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kelly_e's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Title: In This Moment
Author: Karma Brown
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 3.50
Pub Date: May 30, 2017
T H R E E • W O R D S
Tragic • Obsessive • Stirring
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Meg Pepper has a fulfilling career and a happy family. Most days she's able to keep it all together and glide through life. But then, in one unalterable moment, everything changes.
After school pickup one day, she stops her car to wave a teenage boy across the street...just as another car comes hurtling down the road and slams into him.
Meg can't help but blame herself for her role in this horrific disaster. Full of remorse, she throws herself into helping the boy's family as he rehabs from his injuries. But the more Meg tries to absolve herself, the more she alienates her own family--and the more she finds herself being drawn to the boy's father.
Soon Meg's picture-perfect life is unravelling before her eyes. As the painful secrets she's been burying bubble dangerously close to the surface, she will have to decide: Can she forgive herself, or will she risk losing everything she holds dear to her heart?
💭 T H O U G H T S
I am slowly making my way through Karma Brown's backlist, and next up was In This Moment. I didn't read the synopsis beforehand because I really like going into her books not knowing what to expect.
Steeped in grief and unresolved guilt, the narrative provides ample content for reflection and putting ourselves in Meg's shoes. The scenario was realistic enough, but Meg's past made for a very messy situation. Her character was incredibly frustrating at times and I couldn't figure out why I couldn't empathize with her.
As for the writing, there is a kind of mystery building as the reader slowly discovers the reason behind Meg's present reactions. Things did become somewhat repetitive as Meg's life unravels. There were also a few plot holes that puzzled me. For instance, at one point Meg loses her phone, yet a few pages later she checks her phone for the time, only to later go out and get a new phone... It definitely could have used a little polishing on that front.
In This Moment was less emotionally gutting than Come Away With Me and less atmospheric than What Wild Women Do, so it didn't land the way I had been hoping. It's still a good read, just doesn't measure up in the same ways. She remains a favourite author simply because all of her books are so different. I am looking forward to getting to the final two backlist titles I have yet to read, and know she has plans to release a holiday book next year.
📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• putting yourself in the characters shoes
• the theme of grief
⚠️ CW: car accident, injury/injury detail, blood, medical content, medical trauma, mental illness, PTSD, alcohol, drunk driving, infidelity, death, death of parent, child death, grief, cancer, ableism
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"Secrets can be like a poison."
Author: Karma Brown
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 3.50
Pub Date: May 30, 2017
T H R E E • W O R D S
Tragic • Obsessive • Stirring
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Meg Pepper has a fulfilling career and a happy family. Most days she's able to keep it all together and glide through life. But then, in one unalterable moment, everything changes.
After school pickup one day, she stops her car to wave a teenage boy across the street...just as another car comes hurtling down the road and slams into him.
Meg can't help but blame herself for her role in this horrific disaster. Full of remorse, she throws herself into helping the boy's family as he rehabs from his injuries. But the more Meg tries to absolve herself, the more she alienates her own family--and the more she finds herself being drawn to the boy's father.
Soon Meg's picture-perfect life is unravelling before her eyes. As the painful secrets she's been burying bubble dangerously close to the surface, she will have to decide: Can she forgive herself, or will she risk losing everything she holds dear to her heart?
💭 T H O U G H T S
I am slowly making my way through Karma Brown's backlist, and next up was In This Moment. I didn't read the synopsis beforehand because I really like going into her books not knowing what to expect.
Steeped in grief and unresolved guilt, the narrative provides ample content for reflection and putting ourselves in Meg's shoes. The scenario was realistic enough, but Meg's past made for a very messy situation. Her character was incredibly frustrating at times and I couldn't figure out why I couldn't empathize with her.
As for the writing, there is a kind of mystery building as the reader slowly discovers the reason behind Meg's present reactions. Things did become somewhat repetitive as Meg's life unravels. There were also a few plot holes that puzzled me. For instance, at one point Meg loses her phone, yet a few pages later she checks her phone for the time, only to later go out and get a new phone... It definitely could have used a little polishing on that front.
In This Moment was less emotionally gutting than Come Away With Me and less atmospheric than What Wild Women Do, so it didn't land the way I had been hoping. It's still a good read, just doesn't measure up in the same ways. She remains a favourite author simply because all of her books are so different. I am looking forward to getting to the final two backlist titles I have yet to read, and know she has plans to release a holiday book next year.
📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• putting yourself in the characters shoes
• the theme of grief
⚠️ CW: car accident, injury/injury detail, blood, medical content, medical trauma, mental illness, PTSD, alcohol, drunk driving, infidelity, death, death of parent, child death, grief, cancer, ableism
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"Secrets can be like a poison."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, and Blood
Moderate: Mental illness, Medical content, Grief, Alcohol, and Medical trauma
Minor: Death, Infidelity, Ableism, Cancer, Death of parent, and Child death
PTSD, drunk drivingdebra_reads_'s review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Dear In This Moment,
You have been on my TBR forever. I have passed you over time and time again, and I am not sure why, but the TBR jar determined that I would read you this week. And I am so glad it did. While you are a bit of a throw-back, you were definitely food for thought. I was a bit frustrated with Meg in general. I wanted to shake her and tell her to GO TO THERAPY. She obviously had experienced so much trauma, and her parents should have put her in therapy back when she was 16 to help her process the grief of losing her best friend. If broke my heart that she carried around that trauma for years and years. I hated that her life has to come to an absolute breaking point before she got the help that she needed. Seeing through her eyes, spending time inside her head was a perspective that I have never experienced or considered - the absolute pain of survivor guilt, and while you were not an easy ready, you were a good book .
You have been on my TBR forever. I have passed you over time and time again, and I am not sure why, but the TBR jar determined that I would read you this week. And I am so glad it did. While you are a bit of a throw-back, you were definitely food for thought. I was a bit frustrated with Meg in general. I wanted to shake her and tell her to GO TO THERAPY. She obviously had experienced so much trauma, and her parents should have put her in therapy back when she was 16 to help her process the grief of losing her best friend. If broke my heart that she carried around that trauma for years and years. I hated that her life has to come to an absolute breaking point before she got the help that she needed. Seeing through her eyes, spending time inside her head was a perspective that I have never experienced or considered - the absolute pain of survivor guilt, and while you were not an easy ready, you were a good book .
judithdcollins's review
4.0
Bestselling author Karma Brown returns following The Choices We Make (2016) with an with an equally moving, emotional and riveting follow-up.
—IN THIS MOMENT a woman struggles with complexities of tragedy, guilt, and secrets as her life unravel along with those around her.
Meg Pepper is a wife and mom with a real estate career. Married to Ryan, a physician. Daughter Aubrey age fifteen (boyfriend Sam Beckett).
Meg and Aubrey are running late for a dentist appointment and Meg is picking up her daughter at school. She is struggling to balance family and career and has not been completely honest about an event in her past.
They notice Jack (Sam’s twin brother) on the side of the road attempting to get across. His mom is a financial whiz and works at one of Boston’s private equity firms. The boy’s dad Andrew is a stay at home dad, having left a journalism career when the twin boys were born.
Jack has his skateboard on the curb’s edge in one hand waiting for the car coming toward their car to pass so he can cross. His friends are on the other side waiting. Aubrey tells her mom they should let him cross. She waves him across. A life-changing split-second choice.
However, just as she does so, the unthinkable happens. Jack’s body smashes into the windshield of the other car which came out of nowhere, too fast. Aubrey and Meg are mortified. How did this happen?
Sarah Dunn, Audrey and Jack’s history teacher was texting and had to stop too quickly.
However, it is Meg’s guilt, which haunts her.
She was the one who deemed it a safe crossing for this innocent and clearly vulnerable teenager now lying in the road with an injury that will forever change his life. How could she have let the boy cross the street?
The accident turns into a nightmare for all concerned.
Meg is suddenly slammed with a memory from when she was sixteen; from a terrible night where another teen lay bleeding and broken on a road in front of her. She has worked hard not to think about that night because she cannot breathe around her guilt when she does so. But just like that, it was back and she was left sucking in air around the heaviness of the memory—
And like the part she played on that night so long ago, she was the reason Jack Beckett cross the road when he did. It is her fault. With a simple careless wave of her hand, she did this.
Soon they are at the hospital and she faces the family. With her daughter dating the brother, and even though the family may not be close friends they know one another through their children.
Meg becomes overwhelmed with guilt. Her family and Jack and Sam’s family torn apart. Meg becomes close to Andrew as her terrifying dreams continue. The past and present collide. She is thinking about Paige. Her friend from the past. Her face haunts her.
It has been twenty-eight years since that horrible night. Now the dreams surface again. Two days after Ryan slid the engagement ring on her finger. Only a week after her twenty-fifth birthday, when she learned her mom had cancer. Ryan in pre-med. A woman who had to grow up too fast. A sister who had to take care of her little brother and her dad.
