drama goodie. In similar fashion to Push and Greenwich Park – where the focus is on domestic struggles, fertility, and small-town gossip – comes Can’t Look Away.

In this novel we meet Molly Diamond; a barista who dreams of becoming a writer, and Jake Danner; the lead singer of an up and coming band in a flashback to their budding romance in 2013. Nearly 10 years later, Molly is no longer with Jake and her writing career is stalled. Her time is now spent living in a wealthy suburb of Connecticut with her husband Hunter and their daughter teaching yoga classes at a nearby studio. Just when Molly looses hope in connecting with anyone she meets Sabrina; a breath of fresh air, with similar interests and a down to earth nature unheard of in this suburb. Molly soon discovers they have more in common then their fertility issues.

Similar to other novels, we have 3 POVs (Molly, Sabrina, and Jake), I think the author did a good job at leading us through each perspective and it didn’t get too complicated. What did feel a bit complicated to me was the timelines; the novel is primarily set in present day, but to understand the characters back story, we are also taken through 2013-2016, or 2021. The back stories were very important and well done, but at times I had to remember the timelines.

Similar to Push, we see the raw struggles of fertility, which gave the characters added depth. I was also pleasantly surprised with one aspect of the ending, but also felt a bit annoyed with Jake and Molly and was hoping for one additional thing to happen. The novel kept me engaged throughout, and at one point I wanted to call one of the characters a B****.

Has your life turned out different than you thought? What would you do differently, if anything?