Review: Interesting after already reading the novel
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 08 8, 2012
I read "The Next Best Thing" at the beginning of the summer and thought it was fairly average (gave it 3-stars). I then picked up this free short story that is billed as the narrative that inspired the full-length novel. Since I had already read the book, I knew the characters and what fate awaited them. This was a nice short reading giving their backstory and fleshing out a character that was only mentioned in passing in the novel.As a short prequel, I think the story is largely successful and interesting. If it were being read as a stand-alone story, probably not so much. Only about  of the e-book is taken up with "Swim", the rest is preview chapters of the full novel and review blurbs of her previous novels.I would say as a free download (or maybe even 99 cents) it is probably an ok read for just about anyone but I would have been unhappy to have paid any more than that.