DANDELION IS DEAD by Rosie Storey

3* I had to force myself to read this, not liking Dandelion, nor cheater Poppy, nor cheater Jake, and then right at the very end, getting moved to near tears when BFF Jetta explained Dandelion's twisted M.O. that seemed to come from a place of love for Poppy. 

This is quite a twisted tale from the three characters. All come across as selfish, self-serving and though Dandelion wasn't much in the tale, her presence was everywhere in Poppy. She was described as a sociopath at one point by Jetta, but in a very matter-of-fact way, with no one disagreeing. But, she still had people who loved her like mad and who saw only the good parts, it seemed. 

As mentioned, both leads are cheaters. For me, that doesn't a romance make. Jake's dad muddying the sexual waters with Jake's ONS just felt a tad unnecessary. His sexual awakening at 70ish felt not very believable, on top of keeping the ONS satisfied, something that Jake hadn't managed to.

I didn't like the leads, the premise of the tale nor what I read about Dandelion. But Jake's little boy and his name-changing dolly, his ex-wife and her new BF, were decent. He didn't deserve them. The ending where a horrendous betrayal of Poppy by her nearest and dearest, gets clarified as an act of love, actually worked with the Dandelion reveal, smd her twisted take on things. I suspect this book will get a lot of hype, might even make it to the big screen but it was hard work and I wasn't rooting for the leads. 

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Harper Collins UK, Harper Fiction, for my reading pleasure.

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