Meg throws herself into helping the family and drawing closer to Andrew. Shutting out her own family in the process, especially her own husband. He knows the truth about the accident long ago, but he has never understood why she holds herself responsible. She carries it inside. She is spiraling out of control.
Andrew turns to Meg for support, and the two bond over the tragedy, putting at risk her marriage, family and her own moral compass.
Will these two families ever be the same?
As the past secrets and guilt collide with the present, Meg is at her breaking point. Emotional and heartbreaking, a picture-perfect life comes shattering apart in the blink of an eye. A wife and mother striving for perfection and balance with personal, career, and family.
She is searching for answers yet she cannot trust herself, to be honest through her grief with the weight from the accident of long ago and the one in the present.
Once again, Brown delves deep, exploring the intense emotions and pressure of guilt, grief, parenting, marriage, accountability, and responsibility. However, in the end, family comes first and that has to take top priority. If we let that slide, all will begin to unravel.
Brown has proven herself a strong voice representing the trials of the modern-day contemporary woman. I enjoyed reading about the inspiration behind the novel. Publishers Weekly interview. Spotlight on Karma Brown.
A cautionary tale. This scenario could happen to anyone. My heart went out to Meg and the author does an exceptional job with the character development.
If you have read Karma’s previous books, she has a way with domestic suspense, tragedy, emotion, grief and aftermath – which hits on every cylinder. She holds nothing back and you get inside her character’s heads. You feel the emotions. Their desperation. Their vulnerabilities. The character’s emotions are real, heartbreaking, raw, and painful.
The past tragedy and present storyline enhanced the overall tension and suspense, keeping you glued to the pages while demonstrating how guilt can hold you down and shape your life years later.
For today’s contemporary woman who sometimes strives too hard to be perfect. Thought-provoking in our fast and furious world today. Learning to forgive yourself in order to move on with your life.
For fans of Amy Hatvany, Jodi Picoult, Diane Chamberlain, Liane Moriarty, Karen White, Heather Gudenkauf, Sarah Pekkanen, and T. Greenwood.
Highly recommend!
A special thank you to Park Row Books and NetGalley for an early reading copy.
JDCMustReadBooks
On a side note: This road crossing fiasco is a real problem here. I walk everywhere in the downtown urban West Palm Beach and there are two major crossings which are quite busy from my apartment. A crossing with four busy lanes to the market and shops and no way around it. The only route. Many times a car in one lane will stop to allow you to pass, at the crossing (no light here).
However, you cannot trust this, just as the book outlines— because the person in the other lane may not stop and the speed here is very fast. This is quite dangerous since a large number of elderly seniors live downtown, and walk to the store along this route. They are already quite unsteady in their walkers, wheelchairs, and scooters. I cringe each time I see this happen, holding my breath.
These elderly folks are like in their late 70s-90s and still trying to live independently in this crazy screwed up health care system of ours, which offer little or no support for long-term skilled nursing. (many of them living in my building).
When this happens to me, I motion for the car to pass along. Nice for them to make the gesture; however, a risk as the author outlines. Too much room for error when you cannot judge if the car in the other lanes will stop. In addition, we soon will have a train going 80mph at this same intersection with the station located here, with 40 stops a day coming mid-summer, so let’s hope they build an overpass or some alternative for all the S. Florida seniors. (myself included since I fall into this newfound category).
You would think since the city spends so much money with our urban planning, they would correct this major problem between two of our largest entertainment districts: CityPlace and Clematis.
—IN THIS MOMENT a woman struggles with complexities of tragedy, guilt, and secrets as her life unravel along with those around her.
Meg Pepper is a wife and mom with a real estate career. Married to Ryan, a physician. Daughter Aubrey age fifteen (boyfriend Sam Beckett).
Meg and Aubrey are running late for a dentist appointment and Meg is picking up her daughter at school. She is struggling to balance family and career and has not been completely honest about an event in her past.
They notice Jack (Sam’s twin brother) on the side of the road attempting to get across. His mom is a financial whiz and works at one of Boston’s private equity firms. The boy’s dad Andrew is a stay at home dad, having left a journalism career when the twin boys were born.
Jack has his skateboard on the curb’s edge in one hand waiting for the car coming toward their car to pass so he can cross. His friends are on the other side waiting. Aubrey tells her mom they should let him cross. She waves him across. A life-changing split-second choice.
