From the bestselling author of HERE, HOME, HOPE comes a novel of suspense and choices, with a nod to the best of Susan Isaacs’s tales of suburban murder.
Everything isn’t what it seems in the wonderful suburb of Grandville. ALL THE DIFFERENCE is the story of three women whose lives become entangled by the choices they make and how, ultimately, one of them turns to murder to achieve her goals.
… murder to achieve her goals.
Roommates Laura and Angie couldn’t be more different. Laura is a local celebrity, the television anchor who is motivated to move out of small-time media markets and on to the big time, no matter the cost. Meanwhile, Angie, a luckless waitress, spends her time waiting for Mr. Right to save her from temporary jobs and a life spent making bad choices.
On the other side of town, Ellen abandons her life as a successful fundraiser for that of an isolated housewife in the country estate she shares with her husband, whose affairs become increasingly hard to ignore. When the city’s gossip columnist, Maddie, and restaurant reviewer, Dixon, become involved in the mystery, the unlikely duo stir up more than they intended. But will anyone be able to stop the next murder?
With her signature compassion and wit, Kaira Rouda once again takes readers on an entertaining journey into the heart of women’s lives in suburbia — this time with adultery and murder in the mix.
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The characters were a bit shallow but story was good.
Ugh! The attractive cover and free Kindle download suckered me into this book, but they couldn’t sustain me. I stopped reading 25% of the way in. Far too many characters, all shallow and stereotypical “types”, to keep straight. The storyline, such as it was, seemed pointless, and although it might have improved if I’d stuck with it longer, I didn’t want to invest any more time in a book that didn’t engage my interest in any way. Sometimes I enjoy “chick lit” and contemporary fiction, but not this time.
This turned out to be a far different novel than I expected from the first few chapters. What started out as essentially a soap opera set among the movers and shakers in Columbus, Ohio evolved into a very intriguing murder mystery. The cast of characters — and there are a lot — were all quite well-developed and several were fascinating. One plot device that I particularly enjoyed was the interspersed flashback memories of an unnamed child/teen/woman: if you read these carefully, clues to the identity of the murderer are revealed. The big reveal and the last pages of the novel are very well done, with no hanging “threads”, leaving this reader quite satisfied indeed.
For sure this story was a good read. Jumping around from person to person made it a little confusing at first, but once you catch on it gets better.
Very well written. Definitely an entertaining, twisted, unpredictable read. I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
I cringed when I read the descriptions of the abused girl. I truly did not realize which grown woman it described until the end.
This book was a good balance of drama, suspense and humor. I didn’t want to put it down. Well written and entertaining
The author has an interesting character development and I liked the way the story unfolded but the ending was predictable and not real satisfying.
The characters were portrayed as “old” even though most of them were only in their 30s. I felt like I was reading about people my parents’ age rather than people that were younger than me.
Felt the reviews were very misleading. Do not waste your money. The author introduces far too many characters to follow. I could not bond with any of them. Reviews talk about strong women but all the characters were weak minded and dependent on their men. It was disgusting.
The book is a quick read but I felt it ended rather suddenly. I had hoped that the characters lives would intersect more at the end. Basing the chapters on different view points made things interesting. It’s not really a murder mystery and it’s not really a book about relationships between women. It has elements of both, but I would say it’s more of a character study.
Didn’t care for the book. Not one sympathetic character. One character was completely without value and added nothing to the story.
I didn’t make it through this book, though I read approximately 22% before giving up. I disliked all the characters save one, and there were many introduced. Everyone appeared maladjusted, and the short chapters moved from character to character. While I imagine a jointed plot appeared at some point, I didn’t want to slog through the mire to find it.
I rarely just stop reading a book but on page 46 when she “pulled her Dodge Plymouth into the valet parking lot” I was done. How does a mistake like this get past professional proofreaders and editor’s?
All The Difference follows the lives of three women and the choices they make. Each one of these characters choices causes a chain reaction with the others linking them together.
Laura Mercer is the News anchor for Channel 5. She’s a driven-work-oriented woman with dreams of making it big. Janet Jones is a real estate agent. She’s a career-driven woman who devoted her time training her husband making them the best real estate team. Angie Brown is a waitress and a real estate assistant. She’s the town w-hore ruining marriages. Madeline Wilson is an editor for the Journal. She’s a working-class woman who writes in the society column spreading gossip. Ellen Anderson is a married childless housewife. She’s the desirable kept young woman that is alluring to men.
I know I’m suppose to be following the lives of three women, yet I haven’t determined which of the female characters introduced thus far I’m suppose to focus on. The story dives deep into each of these characters lives bombarding the reader with information. I’m waiting for these characters to get settled into their individual roles before processing all the information. Its taking me longer than I thought to sort thru the details, but when I finally organized my thoughts I found the subtle hints of suspicion quite fascinating.
I liked the dark humor in her diabolical characters. Kaira kept me guessing the entire time in this who-dun-it story.
Although, I struggled in the beginning with Kaira introducing a wide range of characters I did enjoy trying to solve the murder mystery. I had to train my brain to stop focusing on the three characters and just accept the information given. It was a well written story. It was easy to read even with its complexity of character introductions.
This was her second published book. While it wasn’t my favorite of hers I’m not yet done exploring her backlist of books. I just discovered her books.
It was only so-so in content and structure. Look for something better to spend your reading on.
predictable. I figured it out 1/2 way through.
Great change from what I expected & enjoyed the plot twists very much!!!
This story difinitely kept me guessing. I can’t say I didn’t figure it out before the end but it was very close to the end. Very enjoyable trying to solve it. Characters were funny & relatable. I highly recommend it.
Really enjoyed it!