Divorce Is Murder

I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough!!!

This book was a fun, exciting, intriguing, suspenseful, thought-provoking, and inspiring read!

This book is about Toby, a Chinese-Canadian divorce lawyer moving back home to Vancouver Island to take care of her mom, Ivy, who is recovering from breast cancer. Toby decides to practice law in town at a local firm, but there is no rush of clients coming in. Then OMG!!! in walks her teenage dream crush from camp, Josh Barton!!! He is still ever-so handsome, and now a successful IT developer who married Tonya, the meanest mean girl, and Toby’s total archenemy. However, Josh wants to divorce Tonya and he wants Toby to be his lawyer. Since Toby has no other clients and needs the work, she agrees to take on the case. However, shortly after accepting to be Josh’s lawyer Toby learns that Tonya has gone missing. But not to worry, Tonya is found – dead in the marina that is. And this simple divorce case has now moved into a murder investigation with Toby’s client Josh being the prime suspect!!! So much for this being uncomplicated LOL!!!

So many exciting, intriguing, suspenseful, and thrilling moments in this book!!! I literally couldn't turn the pages fast enough!!

I really enjoyed the main characters, Toby, Josh, Colin, Toby’s BFF, Quinn, and Toby’s Mom, Ivy. They were likable, relatable, and genuine. I really liked Toby!! I felt an instant connection with Toby and was able to easily relate with her for the most part. She was sweet, smart, brave, kind, caring, considerate, determined – the friend you’d turn to and want on your side! However, she was also somewhat insecure, naïve, and gullible.

I completely understand why Toby was fawning over Josh even after all these years. I mean come on – we’ve all had a Josh or two – a guy we had the biggest crush on who probably barely knew our name let alone knew we existed lol! So, for Toby to even have a chance to be with the dream guy and for him to be acting like he’s also into her – yeah, I totally get it.

I really liked Colin! He is charming, gentle, protective, handsome, strong, persistent, and romantic. I loved his connection with Toby and their interaction together. I loved how he opened up and confided in with Toby about his mom also having gone through cancer and how difficult it is on both the patient and their families.

I also really liked Quinn, Toby’s best friend since Kindergarten. Quinn was supportive, encouraging, loyal, and compassionate. She was also very eight months pregnant, but regardless still had Toby’s back.

One of the major themes in this book is bullying. Bullying is such a serious and heinous act. Yet it still happens every day. I really appreciate the author shining a light on such an important topic that often gets swept under the rug. Toby showed us that bullying leaves deep permanent scars that even though they can’t be seen to the naked eye, those torturous memories stay with you forever and can be recalled at any given moment. We see this over the course of the book through flashbacks as Toby recalls intimate, torturous moments when she was bullied at camp by the mean girls led by Tonya.

Unlike the main character Toby, I was never really bullied growing up. But these days bullies are EVERYWHERE!!! I’ve had to deal with bullies in the workplace, as neighbors, and at the gym. I’m sure most of us, can at least relate to having to deal with a bully somewhere in our lifetime – which is why Toby made such a great, well-rounded, easy to connect with character – that I think most of us can relate to at least some part of her.

Toby is a character you want to invest in and root for! As this book is book one in Toby’s upcoming series, I look forward to getting to spend more time with her and watch her character arc develop and grow!

I think the author did a fantastic job on her character development as these characters were so real, raw, and personal on many levels!

I also enjoyed the thought-provoking themes of having means girls of all levels and bullying within bullying. Where does it end?? And how what seems like small things to one person could be big things to someone else. You could be bullying someone and not realize it. We all need to think about our actions, and we all need to speak up as well – and feel safe to do so.

This book does have a satisfying ending. However, I felt there were some character loose ends that I’m sure were done to keep the reader excited and curious about book two. So, fair warning, when you get to the end and go ahhhhhh wait why didn’t such and such happen?!?! Well, it’s probably leading up over the next book – hopefully! Lol!

This book is book one in the Toby Wong Book Series. It can be read as a standalone. However, this book series has been greenlit and there many upcoming books in this series to be released in the very near future!

All in all, I really enjoyed reading this book and would absolutely recommend it! I think all romantic suspense and mystery readers will like this book too! So, add it to your TBR List and get to reading - you won't be disappointed!

**Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book and have voluntarily provided an honest, and unbiased review in accordance with FTC regulations.**