However, just as she does so, the unthinkable happens. Jack’s body smashes into the windshield of the other car which came out of nowhere, too fast. Aubrey and Meg are mortified. How did this happen?
Sarah Dunn, Audrey and Jack’s history teacher was texting and had to stop too quickly.
However, it is Meg’s guilt, which haunts her.
She was the one who deemed it a safe crossing for this innocent and clearly vulnerable teenager now lying in the road with an injury that will forever change his life. How could she have let the boy cross the street?
The accident turns into a nightmare for all concerned.
Meg is suddenly slammed with a memory from when she was sixteen; from a terrible night where another teen lay bleeding and broken on a road in front of her. She has worked hard not to think about that night because she cannot breathe around her guilt when she does so. But just like that, it was back and she was left sucking in air around the heaviness of the memory—
And like the part she played on that night so long ago, she was the reason Jack Beckett cross the road when he did. It is her fault. With a simple careless wave of her hand, she did this.
Soon they are at the hospital and she faces the family. With her daughter dating the brother, and even though the family may not be close friends they know one another through their children.
Meg becomes overwhelmed with guilt. Her family and Jack and Sam’s family torn apart. Meg becomes close to Andrew as her terrifying dreams continue. The past and present collide. She is thinking about Paige. Her friend from the past. Her face haunts her.
It has been twenty-eight years since that horrible night. Now the dreams surface again. Two days after Ryan slid the engagement ring on her finger. Only a week after her twenty-fifth birthday, when she learned her mom had cancer. Ryan in pre-med. A woman who had to grow up too fast. A sister who had to take care of her little brother and her dad.
Meg throws herself into helping the family and drawing closer to Andrew. Shutting out her own family in the process, especially her own husband. He knows the truth about the accident long ago, but he has never understood why she holds herself responsible. She carries it inside. She is spiraling out of control.
Andrew turns to Meg for support, and the two bond over the tragedy, putting at risk her marriage, family and her own moral compass.
Will these two families ever be the same?
As the past secrets and guilt collide with the present, Meg is at her breaking point. Emotional and heartbreaking, a picture-perfect life comes shattering apart in the blink of an eye. A wife and mother striving for perfection and balance with personal, career, and family.
She is searching for answers yet she cannot trust herself, to be honest through her grief with the weight from the accident of long ago and the one in the present.
Once again, Brown delves deep, exploring the intense emotions and pressure of guilt, grief, parenting, marriage, accountability, and responsibility. However, in the end, family comes first and that has to take top priority. If we let that slide, all will begin to unravel.
Brown has proven herself a strong voice representing the trials of the modern-day contemporary woman. I enjoyed reading about the inspiration behind the novel. Publishers Weekly interview. Spotlight on Karma Brown.
A cautionary tale. This scenario could happen to anyone. My heart went out to Meg and the author does an exceptional job with the character development.
If you have read Karma’s previous books, she has a way with domestic suspense, tragedy, emotion, grief and aftermath – which hits on every cylinder. She holds nothing back and you get inside her character’s heads. You feel the emotions. Their desperation. Their vulnerabilities. The character’s emotions are real, heartbreaking, raw, and painful.
The past tragedy and present storyline enhanced the overall tension and suspense, keeping you glued to the pages while demonstrating how guilt can hold you down and shape your life years later.
For today’s contemporary woman who sometimes strives too hard to be perfect. Thought-provoking in our fast and furious world today. Learning to forgive yourself in order to move on with your life.
For fans of Amy Hatvany, Jodi Picoult, Diane Chamberlain, Liane Moriarty, Karen White, Heather Gudenkauf, Sarah Pekkanen, and T. Greenwood.
Highly recommend!
A special thank you to Park Row Books and NetGalley for an early reading copy.
JDCMustReadBooks
On a side note: This road crossing fiasco is a real problem here. I walk everywhere in the downtown urban West Palm Beach and there are two major crossings which are quite busy from my apartment. A crossing with four busy lanes to the market and shops and no way around it. The only route. Many times a car in one lane will stop to allow you to pass, at the crossing (no light here).
However, you cannot trust this, just as the book outlines— because the person in the other lane may not stop and the speed here is very fast. This is quite dangerous since a large number of elderly seniors live downtown, and walk to the store along this route. They are already quite unsteady in their walkers, wheelchairs, and scooters. I cringe each time I see this happen, holding my breath.
