I Let You Go. Finished 3-25-17, rating 4.25/5, suspense, pub. 2016

Unabridged audio read by Nicola Barber and Steven Crossley. 12 hours.

On a rainy afternoon, a mother’s life is shattered as her son slips from her grip and runs into the street . . .

I Let You Go follows Jenna Gray as she moves to a ramshackle cottage on the remote Welsh coast, trying to escape the memory of the car accident that plays again and again in her mind and desperate to heal from the loss of her child and the rest of her painful past.

At the same time, the novel tracks the pair of Bristol police investigators trying to get to the bottom of this hit-and-run. As they chase down one hopeless lead after another, they find themselves as drawn to each other as they are to the frustrating, twist-filled case before them.    from Goodreads

I remember all the hype for this book when it came out and when it showed up on a recent unputdownable list, I checked the audio out of the library.  For the first few cds I really couldn’t figure out why there were so many raves about it.  I actually stopped listening for a week and was questioning to bother with the rest since I definitely didn’t get the unputdownable label at all.  But, I decided to give it a bit longer when I was cleaning one day and it started to build some steam.

This was a good book that starts with the horrific death of a child.  There was more than one big twist and the less you know the better. I loved  the Wales seaside Jenna found comfort in.  I would love to visit someday, under happier circumstances.

So, I think the slow beginning could deter some people, but if you can make it past that it turns into something unexpected and I liked it.

My name is Lucy Barton. Finished 2-25-17, rating 3.75/5, fiction, pub. 2016

Unabridged audio read by Kimberly Farr

Lucy Barton is recovering slowly from what should have been a simple operation. Her mother, to whom she hasn’t spoken for many years, comes to see her. Gentle gossip about people from Lucy’s childhood in Amgash, Illinois, seems to reconnect them, but just below the surface lies the tension and longing that have informed every aspect of Lucy’s life: her escape from her troubled family, her desire to become a writer, her marriage, her love for her two daughters.  from Goodreads

I was going to wait to write about this one until after our book club meeting, but since it’s been postponed until June I think I’ll go ahead before I forget about it completely.  I listened to this short book and it was okay.  The writing was great and the mother-daughter relationship at the center was complex and interesting.  The mother was infuriating and I was hoping that Lucy would stand up to her, but as is the case in most parental relationships, they are fraught with landmines that one or both parties would just like to avoid.  This made Lucy a weaker character that she might have been if the story had been told just from the point of view of her escaping her poverty-stricken childhood.

It did feel disjointed, jumping from here to there, with nothing much going on, but then by the end all of the little paths merged into something quite complete.  I did like it, but I’m not sure I’ll be reading more from the author.

Maybe in Another Life. Finished 3-16-17, rating 4/5, fiction, pub. 2015

Unabridged audio read by Julia Whelan. 9 hours 10 minutes.

At the age of twenty-nine, Hannah Martin still has no idea what she wants to do with her life. She has lived in six different cities and held countless meaningless jobs since graduating college. On the heels of leaving yet another city, Hannah moves back to her hometown of Los Angeles and takes up residence in her best friend Gabby’s guestroom. Shortly after getting back to town, Hannah goes out to a bar one night with Gabby and meets up with her high school boyfriend, Ethan.

Just after midnight, Gabby asks Hannah if she’s ready to go. A moment later, Ethan offers to give her a ride later if she wants to stay. Hannah hesitates. What happens if she leaves with Gabby? What happens if she leaves with Ethan?

In concurrent storylines, Hannah lives out the effects of each decision. Quickly, these parallel universes develop into radically different stories with large-scale consequences for Hannah, as well as the people around her. As the two alternate realities run their course, Maybe in Another Life raises questions about fate and true love: Is anything meant to be? How much in our life is determined by chance? And perhaps, most compellingly: Is there such a thing as a soul mate?  from Goodereads

I’ve been listening to this book in the car for over a week and this morning I finally caved and bought a cinnamon roll and ate the whole glorious thing.  Hannah loves cinnamon rolls and cinnamon rolls were mentioned a lot by pretty much every character throughout the book even til the very last pages.  This is not a complaint but a warning.  If you listen to someone talk about cinnamon rolls enough you will find one to devour.  Just sayin’.

We meet Hannah at the beginning of the book as she moves back to Los Angeles.  She’s a bit of a mess, but through her best friend Gabby’s eyes we see Hannah for the loved and loving woman she is.  When she meets up with an old boyfriend on her first night back Hannah must choose to stay with him or leave with Gabby.  The stories then go from there.

In the next chapter she goes home with Gabby and disaster strikes. The chapter after that she goes home with Ethan and a love is rekindled.  The storylines alternate by chapter so that you are never too long in one that you’ve lost interest in the other. Knowing this is how it was set up I thought for sure I’d hate it.  I didn’t.

There were many ways this could have ended and Reid teased them all.  I probably would have preferred a different ending, BUT I liked it.  Are our lives decided by fate or do we make our own decisions?  If we make a choice will fate keep bringing us back to a preordained life?  This book was fun and though provoking.  I’m looking forward to going back and reading her earlier books.

This made lots of best of  lists when it came out a few years ago and I can see why.