The Twilight Wife
I liked it! A bit slow going at first (and for a good portion of it) and yet, I never once wanted to stop reading it because it held me. I had to know what was going on and what… happened, and I REALLY felt for the main character as she tried to make sense of her life.
Yep! Psych-thrillery fun that kept me intrigued the whole way through, because, or maybe despite of, its quiet intensity. It was for the most part, calm and easy-going (albeit ominous) throughout much of the storyline as we live life via the eyes of a woman with amnesia, trying to get to know her husband again. Somebody she can’t remember at all.
Jacob follows me everywhere. He worries I’ll forget where I am. He won’t like that I’ve wandered down to the beach alone. I could become disoriented, lose my way.
My husband watches over me like a guardian angel. And I barely remember him at all.
None of us know what’s real (or what’s really going on), because the reader is experiencing life and “flashbacks” entirely through her POV, but some things just don’t add up.
In fact, due to her faulty recollections and the more logical explanations her friends and family are giving her, I couldn’t tell who the “bad guy” was the entire way through. I didn’t even know if there would be a bad guy at times, thinking maybe this could be one of those poignant stories that brings the characters (and the readers) full circle, in healing. Emotional drama, yes. Thriller… maybe…. no?
The fleeting image is so vivid it’s startling. I wanted him to hold on to me. A shot of adrenaline rushes through me, an interior tremor like the beginning of a tectonic shift.
But thriller yes. 😉 Thank goodness, ’cause THAT was what I was hoping to read, and it delivered. I did enjoy the last quarter of the book BIG TIME which made up for the slower pace, and the piecing together of the whole first half.
So what’s it about?
Kyra, a marine biologist has come home from the hospital after a diving accident. She’s lost her memory of the last four years and in fact, she has a hard time retaining her short term memory, too. Luckily, she’s got a patient and loving husband that answers (and re-answers) all of her questions. Well…mostly. 😉
“Can’t you just be with me?” He turns to face me, his face crumpled in pain and irritation. “Can’t you just be my wife? I’m trying my best.”
“I know you are.” My throat goes dry. “I didn’t mean to start a fight. But I can’t remember anything. I have to ask questions.”
“But you don’t take my answers at face value. You want to make up your own answers.”
Problem is, she does’t remember him, and is trying her best to reconnect with him, while she’s desperately trying to reconnect to herself. She has NO clue who she is, who he is, and who their friends are.
That said, she often ventures off into their quaint little seaside town trying to jar her memory. Everyone recognizes her, and are all too happy to remind her of past events, how they know her, what she liked… you know the drill.
But every once in awhile, a tidbit of information, or a reaction from a certain person triggers flashbacks of memory, and she slowly starts putting the puzzle of her life back together. But with so many holes, and a few opposing facts to memories, she begins wondering just what kind of person she once was. WHO she once was.
He wants to protect me from pain, from grief, but it is too late for that. There are some things in this world from which we can’t be protected.
If you like a good, emotional love story psych-thriller, with all of the marital bells and whistles, this one just might surprise you. I had all sorts of theories, and while some of my suspicions were right, it STILL managed to surprise me in the end. THAT “reveal” I didn’t see coming at all.
Good stuff! Just not… crazy-good, ya know? But I’m happy I chose it for this weekend.
3.75 stars <— 3.5 stars for the first half (consistently good but pretty slow) and an easy 4 stars for the second half (gave me chills and surprised me!)
