Friday, January 15, 2016

Everything She Forgot by Lisa Ballantyne and a Fiona Friday pic



Margaret Holloway is headed home from work on a snowy night when she's caught in the worst automobile pile-up in London history. Saved from a fiery death by a mysterious man who has clearly been burned in the past, Margaret is uninjured but shaken. In the days after her accident, she becomes even more uncomfortable as buried memories begin to surface. What happened to Margaret that was so traumatic she suppressed it?

Margaret's storyline takes place in 2013 and there's a second storyline in 1985 (plus a third involving a journalist, also in 1985). George was madly in love and asked his girlfriend to marry him but her family prevented their marriage, even after the birth of their child. In 1985, still longing for his beloved and wishing to see his child, George steals some money and goes to find Kathleen. Maybe now she will reconsider. He can whisk her away with young Moll, far away from his family and the dangers. But, things go very, very wrong.

Recommended - Everything She Forgot is suspenseful, if a bit predictable. In spite of its minor flaws, I gave it 5 stars, probably partly because of the fact that the book is set in the United Kingdom but also definitely because I was craving a fast-paced read and it was simply the right book for the moment. I particularly recommend Everything She Forgot to those who like a bit of suspense but don't mind if some of the plot points are a bit transparent. I didn't mind that at all.

On to Fiona Friday:


After three days of gradually re-introducing the cats, they've gone from a mere five minutes of harmony to nearly three hours. Progress! I cannot wait until they can be around each other all the time, again. I'm so exhausted from the banging and howling (by whoever is stuck outside the master bedroom at night) that it's getting hard to function like a normal human. Fingers crossed they'll be interacting normally within a week or so. Not sure how much longer I can stand the sleep deprivation.

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6 comments:

  1. I have a copy of Everything She Forgot and am going to go dig it out. Sounds perfect for the next week or so. And so sorry about your kitties. Here's hoping they are soon completely comfortable together again. Bet it felt like you had toddlers again. LOL

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    1. I hope you love Everything She Forgot. I thought it was a fun read.

      The kitties only lasted for an hour together before deciding to fight, this morning. So tiring. Yes, it's a bit like having toddlers who are okay for a while and then beat on each other -- or whom you have to watch carefully because you never know where they're going to stick a finger or what they'll flush down the toilet. Equally exhausting, I'd say!

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  2. I don't mind a bit of predictability in a suspense. And anything that take place in the UK is great!

    I'm so glad your kitties are making such great progress. So things will be back to normal. Sorry for your lack of sleep in the mean time.

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    1. Yep, I don't think the portions that were predictable were problematic. It was still a compelling read and plenty suspenseful. Loved how it ended, actually. I forgot to mention that.

      Thanks! Five hours of peace, yesterday, but much of that was sleeping in the same room. I had a migraine and the cats decided to be lazy with me. Part of the time, they slept within feet of each other. Each day, we take a few more steps toward detente. :) Yesterday helped with the sleep deprivation a bit. I guess that's the one good outcome of having a migraine!

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  3. I finished ESF last week and I don't disagree that it was fast and predictable but I am shaken at how violently I opposed the violence. I couldn't stand the journalist and I would have DNF'd it but I had to find out the ending. ha. But overall, I can't recommend the book. I just find it so fascinating that some book violence I can gloss right over (ie, Fireman) and then the stuff in this makes me ill. Any opinions?! :)

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    1. I had to think about this book for a minute before the violence came back to me and I do remember it bothered me. I think the reason I overlooked it was the fact that Everything She Forgot was just the right book for the moment - something I'm always going on about. Some books will never be right, regardless of when you read them; but I've noticed there are times I can just overlook violence and other things I dislike and times I can't bear the same kind of scenes. I really think a major part of that is what you need at that moment. I reread my review and I think it's pretty clear this book is one that had flaws and characteristics I overlooked because it sucked me in and that was what I desperately needed. It's definitely a strange phenomenon, the way we sometimes are bothered and sometimes not by the same type of scene.

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