Nine Perfect Strangers

★★★☆/5

Happy Monday! Hope everyone is doing well and had a nice Easter weekend. I don't know about you guys, but at this point in quarantine my reading needed a little bit of a pick-me-up. I found Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty at a library sale ages ago ($3 - deal of the century!) and decided now was as good a time as ever to give it a go - usually books I own are the last ones to get read because I always prioritize the library books I have out. But with everything going on and that no longer being an issue, I suddenly had plenty of time to read it. Plus, my mom and I are hoping to go to a health resort in June (fingers crossed it still happens) and this felt like a fun way to keep that vibe while stuck at home. While it was absolutely nothing like the place we're going to, it was still exactly what I needed!

The book follows nine different characters who all find themselves attending a 10-day retreat at a health resort, Tranquillum House, near Sydney. We get insight into each character's journey through the (very bizarre/hilarious) retreat while also learning about their personal lives and the decisions/events that brought them to Tranquillum House. Their stories are both insightful and heartwarming, while the retreat experience itself brings a level of suspense and oddity that keeps the pages flying.

I love Liane Moriarty. Seriously, her writing style is fantastic - I am hard pressed to find another writer with the same flare for creating very funny, relatable, and heartbreaking stories and characters. Every time I read one of her books, I'm more and more convinced that I just really want to be her friend.

The cast of characters in this book were very true to LM's style of being both hilarious and heartbreaking, which was a big win for me. The reason I didn't rate this book higher than I did was because it was definitely a bit fluffy and the ending felt a little rushed. Moriarty has some real masterpieces (Big Little Lies, What Alice Forgot) and this book was definitely not on that level. That being said, it was still extremely enjoyable and exactly what I was hoping for in this stage of quarantine. As long as you go into it with reasonable expectations, it's definitely a good read.

Overall, a very solid 3.5/5. I would definitely suggest it to anyone who wants a funny yet introspective book with some suspense/madness thrown in. If you've read it and agree/disagree, definitely let me know!