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I'll Find You
I'll Find You
Liz Lawler | 2020 | Medical & Veterinary, Thriller
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The protagonist in this story is Emily, a nurse, who is struggling with the loss of her sister Zoe. Zoe has been missing for over a year, and Emily still keeps looking for her. The rest is covered by the blurb pretty accurately. Emily is a very disturbed character, she has mental health issues and is trying to cling to normality very hard, but life keeps throwing unusual situations at her. I think Emily is a very interesting and unique character, and I did like her baffled but a very strong personality.

The narrative of this book is told from multiple perspectives, including the thoughts of a police officer – Geraldine, who shares her opinion about Emily and her situations. I was not a very big fan of Geraldine, she was quite boring and didn’t bring much to this story. The book was a slow burner for me, there is a lot of thinking done in this book, and I liked that sometimes, the author was trying to confuse the reader by suggesting ideas. This novel does carry some interesting twists and turns, and that made the book livelier. Author’s experience is shining through in this novel, she explains all the procedures done to the patients in great detail, and her knowledge about Bath is felt very strongly. The topics discussed in this book would be grief when your family member disappears; difficult child-parent relationships; mental health issues etc.

I am not really sure whether I liked the writing style of this book. I think it was quite repetitive, very detailed, and characters kept asking questions in the search for the answers. (I prefer to ask the questions myself) The chapters have a very decent length and do fly by quite quickly. I really liked the culmination in this novel, it was very unexpected and surprising. I really liked the ending of this book as well, I think it rounded up the story very nicely.

So, to conclude, this book carries a lot of grief, insecurities and confusion between what is real and what is not. The narrative is layered, unexpected, and I really had the urge to find out where Emily will be taken by all these events in her life. I think this book would be enjoyable for people interested in medicine and the fans of Shari Lapena. (I see some similarities between the writing styles) Do give this book a try, and I hope you will enjoy it!
  
Not That I Could Tell
Not That I Could Tell
Jessica Strawser | 2018 | Fiction & Poetry
6
6.8 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
Good women's fiction tale but nothing new or surprising here
In the quiet town of Yellow Springs, Ohio, the disappearance of one of its residents, Kristin, is a big deal. She vanishes after an evening with several of her neighbors, filled with wine and conversation around the fire pit. She also takes her young twins, Aaron and Abigail. Left behind is her soon-to-be-ex-husband, Paul, a well-known ob-gyn. A window in Kristin's house is broken and some of her belongings missing. But otherwise, there is no trace or idea about where she and the twins have gone. Paul accuses her of disappearing with money owed to him. Kristin's neighbors, especially her next-door neighbor, Clara, for whom Kristin's disappearance hits a bit close to home, and Izzy, a single woman who recently moved to the neighborhood to get away from her own issues, are baffled. They realize how little they knew about their friend--and that they have no idea where she's gone.

This was an interesting one. From the beginning, this book felt familiar to me--the "something happened" after a barbecue reminiscent of Truly Madly Guilty and others I'd read lately. I was sick while reading, so I had trouble keeping the women and their backstories separate for a while. Too much cold medicine and fatigue, probably.

The book is told from various viewpoints--mainly Clara and Izzy. I was always expecting there to be more: some unexpected surprise or twist, but there never really was. The ending threw in a bit of one, but it wasn't quite what I was expecting. Still, there is a tenseness to the novel, and it can certainly be creepy at times. The novel also does a good job of capturing kids and parenthood--the weariness of the day-to-day of parenting small children, for instance. I also liked how it captured how preschools can be a microcosm of life and small towns and such a cesspool of stress and gossip.

This one moved slowly for me. I liked the characters, but wasn't drawn to them. I had some sympathy for Izzy, but also questioned her motives a lot. I should have been more drawn to Clara, but wasn't. Perhaps because, while I have small children, I don't have the same sort of neighborhood tribe as these women? I'm not sure. Not even the token lesbian neighbors could do it, though I appreciated the effort.

Overall, the story was good, but never offered the big surprise I was waiting for. Characters are interesting but I was never fully pulled into their stories.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review; more at justacatandabookatherside.blogspot.com.