Update @ 10%

Okay, I’ve given it a full hour of audio time, or 10% of the total book, which is more than double my minimum 20 minutes that I usually give before DNF’ing a book. It’s just not well-written. The narrative gives details from a first person point of view that normally belong to a 3^rd person POV, even sometimes making observations that would be belong to 3^rd person omniscient. It’s just not plausible that someone is going to be so continuously self-aware of their own involuntary body language. This woman is so internally focused it’s a wonder she’s able to interact with the outside world at all. And the choice of telling us every damn moment to moment detail is exhausting. Who cares that she sighed before standing up and that she carried some bins (that were not critical to the scene or events) to her car. Or that they packed and loaded their car before setting off on an out of town trip? It's like death by a thousand paper cuts. 

Anyway, DNF at 10%. Dara Rosenberg’s reading was okay, but it couldn’t elevate the source material. Returned the book to Audible for a refund. I guess I’ll have to find another book for The 16 Tasks of the Festive Season, Square 2 - Read a book that takes place on the sea, near the sea, or on a lake or a river, or read a book that has water on the cover.

Previous post @ 7%

I looked over at Cassie, and my breath caught in my throat. She stood, frozen, her eyes moonlike circles as she stared at me. Her face paled. My heart lurched. I knew that look, and swore under my breath. Not another premonition. Give the girl a break. Cassie shrieked, and I jerked. The phone slipped from my fingers. She screamed again, high pitched, curdling my blood. What had she seen? Who had she seen? I glanced around the park. There wasn’t anyone we knew. She always knew the people in her visions.

“Mommy!” She ran to me and slammed into my stomach. She pounded me with her fists, still screaming my name. This was a bad one. The worst one yet. I couldn’t imagine the nightmares she’d have this time.

How can this author use so many words to convey so little? This writing style is just not engaging at all. I feel as though I’m just being fed information.

This is the continuation of the series "Everything We Keep". The first book dealt with Aimee who attended her fiance's funeral instead of her nuptials on her wedding day. This book tells us what really happened to James in Mexico. Well, eventually.

James is now Carlos and living in Mexico, has two sons, a deceased wife and owns an art gallery. He knows nothing of James. Freaky, but true.

Luckily, I had this book on my TBR pile right after I finished the first in the series. I picked it up right after finishing the first book. I could not wait. This one continued the flow, with some overlapping - which is to be expected, and I was right back into the story again. I'm not sure whether there will be more in this series. I could see that there could be. Telling the story of Aimee's life after finding James would be my guess if there is another book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this series. This was the first time that I had read this author and will definitely be adding her name to the list of authors to read.

Thanks to Lake Union Publishing and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

I savored this book until the very end. That was when I started to savor the next book in this series. Thankfully, I already a copy of it and was to imbibe that book and conquer my excitement.

This was a very touching story. A woman who's fiance goes missing two months before the wedding while on an unexpected rushed trip to Mexico. The book opens with Aimee, a sous chef at her parent's restaurant, attending her fiance's funeral on her wedding day. The funeral is at the same church, with the same flowers and mostly the same people. A total heartbreak scene that will gain your sympathy for sure. After the funeral, she is accosted by a stranger who tells her that James, her fiance, is till alive.

The book goes back and forth as to whether James is still alive. The blurb leaves you hanging, so I will also. I can say that I was mesmerized by the story and haunted. There were a few times when I thought Aimee might have went a little too far, but it didn't stop me from reading this book.

A very mesmerizing read that kept me very interested and entertained. 

Thanks to Lake Union Publishing and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

From the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Everything We Keep comes the highly anticipated sequel. Told from one man’s two perspectives, Everything We Left Behind effortlessly blends suspense, mystery, and romance in an exploration of loss, resilience, and the compelling need to protect the ones we love at all cost.

Two months before his wedding, financial executive James Donato chased his trade-laundering brother Phil to Mexico, only to be lost at sea and presumed dead. Six and a half years later, he emerges from a dissociative fugue state to find he’s been living in Oaxaca as artist Carlos Dominguez, widower and father of two sons, with his sister-in-law Natalya Hayes, a retired professional surfer, helping to keep his life afloat. But his fiancée, Aimee Tierney, the love of his life, has moved on. She’s married and has a child of her own.

Devastated, James and his sons return to California. But Phil is scheduled for release from prison, and he’s determined to find James, who witnessed something in Mexico that could land Phil back in confinement. Under mounting family pressure, James flees with his sons to Kauai, seeking refuge with Natalya. As James begins to unravel the mystery of his fractured identity, danger is never far behind, and Natalya may be the only person he can trust.

Well, I did not realize that this was a sequel until I just sat down to review it. Oops. In that regard, this book can definitely stand alone.

Ironically, my biggest issue with this book was that I felt thrown in. I wanted more backstory. I didn't understand what had happened and I wanted it in laymen's terms. I wanted more on Raquel. I wanted to know the family dynamics. I guess I should have read the first book before reading this and maybe I wouldn't have had these issues!

Having said that, I thought this was a quite solid book despite the strange premise. It was challenging for me to really comprehend the strange dissociative fugue state that James-Carlos had, and to relate to how it might be to wake up one day in this state, but I enjoyed reading about how this often happened after trauma. It did feel too convenient as a trope, but I got over that since this is a book. I would have recommended it alone, which says a lot.

I also wasn't terribly enthralled with the Natalya/James-Carlos relationship. Natalya was Carlos's deceased wife's half-sister, and I thought it just could have been much tidier if she had been a best friend, or a next door neighbour, or something that would just keep family out. There were too many "true loves" in this book for me to feel passionately about any--it's hard to believe that Aimee was James's true love his whole life when he then has no problems going to the sisters.

I did really admire the way that James-Carlos both cared immensely for their children and worked to do everything in their power to keep them happy and safe. This was really admirable, and made me care so much more about all of the characters.

If you enjoyed the first book, then this one will probably satisfy you. But you should probably read the first one before diving into this one simply so that the premise will be more clear and so that you care more about these characters than I did.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.