In an Instant

Oh my - perfection is all I can use to describe this book. Raw, emotional, and so sad. It follows 16 y/o Finn who looses her life in an accident and watches of those she loves. She attends the vigil and sees the aftermath of what happened.

Me throughout most of this book:

Redfearn is remarkable at allowing us to feel one with Finn as she watches her family. It gave me “If I Stay Vibes,” but better. Loss, grief, and healing - from the human world and beyond - are explored with such grade in this book.

If I was bad in the beginning, I was no better at the end. Thank god I had tissues on hand!

When I started this book I was sure it was going to be a 5 star read. A tale of survival at what cost? Difficult decisions, complex characters, and a ghost! Yaassss! But after the tension eased the story became a run of the mill family saga (completely unrealistic - who gets over the loss of a child in 5 weeks?!?) and it became a 4 star. Then ALL the convenient romances wrapped up in a bow - urgghhh. 3 stars.

I borrowed this book as a way to force myself to read something different. I am so glad I did. The journey of not seeing clearly to the redemption each character is searching for, makes this book a page turner. The writing is almost as if you were there, the feelings of joy, sadness, anger, guilt all can be felt. It takes you on a journey you can't forget.

When I read the synopsis of this book I wasn't sure what to expect and whether I was going to enjoy the read. I sat down with a glass of red and settled in for what I hoped was a good read. That glass of wine, turned into 3.

It literally starts with death. Poor Finn..... dead.

After a decision changes the fate of a car full of people in the blink of an eye, a snap move that leads to the death of his daughter.
The choices that they make will haunt them all forever. Once the survivors make it back to the land of the living, she stays on and observes the aftermath and the lies that are told to hide the dark truth of what happened during the blizzard. The story is narrated by Finn who is watching from her afterlife, as her family and friends navigate through their heartache and all consuming rage. She sees everyone and can do nothing to ease their grief. It's devastating to see the aftermath of such a tragedy. Being invisible to the people you love.... That is worse than hell.

The whole book is very cleverly put together. She has the main character, who isn't of this realm anymore, narrating from her birds eye view perspective, so it's all first hand what we are experiencing. Kind of in love with the concept. It was hard to put down. I'm not going to lie, I'm going to be purchasing a copy as soon as it's available.

It's a compelling story of friendship, love, betrayal, and madness.
Best book, I think I've had as an ARC.

Has a similar vibe to the Lovely bones and I was nowhere near blown away with that book as I was with this one. I can't recommend it enough!

If you want a page turning that you will hate to put down (your partner might need to pry it from your hands), then this is your book. Time to hunt down the other books this author has written! I can see us becoming lifelong reading friends.

I rarely give 5 stars but this one is brilliant and I will make sure to let the world know they need to purchase this on release day!

#InAnInstant #NetGalley

More Tragic if i stay. Probably the singular best way to describe this book is to take a fairly well known book/ movie that has a very similar overall narrative structure - if i stay - and point out that this is a survival tale that is even more tragic than that tale. Going into this blind, I thought from the prologue that something would happen to a particular character (and that this tale would thus become more similar to Catherine McKenzie's I'll Never Tell), but the expected tragedy strikes an unexpected character instead. The rest of the book is then a tale about the fight to survive the tragedy, both in the immediate physical fight to live and in the aftermath of dealing with the consequences of that fight. Overall a very powerful, very raw, look at human nature and just what happens in the face of true imminent peril. One made even more powerful by the afterword, where the author reveals a stunningly tragic episode from her real life. Very much recommended.