These elderly folks are like in their late 70s-90s and still trying to live independently in this crazy screwed up health care system of ours, which offer little or no support for long-term skilled nursing. (many of them living in my building).
When this happens to me, I motion for the car to pass along. Nice for them to make the gesture; however, a risk as the author outlines. Too much room for error when you cannot judge if the car in the other lanes will stop. In addition, we soon will have a train going 80mph at this same intersection with the station located here, with 40 stops a day coming mid-summer, so let’s hope they build an overpass or some alternative for all the S. Florida seniors. (myself included since I fall into this newfound category).
You would think since the city spends so much money with our urban planning, they would correct this major problem between two of our largest entertainment districts: CityPlace and Clematis.
mindfullibrarian's review against another edition
5.0
Read this in one sitting on a flight - that's how much I loved it! This book fully met my expectations based on the author's previous work. Tension and emotion fill every page, and I'm left with a strange sensation that I can relate just a little too closely with Meg's feelings of being constantly inundated with reminders and tasks and not able to keep up.....her feelings of guilt and responsibility and the haunting of her past make readers want to just give her a big hug and help her figure out her life. I love that it's not a perfectly tied up story - real and messy and imperfect is REAL.
Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a finished copy for review!
Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a finished copy for review!
fuzzywuzzy's review against another edition
4.0
Sometimes books feel personal and this was one of them. I liked everything about this book. I loved Meg, and truly dislike her husband. First, this is a story about an accident, a woman who feels responsible, and the aftermath of the accident. Guilt can make you do crazy things, and that’s essentially what happened with Meg. In trying to process the responsibility she feels for an accident that wasn’t her fault, she also has a daughter dealing with it (horribly) in her own way. This book covers grief, motherhood, and a woman trying to do it all which…. Newsflash…. We cannot. Her husband, a doctor, had God complex. Meg had a job, but he saw very little value in what she did and viewed it as only fluff. I wasn’t happy that the author didn’t address his disgusting attitude. Only what Meg did. He also didn’t take some things with their daughter serious enough. Clearly he hadn’t seen enough carnage at his job or was just oblivious and contributing to the obvious entitled attitude of their daughter. This book brought out many emotions. It didn’t make me laugh…. Ever… it wasn’t that kind of book. It didn’t make me cry because I’m not much of a crier with books, but it did make me feel. I felt for Meg, I felt for the daughter after what she witnessed, and I also felt for the father of the boy who would never be the same again. This is four stars only because I really needed it to be addressed how flippant her husbands attitude was at times, and how yes even though grieving, how horrid Alysse was. Anyhoo, another winner from Karma. She never lets me down and is superb at writing an emotionally charged novel. I’m anxiously awaiting her next one!
tjpoupore's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
kbranfield's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars.
In This Moment by Karma Brown is an affecting exploration of unresolved guilt and grief.
Meg Pepper is a busy working mother who has never quite made peace with a tragedy that occurred when she was a teenager. Her long buried feelings of guilt come to the surface in the aftermath of a car accident involving the twin brother of her fifteen year old daughter Audrey's boyfriend Sam Beckett. After Meg waves Jack across the road, he is struck by an inattentive driver traveling in the opposite direction. She immediately blames herself and in the aftermath, her guilt takes a huge toll on her marriage to Ryan, her career and her relationship with Audrey as Meg begins making questionable decisions.
Even before the Jack's accident, Meg is already struggling to keep up with the details of her personal and professional lives. She is also a little resentful that Ryan does not seem to take her career seriously. Like many working mothers, she is expected to juggle the demands of her job with motherhood and the duties around the house. After Jack's accident, Meg becomes so guilt-ridden that she cannot sleep and when she does, she is plagued with nightmares about tragic events that occurred when she was a teenager. Sleep-deprived and incredibly stressed, Meg begins making mistakes at work and at home, she and Ryan begin bickering.
Up to this point, Meg is a very involved and protective mom who tries to ensure Audrey does not make the same mistakes she made as teenager. Before Jack's accident, Audrey never gives her or Ryan any reason to worry about the choices she makes and they trust her implicitly. Almost immediately after the accident, Audrey's behavior begins to change but she and Ryan are slow to realize exactly what is going on with the daughter.
With trouble brewing both at home and the office, Meg becomes her own worst enemy as she refuses to talk about her profound guilt over her self perceived role in Jack's accident. Although Ryan knows about what happened to her as a teenager, she cannot bring herself to admit that Jack's accident has brought all of her unresolved feelings to the forefront. Meg's downward spiral leads to discontent in her marriage and she makes a fateful choice that threatens her relationships with everyone she holds dear.
