The Things We Wish Were True by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen

The Things We Wish Were True

by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen

In an idyllic small-town neighborhood, a near tragedy triggers a series of dark revelations.

From the outside, Sycamore Glen, North Carolina, might look like the perfect all-American neighborhood. But behind the white picket fences lies a web of secrets that reach from house to house.

Up and down the streets, neighbors quietly bear the weight of their own pasts—until an accident at the community pool upsets the delicate equilibrium. And when tragic circumstances compel a woman to return to Sycamore Glen after years of self-imposed banishment, the tangle of the neighbors’ intertwined lives begins to unravel.

During the course of a sweltering summer, long-buried secrets are revealed, and the neighbors learn that it’s impossible to really know those closest to us. But is it impossible to love and forgive them?

Reviewed by jamiereadthis on

2 of 5 stars

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I stuck this one out because: North Carolina. And that’s about it.

But I’ve just got to say, what is up with the names? Bryte? Zell? Pilar? C’mon. I mean, I have a great-aunt named Monkey, I can’t say much. And grew up with a girl named Naphtali. And know a girl named Sumiah. And okay… she may have a point.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 5 September, 2017: Finished reading
  • 5 September, 2017: Reviewed