whitneydaniell

by: Carola Lovering
published: June 12, 2018
genre: Romance, Contemporary
384 Pages, Paperback
Goodreads | Amazon

Synopsis

Lucy Albright has a bright future ahead of her when she steps onto the campus of Baird College, a small liberal arts school in Southern California. She quickly forms a close-knit friend group and dives headfirst into college life. When she unexpectedly meets Stephen DeMarco, there’s an electricity between them she can’t explain—something about his piercing green eyes that leaves her unsettled but intrigued.

Stephen, a junior at Baird, is determined to go to law school after graduation. When he meets Lucy on a boat in Lake Mead, he sees something different in her. She’s not like the other girls—she’s “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.”

What follows is a tumultuous four-year relationship filled with deceit, manipulation, and outright lies. Lucy and Stephen bring out the best and worst in each other, unable to cut the cord no matter how toxic their entanglement becomes. Lucy knows Stephen can’t be trusted. Stephen knows Lucy won’t walk away. And the consequences of their obsessive connection are more far-reaching than either of them could imagine.

Character Summary

It would be too easy to chalk Lucy up as your typical impressionable 18-year-old college freshman—because honestly, she’s much more idiotic than that. Even as a teenager, Lucy displayed a disturbing lack of self-worth and boundaries. At fourteen, she developed a crush on her much older tennis coach, and when his actions crossed into inappropriate (and illegal) territory, she convinced herself that his interest meant something romantic. She carried that delusion for years, refusing to date anyone else because “he just wasn’t Gabe.”

Stephen, on the other hand, has been a sociopath his entire life—and he knows it. He’s methodical in his manipulation, executing his emotional games with the precision of a surgeon. What makes Stephen especially dangerous is that he tells his victims exactly who he is. But he’s so good at gaslighting and spinning his narrative, they ignore all the red flags just to believe his lies.

My Final Thoughts

To be fair, I watched the Hulu series before I realized it was based on a book. Normally, I try to read the source material first because books always offer more nuance and context. But in this case, I didn’t—and my thoughts on the book are slightly colored by the show. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

Sure, the TV adaptation takes a few liberties to dramatize the story (as it should), but I appreciated the layered storytelling and the emotional complexity between Lucy and Stephen—actually, between Lucy and everyone. She’s deeply flawed, which makes her fascinating to follow.

I do wish someone had gotten Lucy into therapy much earlier. I don’t fully blame CJ or Ben, but during her high school years, they really should have paid closer attention. The abrupt switch from “Mom” to CJ didn’t raise any red flags for anyone? Maybe that’s a cultural or socioeconomic blind spot—I don’t come from a well-off, white suburb, so that wasn’t my reality. Black mommas, typically, be all up in your business.

The book moves between present day (2017), where Lucy is attending Bree and Evan’s wedding (they all met at Baird), and flashbacks to her college years (2010–2014). Most of the story unfolds in those flashbacks, tracking Lucy and Stephen’s emotionally destructive “situationship” that everyone, including Lucy, knows is doomed. Stephen is incapable of real emotional connection—he tells us as much:

“With limited trial and error, charm quickly became the quality I could rely on to get me into a girl’s pants.”
—Stephen DeMarco

I wasn’t sure how the story would end, especially since the Hulu series is filming a third season, so I expected the book to go a different direction—and it did. The resolution between Lucy and CJ around the “Unforgivable Thing” was long overdue, but necessary. I could tell CJ had already made peace with it and discussed it with Ben. Lucy, on the other hand, was still carrying it like a cloak of armor.

Shoutout to Lucy’s friends, Jackie and Pippa—the true MVPs. They always kept it real with her, no chaser. Even when Lucy wasn’t the best friend in return, they held her down. I loved how tight their bond was in the book, especially compared to how the show (spoiler alert) ends season one with Lucy betraying Bree. In real life, I don’t know if I could stay friends with someone like Lucy. That level of chaos is exhausting. But I get it—they were young… and high.

Speaking of which—Jesus, Mary, and all the Josephs—the cocaine! They were doing lines daily. I was genuinely worried for them. It felt like they ran through all the coke in California. Somehow, they all graduated and moved on to semi-functional adult lives, but still—whew!

Personal Note: I went to a PWI, and I’ll never forget walking into a house party where I was clearly the minority, and witnessing people openly doing coke. That was my first—and last—party like that. I stuck to the mildewy basement parties with jungle juice in an orange Igloo cooler and people who looked like me. No shade to those who enjoy skiing… it just wasn’t my scene. That night was a full-on culture shock for my African-American eyes.

Final Verdict: I liked the book. I plan to rewatch the series—and maybe recap it here. If you haven’t seen the Hulu show, read the book first. If you have seen the show, still… read the book.