The Girlfriend by Michelle Frances

The Girlfriend by Michelle Frances
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Cherry has never known what it was like to have money coming from the poor side of town where her single mother worked for years in a supermarket with no hope of anything better. Cherry was determined that was not going to be how she spent her life and spent a few months making appointments for real estate showings only to learn the business and snag a job at a nice firm. In her new job she meets Daniel while showing him an apartment up for rent.

Daniel is from a very wealthy family and while he will never need for anything in his life with his trust fund on hand he has still gone to medical school and wants to become a doctor. When Daniel walked into the real estate office he never imagined meeting the woman of his dreams but as soon as he saw Cherry he knew he wanted to ask her out. Things move quickly between the pair and soon Daniel brings Cherry home to meet his parents.

Laura is Daniel’s mother and she has spent her life making sure her son has the best of everything in the world. After suffering the loss of one child Laura vowed to always protect Daniel with everything she had and that he would never want for anything. When Laura first hears of Daniel’s new love she’s quite excited for the prospect of a daughter in law but things quickly seem to just not quite be right with Cherry putting Laura on edge.

The Girlfriend by Michelle Frances is being sold as a psychological thriller but I’m almost hesitant to call it as such but possibly more of a suspenseful drama. Either way or what you choose to list it under this was easily one read that immediately hooked me in and didn’t want to let go keeping the pages turning until the very end.

Laura and Cherry both have their flaws and make their mistakes along the way leaving them both characters that are easy to dislike at any point. On the flip side though each woman in Daniel’s life had moments that I would also feel sorry for them and begin to root them on leaving me with a tug of war on how to even want this one to turn out. The manipulation and lies ooze from each page but underneath it all is a feeling that this story could very well really happen which made it all the more intense. In the end I’d definitely recommend picking up a copy of The Girlfriend and giving this one a read.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.