3.5 ⭐️s

First things first - Julia is the absolute worst and I realize I shouldn’t be surprised because “like mother, like daughter,” but seriously, her character was horrible. I tried to like her, but when she told Alice that William was dead, that was the last straw for me.

What a raw and emotionally draining story of broken people trying to navigate the world and find love in their adult relationships. Naturally, my heart broke for William early on and honestly, I did not like him getting with Julia as I saw how controlling she was and realized she was not at all interested in him, but in the idea of what he meant for her in her plan of life. I wasn’t surprised that they didn’t work out, but I was shocked at just how broken he was during the moment of his leaving her and Alice/suicide attempt.

I think if anything, this just highlighted the complexities of those close sibling/familial relationships and the impact it has on the people who marry into the family. At some point, it gets to be too much for everyone and ends in that inevitable boundary setting that you see all of the characters go through, but in the end, they all find themselves together again.