In This Moment by Karma Brown is a poignant and thought-provoking read but some elements of the storyline become repetitive. Meg's guilt over her role in what happened in both the past and present seems a little extreme and it is very difficult to understand why she won't talk to Ryan about the things that are bothering her. Although not everything is completely resolved, the novel's optimistic conclusion is quite satisfying.
In This Moment by Karma Brown is an affecting exploration of unresolved guilt and grief.
Meg Pepper is a busy working mother who has never quite made peace with a tragedy that occurred when she was a teenager. Her long buried feelings of guilt come to the surface in the aftermath of a car accident involving the twin brother of her fifteen year old daughter Audrey's boyfriend Sam Beckett. After Meg waves Jack across the road, he is struck by an inattentive driver traveling in the opposite direction. She immediately blames herself and in the aftermath, her guilt takes a huge toll on her marriage to Ryan, her career and her relationship with Audrey as Meg begins making questionable decisions.
Even before the Jack's accident, Meg is already struggling to keep up with the details of her personal and professional lives. She is also a little resentful that Ryan does not seem to take her career seriously. Like many working mothers, she is expected to juggle the demands of her job with motherhood and the duties around the house. After Jack's accident, Meg becomes so guilt-ridden that she cannot sleep and when she does, she is plagued with nightmares about tragic events that occurred when she was a teenager. Sleep-deprived and incredibly stressed, Meg begins making mistakes at work and at home, she and Ryan begin bickering.
Up to this point, Meg is a very involved and protective mom who tries to ensure Audrey does not make the same mistakes she made as teenager. Before Jack's accident, Audrey never gives her or Ryan any reason to worry about the choices she makes and they trust her implicitly. Almost immediately after the accident, Audrey's behavior begins to change but she and Ryan are slow to realize exactly what is going on with the daughter.
With trouble brewing both at home and the office, Meg becomes her own worst enemy as she refuses to talk about her profound guilt over her self perceived role in Jack's accident. Although Ryan knows about what happened to her as a teenager, she cannot bring herself to admit that Jack's accident has brought all of her unresolved feelings to the forefront. Meg's downward spiral leads to discontent in her marriage and she makes a fateful choice that threatens her relationships with everyone she holds dear.
In This Moment by Karma Brown is a poignant and thought-provoking read but some elements of the storyline become repetitive. Meg's guilt over her role in what happened in both the past and present seems a little extreme and it is very difficult to understand why she won't talk to Ryan about the things that are bothering her. Although not everything is completely resolved, the novel's optimistic conclusion is quite satisfying.
melshappylife's review
4.0
All 3 of Brown's novels have been page turners for me. I can't wait to see where the ride ends. They start out strong and finish strong. This story shows how not dealing with past traumatic experiences can carry over into our daily lives many many years later. Kudos for a non-sappy ending.
lisaeirene's review
3.0
Meg is a middle-aged married mother of a teen daughter. She's a realtor, her husband is a doctor. They seemingly have a good life in a nice town, albeit a bit hectic. Then a tragic accident happens right in front of Meg and her daughter, Audrey. The twin brother of Audrey's boyfriend, Jake, is crossing the street near the school when another car comes out of nowhere and hits him. The other driver was texting and speeding.
As you can imagine, both Meg and Audrey are traumatized. The description of the accident was fast but real and I found myself almost hyperventilating as I read it. It was very real, very scary and fast (like an accident would be)...it just came out of nowhere.
The book is about the guilt Meg feels about waving Jake across the street, thinking it was safe. It's also about Meg basically failing as an adult. She's having a hard time with the guilt she feels, it brings up a traumatic event from her childhood, she's drifting away from both her husband and her daughter, and she's making mistakes at work. The story is about making mistakes, dealing with big consequences and healing.
As you can imagine, both Meg and Audrey are traumatized. The description of the accident was fast but real and I found myself almost hyperventilating as I read it. It was very real, very scary and fast (like an accident would be)...it just came out of nowhere.
The book is about the guilt Meg feels about waving Jake across the street, thinking it was safe. It's also about Meg basically failing as an adult. She's having a hard time with the guilt she feels, it brings up a traumatic event from her childhood, she's drifting away from both her husband and her daughter, and she's making mistakes at work. The story is about making mistakes, dealing with big consequences and healing.