Flipside A Doppleganger Sequel by @JennyTwist1 #Coma, #Dreams, #Paranormal

The Plot:

When Richard sleeps he dreams he is living a different life. One in which he is married to a woman with dark blonde hair. Only it doesn’t feel like a dream. It is beginning to feel more real than his waking life.

Meanwhile, in a hospital on the other side of town, a young woman with dark blonde hair is lying in a coma and the doctors are considering switching off her life support.

About the Author:

Jenny Twist left school at fifteen and went to work in an asbestos factory. After working in various jobs, including bacon-packer and escapologist’s assistant (she was The Lovely Tanya), she returned to full-time education and did a BA in history at Manchester and post-graduate studies at Oxford.

In 2001 she retired and moved to Spain where she lives with her husband, Vic, and their rather eccentric dog and cat. Besides writing, she enjoys reading, knitting, and attempting to do fiendishly difficult logic puzzles.

Review:

I’m so happy my final review is of a book that has it all—good grammar, likeable protagonists, and a plot that includes good character development, unusual elements, and a truly unique paranormal twist with no vamps or shifters. Finally, it’s all sewn up in a nice, neat, fifty-eight page package that I couldn’t put down, despite having to be somewhere the next day. Thank goodness my granddaughter was visiting and was able to do the driving.

Flipside is an absolute must read!

Author Website:  https://smile.amazon.com/Jenny-Twist/e/B005CI80ZC

Warnings:

Length:  58 Pages

Prices:

Print:  $5.00

Digital:  $0.99

Buy Link:  https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZ4HYCB

Thanks for visiting.

Exit Five from Charing Cross by @ValerieKeogh1 #Thriller

 

The Plot:

Rich, successful Jake Mitchell is in love with Jane, the wife of his best friend, Adam. Unable to fall in love with anyone else, he settles for a beautiful trophy wife and marries Adam’s sister, Ann. Life becomes more complicated when he and Ann have two children—children Adam and Jane long for, but can’t have.

As Jake and Ann’s marriage disintegrates, so does the world around them and Jake is haunted by choices he has made.

Jake meets another woman, Joyce, and thinks, maybe he can start again. But what about his children? He can’t leave them with Ann; he can’t take them with him.

Finally, he makes a decision that will change all their lives forever.

About the Author:

Valerie Keogh is a qualified nurse with a BA in English and an MA in American Literature. She continues to work as a nurse and writes when she can, some days pages, some days just a few words.

The initial idea for Nicola Connolly came at work one day while she was throwing away unused medication. She wondered what someone could do with it, and came up with the idea for the novel, Deadly Sleep.

Nicola, one of her colleagues, encouraged her, and as a reward, she stole her name!

Connolly, is from John Connolly, one of her favourite authors.

The idea for That One May Smile, came from the churchyard near her home—a photograph of which was used for the cover shot.

The skull, on the cover on the Nicola Connolly novels, came from an antique shop in Falmouth which was why she decided to make that the location for The Devil has Power.

Review:

Exit Five from Charing Cross was simply unreadable. Jake Mitchell is on his way to meet his best friend for lunch, having just lost his last lucrative client at the trading company where he’s a stock broker. As he exits the tube at Charing Cross, he notices a woman sitting at an al-fresco table near the station and decides to hit on her, mentally comparing her to his wife. I don’t like men who cheat on their wives, so my regard for the protagonist pretty much went out the window right there.

There’s very little action in the book. Most of it is told in massive info dumps, as Jake reminisces about his life leading up to that moment. The author needed to get out of Jake’s head and into the action. Instead of saying he went to stay with his in-laws and droning on with his memories of the visit, take us there with action and dialog.

I put the book down twice and tried to go back and finish it, but I just could not. I hoped it would get better as it went on, but I never learned anything about Jake that made me like him any better, but nothing did. I do not recommend this book.

Amazon Author Page:  https://smile.amazon.com/Valerie-Keogh/e/B00LK0NMB8

Warnings:  Incredibly Boring, Unlikeable Protagonist

Length:  285 Pages

Digital Price:  $2.99

Buy Link:  https://smile.amazon.com/EXIT-CHARING-CROSS-Valerie-Keogh-ebook/dp/B00QPCNB80

Thanks for visiting.

Try Not to Breathe by Holly Seddon

Blurb:

Some secrets never die. They’re just locked away.

Alex Dale is lost. Destructive habits have cost her a marriage and a journalism career. All she has left is her routine: a morning run until her body aches, then a few hours of forgettable work before the past grabs hold and drags her down. Every day is treading water, every night is drowning. Until Alex discovers Amy Stevenson—Amy Stevenson, who was just another girl from a nearby town until the day she was found unconscious after a merciless assault. Amy Stevenson, who has been in a coma for fifteen years, forgotten by the world. Amy Stevenson, who, unbeknownst to her doctors, remains locked inside her body, conscious but paralyzed, reliving the past.

Soon Alex’s routine includes visiting hours at the hospital, then interviews with the original suspects in the attack. But what starts as a reporter’s story becomes a personal obsession. How do you solve a crime when the only witness lived but cannot tell the tale? Unable to tear herself away from her attempt to uncover the unspeakable truth, Alex realizes she’s not just chasing a story—she’s seeking salvation.

Shifting from present to past and back again, Try Not to Breathe unfolds layer by layer until its heart-stopping conclusion. The result is an utterly immersive, unforgettable debut.

About the Author:

Holly Seddon was born and raised in the sleepy south-west of England and now lives slap bang in the centre of Amsterdam with her husband and four children. Throughout her fifteen-year career, Holly has been privileged to work in some of the UK’s most exciting newsrooms.

Try Not to Breathe is her first novel, published in the UK (Corvus/Atlantic) in January 2016. Soon after, it will be available in the US (Ballantine/Penguin Random House), Germany (Heyne), Russia (Sindbad), Swiat Ksiazk (Poland), Crown (Taiwan) and Netherlands (Ambo Anthos).

Holly is currently writing her second book.

Review by Rochelle:

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Wow! I wish I could write like Holly Sutton. What an incredible book! Told in multiple first person points of view, Ms. Sutton takes us into the mind of an alcoholic who wants to battle her addiction but can’t, slowly peeling back the layers of what led Alex from teenage binge drinking to full-blown daily drinking, and the games she plays with herself to try to control her disease.

We see the guilt Jake carries as he tries to balance a career, marriage, his wife’s pregnancy, and the responsibility he feels toward Amy, his high school girlfriend who lies in a coma after a horrific attack by an unknown assailant. And the additional guilt he carries because of the effect his grief had on his brothers, both of whom ended up leaving home rather than cope with him.

Finally, we see inside Amy’s head. She worries her mum will be angry that she’s overslept. She wonders why her friends haven’t called her to go out. When Jake tries to tell her he’s getting married, she can’t understand why he’d break up with her. Is Mum angry? Why has she stopped speaking to her? Who is Alex? What is she talking about? What attack?

I couldn’t put down Try Not to Breathe. I had work to do and Christmas gifts to make. Yet I kept reading. Yes, when I grow up, I want to write like Holly Seddon. And she’s quite young—just starting out. Wow!

Author Website: 

Heat Rating:  PG

Length:  368 Pages

Prices:

Hardcover Print:  $20.26

Digital:  $12.99

Buy Link:  http://www.amazon.com/Try-Not-Breathe-Holly-Seddon-ebook/dp/B00ZNE44F0/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1450896416&sr=1-1&keywords=try+not+to+breathe

Thanks for visiting. Donna, Julie, & Rochelle