Synopsis

When Eliza Owens gets a phone call in the middle of the night from a girl she’s never met, she doesn’t know what to think. The girl introduces herself as Paige, and says she used to date Erik Stern, Eliza’s fiancé. What’s more, she has something important to discuss.

The only problem? Paige has been dead for years.

Believing it to be a sick prank, Eliza tries to force it from her mind until Sam, Eliza’s older sister, tells her she met Paige only a few weeks before. And, according to Sam, Paige has nothing nice to say about Erik.

The fight which follows shatters the lives of everyone involved, and Erik disappears without a trace.

Five years later, Erik returns to town after his father’s death. Old wounds quickly resurface, and with them several burning questions. None the least of which is: Who spoke to Eliza and Sam if it wasn’t Paige? And why?

Review

This is a raw and gritty book that surprised me.  I wasn’t expecting the darkness surrounding Eliza and Erik, but as the tale unfolded I found myself intrigued by all the different elements involved.  This is a little bit of a mystery – how did Sam die and who is impersonating Paige, but as the truth is revealed it is more than you would have ever expected.

The story starts out with two young boys trying to bring back someone from the dead.  I didn’t think much about it after that intro, but it is key to this story but all of the details are not revealed until about 3/4 of the way through the book.  The story then jumps forward about 7 years and we are meet Eliza who is engaged to Erik but receives a call from someone that is dead wanting to warn her about him.  That throws a kink into the story because how could someone that is dead contact Eliza?  To top it off, this person has also been talking to Eliza’s sister, Sam.  The story really gets interesting at this point.

There is another jump in time, now it is 5 years later where the bulk of the book is set.  Eliza has gone off the rails and is a drug user and no longer with Erik.  This part of the book I had the hardest part with due to the drug use.  I also didn’t understand how Eliza could afford to pay for drugs if she wasn’t working.  Granted, Roger probably gave her a lot of it in trade, which is sad because Eliza had so much potential but the death of her sister sent her into a downward spiral.  While this portion of the book is set in a relatively short period of time, so much happens to understand what happened and for Eliza and Erik to work through the events of the past.  They both have issues to address within themselves and with each other.

The supernatural angle was intriguing and I feel like there are still some unanswered questions based on how the book ended.  They may be more on my end and I want to know more about the journey Erik took and how it concluded.

We give this book 4 paws up.

About the Author

Rebecca Crunden is an Irish-based author originally from Texas. Obsessed with both writing and reading, she’s been writing books most of her life and decided to start independently publishing them in 2017. To date, she’s published one series, two standalone novels, a novella, and co-written an anthology. When she’s not writing, reading, or drinking ridiculous amounts of coffee, she’s camping with her partner or watching an insane amount of science fiction-fantasy shows.

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