Until the Day I Die by Emily Carpenter is a suspenseful book
that encourages you to keep flipping pages.  Erin is a wreck since her husband died. She has been trying
to keep it all together, despite her enormous grief. She is co-owner of a
financial app that she created along with her husband and their best friends.
And though her work has suffered since Perry’s death, she is shocked when her
friends, family, and even her daughter, Shorie, hold an intervention, demanding
that she go away to rest at a rehab facility. Shorie, who worked for her
parents company, Jax, is also grieving her father’s death, but she is also
angry at her mother for making her go to college instead of letting her work in
the company full-time. When Erin arrives at her rehab retreat, she notices some
things that are just ‘off,’ and when she tries to figure everything out, her
life unravels even more. To solve this mystery, she unknowingly needs Shorie's
help. First of all, this novel starts out very slow. Don’t let
that deter you. Don’t quit reading because it does pick up, and when it does,
the plot really keeps you reading. The GOOD- Character development allows the
reader to connect with Erin and with Shorie, so you really care about them and
their plight. Though the story starts out slow, it does pick up, and before
long, you’re speed-reading and staying up all hours of the night just to see
what happens. I’ve personally been to St. Lucia, and the details of the
resort/rehab are spot on, which totally brought back my memories of being
there. The author’s descriptions truly put you in the scene, and that’s definitely
a plus. As far as the flow of the book, it starts off rocky, but again, after
three or four chapters, everything seems to flow better, and the reader is
immersed in the story. The BAD- This book begins rocky. The author includes pages
of Perry’s journal, which makes the book disjointed and annoying. And even
after reading the entire novel, I don’t see why those journal pages were
included. Not only did they not make a lot of sense, they could have been
summarized, which would have aided the flow of the novel. At the beginning, it’s
choppy, and a lot of characters are introduced. Also, there are pages and pages
of Erin ‘telling’ you what happens, how she feels, etc. The point of view
switched from Erin to Shorie, and again, at the beginning, this annoys me. But
it does get better. If you keep reading, you’ll see that the author miraculously
blends everything together, and then each chapter seems seamless. I’m afraid
that many readers will read a few chapters and give up, which is unfortunate,
especially since the book is, overall, a great read. Also, part of the plot
centers around the app company, JAX, and unfortunately, the author uses a lot
of ‘tech talk,’ especially at the beginning. For most readers, like me, this
may as well been written in Greek, and it does no good in capturing the reader’s
attention. At the beginning, I wanted to quit reading, but I felt obligated to
continue the book to give the author an honest review. This is my first read from this author. Honestly, I though
the problems I had with the novel were just the work of a new author, but I
looked the author up and saw that she has written multiple novels. There were
some grammatical issues, but it wasn’t enough that it was distracting from the
plot. However, the beginning of the novel reads like an amateur novel. Overall,
this was a great read, and I am glad that I read it, but I hope she doesn’t
lose readers with the first three chapters. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review. |
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