Review: IF YOU KNEW HER, by Emily Elgar

IF YOU KNEW HER, by Emily Elgar

Harper Audio - 2018

Narrated by Katey Sobey

My Rating (out of 5)

⭐⭐⭐1/2

A good book, but not particularly memorable.

Cassie has secrets.  When she is the victim of a hit and run, she is admitted to ICU, comatose and clinging to life. Even in hospital though, it seems Cassie is still in danger.
Alice the head nurse takes an interest in Cassie and what happened to bring her to hospital.

Frank is also on the same ward.  As everyone continues with their day to day activities, nobody realizes that Frank is not comatose - not completely.  He can hear every word

A lot happens around Cassie's bedside. A lot is said around Cassie's bedside. Frank might be the only one who could save her - if he could only communicate what he knows.

While I enjoyed the book, it just isn't likely that I will give it much thought over time.  For me it just seemed to lack a little in intensity for a thriller. 

I enjoyed the characters though. The story in written in multiple points of view, and as such the reader gets to know several characters. I particularly liked Frank and his story. It is in Frank's story that I see the real talent of the author.

The narrator was quite good.  Her array of voices, accents and emotions made listening along to this story easy and enjoyable.

Happy Reading,

Christine

Review: THE WIFE, by Alafair Burke

THE WIFE, by Alafair Burke

Audio book
Harper Audio - 2018
Narrated by Xe Sands

 












My Rating (out of 5)
⭐⭐⭐⭐

This book was good, until the end.  Then it got VERY good! Exactly what a thriller should do. 

Angela is a single mother with a tragic past. She met her husband Jason while catering a dinner party for the well-to-do East Hampton crowd. What she thought would be a brief fling turned into marriage. Angela, Jason and Angela's son Spencer move to New York where Angela can bury her past where no one knows her. When Jason writes a best selling book he soon becomes a media sensation, while Angela chooses to remain quietly in the background to protect her secrets. 

When Jason is accused of sexual impropriety though, it is the the beginning very public legal issues.  While Angela stands by her husband's innocence, when things go from bad to worse, it threatens to destroy everything and expose the past that Angela has worked hard to put behind her.  Now she has to decide who to save, Jason or herself. 

Alafair Burke is a new to me author. After enjoying THE WIFE, I will be certain to watch for more of her books.

Happy Reading,
Christine

 

 

THE HOME FOR UNWANTED GIRLS, by Joanna Goodman

THE HOME FOR UNWANTED GIRLS, by Joanna Goodman

HarperAudio 2018
Narrated by Saskia Maarleveld

My Rating (out of 5)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Can-Lit at its absolute finest!

One of the most profoundly moving novels I have read or listened to this year ever! 

This story begins in 1950's Quebec, where people are divided between the French speaking and English speaking.  Fifteen year old Maggie Hughes Father is English, but her Mother is French.  The language tension even permeates their home. Maggie's Father makes it clear that he would never approve of a Frenchman for her, and especially not the poor French boy next door.  But Maggie is headstrong and not one to go along without question, and she dates the handsome neighbor Gabriel anyways. 

When Maggie's Parents discover she is dating him they pack her off to live with relatives, forcing her and Gabriel apart. Not long after arriving at her relatives farm, it is discovered that Maggie is pregnant. Being the 1950's, and her being a young, unwed mother, she was forced to give up the child to avoid scandal.

At this point the story splits into alternating narrations about Maggie, and Elodie the daughter Maggie was forced to give up.  

Elodie grows up in the cruel and underfunded orphanage system, until a change in funding legislation results in things getting worse, as almost all orphanages are converted to mental hospitals, and all orphans within being labeled as mental patients. Elodie knows she does not belong in a mental hospital, but there is nothing she can do. But she dreams of someday finding her Mother or other relatives.

Maggie never forgets the baby she was forced to give up.  Ultimately she marries, but the hole in her life that is Elodie's absence is ever present.  One day she meets Gabriel again, and realizes that she still has feelings for him. At this point Maggie decides that she is not willing to live by other peoples rules anymore, and she is determined to take her life back and fight the system that seems designed to punish the mothers and the children they gave up.

The most heart-wrenching aspect of this story, is that it was based on real events.  The cruelty of the orphanages and the conversion to mental hospitals is real history.  How many perfectly healthy children were abused in these places?  How many were never able to get over the emotional damage and/or the stigma associated with mental illness at the time? As much as this story is heartbreaking though, in the end it is also a story of human resilience and the human spirit, and the oh-so-often unbreakable bond between mother and child.

 

The narration of this story was excellent and did this deeply moving book justice. Saskia Maarleveld was able to seamlessly move from non-accented English, to French, to French-accented English seemingly effortlessly.  

 

If you are looking for a Can-Lit title to get into for the upcoming Canada Day long weekend, I strongly recommend this one!

Happy Reading eh!
Christine

Review - Queen of the Dark Things - by C. Robert Cargill

Queen of the Dark Tihings - By C. Robert Cargill
Audiobook - HarperAudio 2014
Narrated by Vikas Adam

My Rating (out of 5)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Book 2 of the thrilling fanasy that started with Dreams and Shadows.

Colby is back. He has been enjoying the quiet life in Austin since banishing all of the fairies and other denziens of the limestone kingdom from the city  But once again he must fight to do what is right. Fight demons, and shadows, and other dark things.  At stake is not only himself - body and spirit, but the eternal souls of some of his dearest friends. 

I love these books, and hope that the author will grace us with another! Complex characters, in a gripping storyline, set in modern day America.  Keeping my fingers crossed for a book 3! 

I originally started with the Kindle e-book edition of the earlier book, and addied voice narration thinking i could flip back and forth from reading to narration. After starting the book in the car one day, I became captivated by Mr. Adam's voice and ended up listening to the whole thing, and now this book as well..  I can't say enough goodthings about the talent of Vikas Adam as a narrator. Excellent voice acting!

Happy Reading,
Teenie K