In this novel, Meg moves to New York City with her husband and two young children. They have moved from Los Angeles into a borrowed Tribeca loft when Meg’s husband, Iliya, gets a promotion as the head of global membership of a private club. Meg is a copywriter, and she is feeling unmoored as she tries to find a job in the city and form some connections and friendships. Meg crosses paths with Daphne Cole, a “momfluencer” with social media prestige, tons of followers and the perfect family life documented on Instagram, and Daphne takes Meg under her wing. Meg is somewhat of a square peg in the round holes of Daphne’s life, but she works to smooth the edges and with Daphne’s support and encouragement, she begins to fit into her new life with all the perks of social media attention. Daphne teaches Meg how to manage and leverage her growing social media following, and Meg allows herself to get caught up in the lifestyle that Daphne opens up to her.
It does not take too long for Meg to feel overwhelmed and disconnected from her husband, who does not approve of Meg’s obsessive posting photos of their family on social media, which he sees as phony and hollow This seems a little ironic, coming from a man who controls the membership of an exclusive, private club, full of privileged wealthy people. Meg falls under Daphne’s influential, appealing spell, even as she begins to see that her new lifestyle is wreaking havoc on her family. Although Daphne spends a lot of time, energy and money to curate and develop the facade of the perfect life, she can’t prevent some cracks from appearing. And almost against her will, Meg can’t help but accept that Daphne is not what she seems to be. The ending of the book was a complete surprise, which I appreciate even though it kind of seems tacked on and a little bit ill-fitting.
Any mom who has struggled at all to find her footing in the universe of mom-friendships will identify with the author’s portrayal of fake friends, toxic friends, and genuine-and-under-appreciated-
