Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 stars)
Read: June 2024
Format: Kindle e-Book
Challenge Prompt: ARoCF’s, “that features mountains on the cover or in the story” (on cover)

Book #60 of 2024:This is the first time I’ve read a Janine Rosche book. I had heard many good things about this author and the premise of this book was intriguing.

This book begins with Lori, the female main character, leaving an extensive stay in the hospital. Their family had been in a horrific crash months earlier. The son, Austin (twin to Avery) had been killed. Lori sustained a traumatic brain injury. Her husband the daughter did not suffer the same fate.

Many memories are missing and her journey to unravel them leads her to some unexpected and regretful places. Is their marriage doomed? Will Avery hide out forever or lose her identity completely without Austin?Are her friends true or shallow? What about *her* dreams?

The novel also has perspective from Avery as she tries to catch up her schooling in order to graduate with her class. Does anyone understand her loss? Will she lose her parents next? Her boyfriend had broken up with her and began dating her best friend. Was her pre-accident life plastic or real? Will a friend-turned-enemy be a friend again or a foe? Or is he the love she had been dreaming of?

I found this premise of a traumatic brain injury educational and enlightening. The 2 twists toward the end make sense, although unexpected. The author keeps the reader guessing about what is the reality and which is not. I did feel that I had some unanswered questions about some things. I don’t want to include any spoilers so I’ll leave it at that.

I recommend this book for both its educational aspects and the emotional grip it holds you in as a reader.