When Celadon Books reached out with this ARC, I had to take them up on it... a story about a family with a several children, and one VERY late addition, sounded like something I was familiar with! We have our very own "Latecomer", having had our sixth child when my youngest was already 8 and my oldest almost 18😲!
This novel is divided into three separate sections: whereupon we learn about the parents, then the triplets who were born from the early stages of IVF, and finally the "Latecomer" and fourth sibling, born when the triplets were 17 years old. Talk about starting over😲🤯!!!
This was definitely a character-driven novel, in which none of the characters were actually very endearing😩. The triplets were completely unlikeable and the idea of them being so averse to each other from the cradle on was not entirely believable. The father angered me for reasons I cannot disclose since I don't want to share spoilers. And Stella - I won't even go into my issues with her role in this story.
There were a couple redeeming characters... I could empathize with the Mama's feelings of impending purposelessness as her triplets were about to fly the coup. Personally, as a woman whose identity is based primarily on being a mother, I understood her pain. In fact I just had this discussion with a dear friend of mine - it's hard to watch your babies grow up so quickly. Phoebe, the "Latecomer" herself, was also a redeeming character, but that redemption doesn't come until the last third of the book.
The family dynamics were frustrating, to say the least, and not something I could relate to. The entire family seemed devoid of love. Of course, there was infidelity thrown in, which just irritated me🙄. But honestly, I cannot say it was poorly written. There was just something about the writing that kept me interested throughout.
Many thanks to Celadon and NetGalley for gifting me with this advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review!
Read 5/31/22
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