The Pupil by Dawn Goodwin

Katherine gave up her identity when she married Paul. An aspiring writer, she was working as a waitress ( not in a cocktail bar, mind you). Some of you probably are not old enough to know what song that is from! Anyhow, she was working hard to make ends meet when she met Paul. Paul is 15 years older than her and very financially stable. He provided a comfortable life and together they had two children. The problem is that Paul is very demanding and controlling. He literally dictates every single thing Katherine does. He is very adamant that he does not want her to become a writer.

They live in a neighborhood where all the moms stay home and their lives revolve around their child's activities. None of the other mothers want to be friends with Katherine, in fact they are hostile with her and exclude her from everything. Something happened in Katherine's past that the entire town seems to be aware of, which has turned them against her.

When Jack is 8 yrs old and Lilly is 10, Katherine decides she needs to do something for herself. She enrolls in a writing course taught by a best selling thriller author, Samuel Morton. Now this is where things get interesting. Samuel takes a special interest in Katherine and takes her under his wing to help her write her first novel. Is he truly just interested in shaping her into an author or does he have some romantic intentions? Samuel seems to have more of a "working relationship" with his wife Viola and it makes you wonder if he is taking a special interest in Katherine to fill a void. Katherine has a big case of fangirling, which I am sure much of us can relate to!

The ratings are all over the place on this book. People either loved it or not so much. I did like this book and I thought it was very well written. I think that if you go in expecting a thriller type book, you may be disappointed. If you go in expecting to read about a woman chasing her dreams to be a writer and the emotional hurtles she has to overcome, than you will probably like it. I found it interesting that the author really focused on the the struggle an author goes through while writing a book. Katherine had a lot of self doubt that she had what it took. Would she be able to live with the people bashing her book in reviews? This book that she put her heart and soul into? Even the best selling author Sam worried about if he "had another book in him." I am not an author, but this all seems very plausible that this is the struggle that authors go through. So since I am interested in books this was interesting to me.

I did like Katherine and was cheering her on to write a novel. I did ponder if Sam and Katherine were going to end up together as a couple. So it did intrigue me to read on. I will say that the ending was a bit predictable and I never felt a ton of suspense. There is nothing wrong with that because I did enjoy reading it. There is mystery surrounding Katherine's past and Sam and Viola have some questionable actions that make you wonder. I gave this book 4 stars because I did enjoy it, but it wasn't the edge of your seat thriller that I had expected. Again, nothing wrong with that, it may be that I have just read so many crazy, twisty thrillers lately.

Thank you to Dawn Goodwin, Aria and NetGalley for this ARC to read and review!