Thursday 4 May 2017

The Other Us by Fiona Harper

Paperback, 384 pages
Publication: May 4th 2017 by HQ, an imprint of Harper Collins
With thanks to Midas Public Relations for sending me a copy of this book for honest review.

Blurb:

If you could turn back time, would you choose a different life?

Forty-something Maggie is facing some hard truths. Her only child has flown the nest for university and, without her daughter in the house, she’s realising her life, and her marriage to Dan, is more than a little stale.

When she spots an announcement on Facebook about a uni reunion, she can’t help wondering what happened to Jude Hanson. The same night Dan proposed, Jude asked Maggie to run away with him, and she starts to wonder how different her life might have been if she’d broken Dan’s heart and taken Jude up on his offer.

Wondering turns into fantasising, and then one morning fantasising turns into reality. Maggie wakes up and discovers she’s back in 1992 and twenty-one again. Is she brave enough to choose the future she really wants, and if she is, will the grass be any greener on the other side of the fence?

Two men. Two very different possible futures. But is there only once chance at happiness?

My Review:

The Other Us is an entertaining read which pulled me in to Maggie's world completely and I couldn't put it down.

When Maggie wakes up one morning back in 1992 as her twenty-one year old self she seizes the opportunity to consider her options and to enjoy being young again. With the option to change her life she makes some different decisions and finds that she keeps flipping between two different realities. One with her husband Dan and the second with Jude. These two lifestyles are very different and she is a very different person in each of them. As the novel progresses and she gets older in each life she has to consider what she really wants and her actions. I liked the way the story split and flicked back and forth between these realities.

Maggie was generally a likeable character who does make her fair share of mistakes, even living life over a second, or even a third time and she grew a lot as the novel progressed. I was frustrated with her choices at times and honestly wasn't too sure on her relationship with Jude, I felt like it did not develop to the same extent as her relationship with Dan, despite her feelings towards him, but Dan has his flaws too.

The story is funny and emotional at different times and Maggie understandably struggles with being pulled from one life to the next without warning. I guess my only unanswered question is how did this happen to her, but I guess in some ways it doesn't matter too much. Maggie's choices and development as a character are the main focus of the book.

I would give this 4 out of 5, it is a really fun, enjoyable read.

The Author:
Fiona's first book was published in 2006 and she now has twenty-four published books under her belt. She started her career writing heartfelt but humorous romances for Mills & Boon, but now writes romantic comedies and feel-good women’s fiction for Harper Collins, as part of their HQ imprint.

She is a previous winner of the Joan Hessayon New Writers’ Scheme Award, has had five books shortlisted for an RNA Award and won the ‘Best Short Romance’ at the Festival of Romance three years’ running.

Fiona lives in London with her husband and two teenage daughters.

http://www.fionaharper.com/home
@FiHarper_Author

No comments:

Post a Comment

Let me know what you think :)