the end of her // shari lapena

"i think we're all capable of things we might not want to admit to."

published: 2020

pages: 334

read: 9/26/2020

book: 72 in 2020

SYNOPSIS

It starts with a shocking accusation...

Stephanie and Patrick are recently married, with new-born twins. While Stephanie struggles with the disorienting effects of sleep deprivation, there’s one thing she knows for certain – she has everything she ever wanted.

Then a woman from his past arrives and makes a shocking accusation about his first wife. He always claimed her death was an accident – but she says it was murder.

He insists he’s innocent, that this is nothing but a blackmail attempt. But is Patrick telling the truth? Or has Stephanie made a terrible mistake?

How will it end?

THOUGHTS
wowowowowowowowowowowowowowowoowowowowowow!!!!!!

i should start off by saying that its been about a month and several books since i have last written my thoughts on a book.

idk, ive been in a funk. i havent even really been reading as much as i usually do.

its 156 am as i write this and i am sleepy as fuck but this book was just soooo wooooah! that i had to do what i havent done in months which is open up my laptop and write this post directly on blogger instead of just copying and pasting directly from the notes app on my phone.

all that should just speak volumes about how i feel about this book.

Shari, Shari, Shari.

i fucking love you! (granted i wasnt a big fan of her last book but ive loved all of her books!)

maybe this one was a bit predictable?

idk.

that's mostly what i've been seeing in regards to reviews about this book but to me personally, i think "so fucking what!?" i absolutely bloody loved it.

i didnt really read too much into the story and for once i held back and didnt look for spoilers so i wasnt really looking to expect that. AND THEN THAT happened and i was like HOLY SHIT I WAS NOT EXPECTING THAT.

AND THEN!!!! that epilogue!

Shari is the queen of open ended endings that leave you wondering "just what the fuck did just happen!?"

LOVED IT!

worth the $.90 i owe the library (oops!) from the first time i didnt get to it.

anyway...in this story, here comes Erica trying to warn Stephanie about her mans and how he's evil but of course...do you believe the crazy mad woman or do you believe your husband. and how can you even entertain such ideas when you have twins at home that never shut up because they have colic (whatever that is...i dont have kids)!?

honestly, i did feel like it was a lot of nothing (?. does that make sense?) but once you get to it, you can see the ground work that was put there for you.

and then you get deeper into the story and you can see the work that was put in for you even more and then youre left like WOAH! 😲 at least i know i was.

and if that wasnt enough, there's another 🤯.

AND IF THAT WASNT ENOUGH! there's the epilogue. which just further shows that Shari is good at fucking with your head because, tbh, HOW did it happen!?

so good.

honestly, LOVED THIS book.

and now im even more excited for her newest release next year in July (which will be here in the blink of an eye because TBH, what is even time now?)

(LMFAO!!!!!! according to the time stamp, i wrote this 12/29/2020, im "editing" on 6/30/2021. if i stick to my shit, this should post sometime in july loooool!) (update: im posting: 7/13/2021!)

anyway, i loved this book. this story was good!

and i never really do this mostly because i never remember names and shit BUT this story reminds me of the likes of Peter Swanson. both her every fear & for some reason i am also getting the kind worth killing vibes but if i could throw in another one, i'd also say before she knew him. Erica reminds me of Hen a lot. in the sense that like bitch had facts and they both were super nonchallant about them given the nature of the men around them.

okay for reals now, loved this read.

forever love Shari.

jump over for spoilers!

thanks for reading!

@lesreads___on IG

SPOILERS

S P O I L E R S

Pats first wife was killed by carbon monoxide poisoning. it was ruled an accident and 9 years later, here comes Erica to fuck shit up.

Erica had been friends with Patricks wife Lindsey. she happened to have an affair with Patrick and she knows for a fact that he actually did kill his wife. so here she is 9 years later, ready to blackmail him for shit load of money. why did she wait 9 years? because she was waiting for him to come into money. she knew he'd become something later on in life and it was only a bonus that he ended up marrying Stephanie.......who just happened to come into an inheritance of 2 million dollars a few months prior.

all she wants is money cause that's mostly what she lives off of....except Stephanie says fuck no so she leaves Erica no choice but to go back to Denver (?) idk, i forgot, to open the case back up.

which she does and Patrick does end up getting arrested but is let go because they eventually find out that Erica used to deal.

towards the end, you learn that Patrick DID in fact kill his wife. he didnt want to be married nor have a child and it didnt hurt that she had a million dollar whatchamcallit over it her head. he was set to win. he and erica had a continuous affair but there were never any feelings involved. they were just egotistical.

once patrick is freed and hes back home and some days have passed...he confronts Erica and thats where you learn that he was indeed planning on killing Stephanie and the twins but thanks to Erica that is now impossible. (erica told him to do it earlier and pay her out. they talked about it earlier themselves but i dont think this part was mentioned in the book which is why i was shocked. but yes erica essentially pushed patrick to kill steph earlier than he intended to.)

and the day he took them (Steph & the kids) to have a picnic who the fuck remembers where....he was actually planning on killing them. he was going to drive off a cliff and drown them. pretend he fell asleep on the wheel since theyre both running low on sleep buuuuuuut Steph cockblocked and protested that she would drive since he looked to be on edge.

anyway, Stephanie is now on edge. she doesnt believe that Patrick didnt not kill his wife. (did that make sense?) she knows he did it but there is no way to prove it. she decides to leave him but she knows that he wont let her go that easy.

SO she plans to kill him and make it look like suicide due to the murder and getting let go from his job. and she pulls it off. they have drinks in their kitchen, she tells him she's going to the bathroom, she gets the gun, strips off her clothes and goes back downstairs, puts the gun to his temple and shoots. she runs upstairs to get in the shower and then calls 911 stating that she was in the shower when he killed himself.

she gets away with it.

but erica knows.

and she gives Steph her blessing. but steph knows she'll be back to blackmail her.

the prologue ends with Erica's body being found in the river.

someone killed her.

and the best part is we dont know who did it.

it could have been steph cus DUH!
it could have been Niall & his wife Nancy (erica had an affair with Niall and Nancy found out but the reason they could have done it is because Niall & Nancy were part of a hit and run and Erica MIGHT have known. in the book its mentioned that Erica kept trying to get a hold of Niall to no avail so that might have been it. Niall was also Patricks business partner.)

it could have been Gary & his wife....Cheryl.

erica and patrick hooking up produced a child that she placed for adoption....that Gary and Cheryl adopted. she blackmailed them before she gave birth for a shit load of money and they gave in so they wouldnt lose out on the baby. now...9 years later, shes back and she's asked for more money. and they better pay up or she will tell Devin (the child) who she really is and that he was adopted and who his father really is. ...

erica fucked everyone over.

ahhhh!!!!!!

these spoilers are all over the place but trust me, the more i think about this book, the more i fall in love with it!

SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!