Paper Doll Lina by Robyn Lucas Women’s Fiction Review

synopsis

Lina has been in an interracial marriage for years. On the surface they seem like the perfect family. Her husband is a well off banker and she seems to have the ideal life being there for her kids. But behind closed doors there’s a lot of ugly. Emotional and verbal abuse to start. Her husband has successfully isolated her for a long time but she’s finally reconnecting with her best friend. And through helping her kids on a project they are working on, she connects even more with the outside world. In the middle of that she also meets another man.

review

I started this book because I wanted an angsty read that would challenge my emotions and when I saw this book recommended a few times I knew I had to give it a try. I grabbed it on KU and started listening to the audiobook. And at first I was completely hooked. I really liked Lina and detested her husband. And when I met Noah, he was the sweetest! But what started super engaging for me, at times started feeling lackluster.

One of the things that made ITWU get to me was the questioning in my mind. Because the book played tricks with me! It made me think that maybe I could see myself letting this one thing go or not giving this other thing so much importance. That questioning of how I would react was missing in this book. Basically the role of the husband was outlined early on as the aggressor and it was easy to keep him in that box the whole time. He was the enemy. So I never doubted that Lina had to get away.

The other thing that I found a bit disappointing was the romance element. Not because I don’t think Noah was an excellent hero and treated Lina amazing. But because this was all too much in the middle of a hard situation. It took away for me from the strength that Lina showed in getting herself out of a bad place and just gave an unnecessary element of, especially, emotional cheating that I would’ve liked not to have. I think it would’ve served the story more if their relationship remained platonic and helpful. A supportive relationship during this time versus a romance. And then for the ending, it was such a fast jump from incredible trauma to happily ever after. I would’ve loved to see more emotional healing first.

in conclusion

If you enjoyed It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover, then you’ll enjoy this debut by Robyn Lucas.