Keep Me Posted by Lisa Beazley

Sid and Cassie are sisters, but over the years, they’ve drifted apart and they don’t talk too often and they seem to only see each other at family events. They’re still close, but not like they used to be. They both got married, had children, and now they’ve realised that they need to work harder to keep in touch, especially with Sid now living in Singapore. So Sid suggests they write handwritten letters to each other, and this forms the basis of the novel’s plot.

Cassie is a brutally honest character. She admits when she doesn’t like someone, and she admits things to Sid that she never had the courage to admit to her in person. Cassie is finding it difficult raising her twin boys, and her husband isn’t as attentive as Cassie would like him to be. She’s struggling, and she’s a fantastic character. She is sometimes daggy, unreasonable, naive, overly trusting, or too polite, and the reader can relate to this.

There are two storylines in this book, despite the fact that it’s from Cassie’s point of view. Sid’s marriage is crumbling and the reader only learns pieces of it through Sid’s letter. It’s that terrible feeling where the reader can sense something bad is about to happen but it’s quite clear that the character has no idea. It’s a clever stylistic technique that the author has used to draw in the reader and keep them engaged.

I have one negative to point out: Cassie is extremely naive for a woman of her age. In order to keep her sister’s letters so that one day she can read over them if she wants to, Cassie scans them and uploads them to a blog. This is another one of those times where the reader knows exactly what’s going to happen, but the character has no idea. But in this case, Cassie should know that putting your private letters on the internet is not a good idea. The fallout that results is her own fault, and I had a hard time sympathising with her at all.

I’m definitely not the target market for this book. I’m not married, I don’t have children, and I’m about 15-20 years younger than all the main characters. And yet, this novel is interesting, intriguing and real. Keep Me Posted has flawed, naive characters. They’re realistic and they’re relatable and they’re witty and they’re funny. And so despite the fact that I’m not someone who would’ve thought to pick up this title, I very much enjoyed it.

My Score: 9/10
Publication Date: 2 May 2016
Publisher: Text Publishing

I received a review copy by Text Publishing in exchange for an honest review.