In case you missed it: Aimee Molloy's page-turner is a quick read with a major--if manipulative-feeling

He's millions of miles from Earth, and he's got two dead crewmates, a chatty AI robot caregiver, a lot

Newlyweds Sam and Annie haven't known each other long. They realize their whole lives could be shattered as the lies they've been telling each other come to light. Sam and Annie didn't know each other long before becoming engaged and getting married. Now they're newlyweds starting a life together in upstate New York. Sam is starting up a private practice in his sleepy hometown as a therapist, while Annie tries to find her own path and stay busy. Sam's father left his mother for a younger woman years ago, which deeply fractured their father-son relationship. Sam says he abhors the man, but locals are constantly reminding Annie that Sam was a heartbreaker in his younger years. They frequently express their shock that he's settled down, intimating that he was expected to follow in his father's footsteps as a lifelong playboy--and that they believe he still may. Meanwhile, Sam's mother is suffering from dementia. Sam and Annie alternate visiting days with her. Except...Annie finds out that Sam's been lying. He's said he was with his mother, but he hasn't been showing up. Now he's disappeared altogether and isn't picking up his calls. So where has he been, what is he up to, and what other lies have been shaping their lives? Will they ever be able to trust each other again? And where is Sam? For the first third of the book, I strongly considered not finishing Goodnight Beautiful. The characters seemed shallow and unsympathetic; they were obsessed with money and seemed greedy; they were largely concerned with drinking and holding a regular happy hour for two; they often seemed silly, naive, and vapid; and they were lying to each other about their pasts. Several characters seemed unappealing and potentially too-obvious drivers of complications (the young, flirtatious French patient in the therapist's office who serves as a temptation; the bored, emotionally immature housewife desperate to keep her new husband happy; and the insecure middle-aged recently married man with a wandering eye). But this book has a major twist. A third of the way through, it becomes clear that things aren't at all what they seem. (Because I was listening to the audiobook, I couldn't then flip through the first part of the book with the shifted situation in mind like I wanted to. Yet listening to the twist occur in the audiobook may have made the unreliable narrator aspect even more arresting than it would be on the page.) After the story's twist becomes clear, the rest of the book is a waiting game; the reader stands by while the characters slowly creep toward the truth the reader already knows. The trick occurs early (also, one major aspect of the true situation directly echoes a fictional setup made famous by a well-known author that is directly referenced within the text), so there isn't much mystery left for the reader for the majority of the story. Yet once the jig is up for the reader, Molloy offers a deeper sense of her characters, offering vulnerabilities and a sense of their real selves. I liked getting a peek at the protagonists' true selves. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? I first mentioned this book in the Greedy Reading List Three Books I'm Reading Now, 2/9/21 Edition. Molloy is also the author of The Perfect Mother, which has its own twist and unreliable narrator. Have you read either or both of these books? How did you think the structure of the twists compared? What did you think once you realized you'd been manipulated into believing faulty premises?

He can't face any other possibility. 02 Goodnight Beautiful by Aimee Molloy Sam and Annie didn't know

We can continue aiming to be better, do better, and take pride in our diverse nation, its checkered past Charlotte still reels from the news that her husband died in the fighting overseas, and she and her baby Aileen

Charlotte still reels from the news that her husband died in the fighting overseas, and she and her baby Aileen

Charlotte reels from the news that her husband has died in the fighting overseas, and she and her baby Aileen

Nora Gibson is a willful, clever woman fighting against prejudice in 1849 London and aiming for better , linked through time by a historian, a hidden book, an illiterate young girl, the powerful men who aimed

We can continue aiming to be better, do better, and take pride in our diverse nation, its checkered past

I think hot weather is perfect for reading--on the beach, on a breezy porch, or in air-conditioned comfort

attends networking events, takes a vacation alone (to a destination she doesn't learn until she's at the airport

Something extraordinary was in the air.

Twenty-two-year-old Vera is feeling generally aimless and unseen.

Through years of various mysterious, excruciating, debilitating ailments, conditions, and limitations

superficial connection, but bitterness about their past festers--until a cathartic blowup allows them to air

Through years of various mysterious, excruciating, debilitating ailments, conditions, and limitations

areas of the country--and an era in which devastating amounts of toxic pollutants were pumped into the air

Through various mysterious, excruciating, debilitating ailments, conditions, and limitations, Dunham

living in a true homestead version of her life: she is without electricity, indoor plumbing, heat or air this was common; Nora Gibson is a willful, clever woman fighting against prejudice in 1849 London and aiming

this was common; Nora Gibson is a willful, clever woman fighting against prejudice in 1849 London and aiming living in a true homestead version of her life: she is without electricity, indoor plumbing, heat or air

before this was common; Nora is a willful, clever woman fighting against prejudice in 1849 London and aiming

living in a true homestead version of her life: she is without electricity, indoor plumbing, heat or air

Now she's feeling disillusioned with the airbrushing and false scenes she's forced to create in her job

, linked through time by a historian, a hidden book, an illiterate young girl, the powerful men who aimed

housekeeper, cousin, and confidante to the terrible but prolific, well-to-do novelist William Harrison Ainsworth

El-Arifi's novel Cleopatra , an empowering, fascinating story told from Cleopatra's point of view and aimed

Skipper selling scavenged plastic from the water so they can get by and help care for their gruff, ailing

A local, self-important, creepy Revenue Officer who aims to hang any smugglers he can threatens not only

I loved the steampunk aspects--the airship transport, steam-powered mechanical animals, and the mechanical Wren attempts to sabotage her own success, but in order to aid the resistance she must excel and earn

burning fires to clear the air!) help the story come alive.

Twenty-two-year-old Vera is feeling generally aimless and unseen.

Surely Helen had hit rock bottom, not just giving, but forcing aid on those in need.

Vincent died in an accident, her father is very ill, she's waiting tables, and she feels generally aimless

Kellen is struggling in his mage's trials aimed at earning him a name among his privileged people, the

As danger intrudes upon the story and everything Grey and Kier have known feels up in the air, their

Vincent died in an accident, her father is very ill, she's waiting tables, and she feels generally aimless and Carmen are sisters getting by selling scavenged plastic from the water so they can care for their ailing

There was the time he kidnapped a neighbor's pet goose, the time he accidentally aided and abetted a

A Revenue Officer who aims to hang any smugglers he can threatens not only Jack's, but Isabel's safety

often chasing prey, which seems to refer to the legend of Siguanaba--although in this novel she seems aimed

this series of stories about sharp, disparate septuagenarians who meet to resolve cold cases--then aim

There was the time he kidnapped a neighbor's pet goose, the time he accidentally aided and abetted a

There was the time he kidnapped a neighbor's pet goose, the time he accidentally aided and abetted a

There was the time he kidnapped a neighbor's pet goose, the time he accidentally aided and abetted a

seeks to preserve itself, and the bigger you let your life and perspective and heart get, the less air

In 1952, a museum scholar aims to form the recovered bones into a refurbished skeleton to educate and

around one family’s conflicts with crooked and powerful neighbors; cruel and aggressive Native Police aiming

The danger is in chemicals and airports and refugee camps and war zones and regions known for sex tourism

housekeeper, cousin, and confidante to the terrible but prolific, well-to-do novelist William Harrison Ainsworth this series of stories about sharp, disparate septuagenarians who meet to resolve cold cases--then aim

But a medication aimed to help her sleep during this difficult time induces an incredible side effect

this series of stories about sharp, disparate septuagenarians who meet to resolve cold cases--then aim