From the publisher:
One rip is all it takes to expose the devastating truth behind a seemingly perfect life.
Lina Henry is a wife and mother who likens herself to a pretty paper doll. She lives in a beautiful home in the Atlanta suburbs. Her husband, David, is a well-to-do investment banker. She’s raised two wonderful teenagers. To the outside world, the Henry family is perfect. What no one knows is that Lina’s paper doll life is being torn apart in a controlling and abusive marriage. When Lina develops an unexpected friendship with another man, and reconnects with her former best friend, she begins navigating a way out of the emotional minefield that is her home.
But as David senses his loss of control, he becomes more dangerous, and Lina must do everything in her power to protect herself and her children. In order to take back the happiness she deserves, Lina must first rediscover the strength and the fearlessness of her three-dimensional self.
Lina seems to have it all; a lovely home, a successful husband, two well behaved teenagers. But things aren’t always as they seem and, in this case, Lina’s husband David has been emotionally abusive for most of their marriage. The kids have created an exercise app that is taking off and loving the publicity they are getting, but David wants them to shut it down. While her kids are being interviewed on TV, Lina meets Noah, a renowned action movie star, and they become friends. Lina realizes that the emotional abuse is now affecting her kids, and she decides to confront David and ask for a divorce which escalates the abuse. Lina tries to convince herself to hang on for a few more years until the kids are out of school, but her friends give her the courage to move forward in her quest for freedom and Lina finds love. This is a gripping story with characters that come to life on the page, but it is a difficult, possibly triggering, read.
Verdict: The heartbreak of an abusive marriage should be fertile ground for book groups. There are similar storylines in Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty and The Journey by Danielle Steel.
©Library Journal, 2021
8/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
PAPER DOLL LINA by Robyn Lucas. Lake Union Publishing (September 1, 2021). ISBN: 978-1542030151. 365 pages.
Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™ 