The book is centered around two twin sisters who decide to take very different paths, one choosing to live as white. I thought the introduction of the Loretta character was ingenious, as it brought in a third perspective: that of a visibly Black family moving into Stella’s neighborhood. It highlighted the contrast between Stella and Loretta’s experiences, showing that just having the money to live in a place wasn’t enough to be accepted. The color of your skin still played a crucial role.

There was one part I found a little disappointing. I was curious throughout the book about how Blake would react once he found out that Stella had been lying to him their entire relationship. On one hand, her race doesn’t materially change who she is or affect their relationship, but the fact that she didn’t trust him enough to tell him, that’s something to feel let down by. Every time Jude and Kennedy crossed paths, I kept thinking, “Okay, this is it, the truth is coming out.” But it never did, at least not in the way I expected. Instead, Stella ended up pulling Kennedy into the secret too, telling her everything but making her promise not to say a word to Blake.

The subplot around Reece and Jude’s love story, the spousal abuse in Desiree’s marriage, and the other side characters all added more layers to the story and made it a great pick for a book club.

If I had to be overly critical, the one thing that felt a bit hard to digest was the sheer number of coincidences. Earlie finding his childhood crush as part of his job as a bounty hunter, Jude running into Stella at that party, and then running into Kennedy again at the theater, each one individually feels like a one-in-a-million chance. But all of them happening in the same story definitely veers into the unbelievable.