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She sees Alix getting to her feet and heading toward the toilet, jumps to her own feet, and says, “I’m going to the ladies.”
Q: What was your experience of writing from Josie’s perspective? Was it challenging to be inside her head? Overall, I am not as enthusiastic about this thriller as I had hoped to be. I’m still a fan of Jewell and will gladly read her next thriller. Josie nods. Today is her forty-fifth birthday. She finds it hard to believe. Once she’d been young and she’d thought forty-five would come slow and impossible. She’d thought forty-five would be another world. But it came fast and it’s not what she thought it would be. She glances at Walter, at the fading glory of him, and she wonders how different things would be if she hadn’t met him. I really enjoyed the creepy vibe of the first half of the book, but soon became less and less invested. Josie is an intriguing character, but Alix’s naïveté was very frustrating. There are a couple of decent twists, but I honestly expected Jewell to go much darker with this.Whilst celebrating her 45th birthday at the local pub with family and friends, Alix is approached by a woman in the restroom who introduces herself as Josie Fair and tells her that they’re ‘birthday twins’ as it’s her 45th birthday too. I just knew I was going to love it and per usual, I was right. Not only did I love it, I freaking loved it. This will definitely be on my Favorites of the Year list.
Q: Were there any plot and character revelations you were especially excited to finally give the reader? As Alix learns increasingly dark details about Josie’s life, she is disturbed but she doesn’t intervene, nor does she stop the podcast interviews. Do you think Alix should have done something? What do you think the outcome would have been? Erin says that Walter and Josie fought, and when Erin came into the room, Walter was lying on the floor bleeding. Josie refused to call an ambulance. Then Erin hit her mother (which is why Josie ended up looking battered at Alix’s.) When Erin woke up, she was tied to a chair. The title tells us that we are not to believe everything we read. Josie tells a good story of her woes in life--much older husband who may be a pedophile, two strange and distant daughters, and a supposedly bad mother. She becomes obsessed with Alix, who is beautiful, elegant and well-off. She becomes somewhat of a stalker and eventually the plot turns very sinister. The story is told through real time events, the podcast itself, and a Netflix special that is made a few years in the future about the podcast. Josie also wants to be the only one to set the narrative. She doesn’t want Alix talking to anyone but her. Not her mother, not Walter, not Brooke or her daughters.I think that there is definitely an argument that Walter was a groomer/abuser of Josie. Josie denies this in her June 20 interview, but I think that is a common perception of abuse victims. As the birthday celebrations get underway, a chance encounter between Josie and Alix reveals they not only share the same birth date, but they were also born in the same hospital, on the same day, and went to the same school. Except one is psychotic, a murderer, and a serial abuser. Who Killed Brooke? Was Josie A Victim or a Villain? What Did Josie Mean By “Making Changes in Her Life? and more!!
Is this why Josie killed both her husband and Alix’s husband? To give them both a clean break? In her twisted mind, she thought she was doing Alix a favor. Erin recovers and moves in with her sister. Josie is still on the run. She sends Alix a letter claiming that Nathan’s death was a accident.That woman,” she calls out to Nathan, pulling one of the cat’s claws out of her trousers. “The one who kept staring. She came into the toilet. Turns out it’s her forty-fifth birthday today too. That’s why she was staring.” I’m not guilty of insurrection if I actually believe the election was stolen, as Trump would put it. Maybe you have sympathy for Josie? Some people in comments do! She did marry Walter too young, and her children were challenging, and I think her life was not what she hoped it would be. She’s envious to Alix, who seems to have a perfect life (except for Nathan.)
As the story progresses, it's like a veil being pulled from your eyes, but I still couldn't believe what I was reading. It was so twisted! If this book didn’t victim blame a thirteen-year-old girl, it would have been a four-star read. A teen is incapable (and inculpable) of holding any power over a creepy middle-aged man.
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Unable to resist temptation to dig into Josie's life, Alix accepts her offer and begins to record the podcast, inviting Josie to her home studio for interview sessions. While I can’t agree that Josie didn’t do anything wrong, reading your comments has made me see that some of what she says (or thinks) is true. Alix Summer was celebrating her 45th birthday with a large group of friends at her local Pub, when she meets her birthday twin in the Ladies room-an unassuming woman called Josie Fair, who was quietly celebrating with just one older gentleman. Turns out they were both born on the same day, in the same year at the same hospital. The storyline revolves around two women who share the same birthday, were born in the same city, hospital, chose the same place to celebrate their 45th birthday. One of them is Alix Summers; famous podcaster promoting aspiring women who take their second changes for life to achieve bigger things. The other woman is Josie Fair, married with her husband two times older than her, mother of 2 daughters in twenties, a teen mother, who is unsatisfied with her life and her unaccomplished dreams. It means she’s wrong, that everything, literally everything, about her is wrong and that she’s running out of time to make herself right.
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