Author: Emily Colin
Publisher: Random House
About the Book: Reminiscent of On Mystic Lake by Kristin Hannah, readers will adore Emily Colin’s unique and beautifully written debut novel, where one man’s promise to return drives an exquisitely passionate, unforgettable tale of love lost and found.
When Madeleine Kimble’s husband Aiden dies in a mountain climbing accident, Maddie can only think of his earnest promise to return to her and their young son. Aiden’s best friend J.C. feels great remorse over his inability to save him, but J.C.’s grief is also seasoned with the guilt of loving Maddie through the years. Meanwhile, across the country another young man wakes up in a hospital and finds that his memories have been wiped clean, and replaced with haunting dreams of a beautiful woman and a five year old boy whom he feels driven to find. What Nicholas Sullivan discovers upon his journey is utterly unexpected—and it will change all of their lives, especially Maddie’s.
My thoughts: The Memory Thief is told from three different points of view - Maddie's, Nicholas' and Aiden's (AJ). In the beginning I would get confused as to whether it was Nicholas or Aiden telling the story, but I quickly got into the flow of it.
Maddie is dealing with the loss of her husband. In her own way, she has been preparing for this day for years, as he was a mountain climber and they had lost friends in various accidents before. Somewhere in the back of her mind I think she knew it was only a matter of time. She had a bad feeling about the climb he was on and had begged him not to go.
Aiden's love for Maddie was so strong, and his promise to return so true, that nothing could stop him from coming back. He just has to keep his promise to her. He is determined to find some way to get a message to her. The problem is getting her to believe that it is truly him.
Nicholas can't stop obsessing over this woman and child he only sees in his dreams. But he has no other memories after a motorcycle accident has wiped his slate clean. He tries to adjust back to what his old life was, only to discover he has new habits that his friend's can't explain and his girlfriend even says he makes love differently. He begins to learn more about this other woman and eventually learns her name, as well as the man he sometimes sees in his dreams - Maddie and Aiden.
J.C. was Aiden's best friend, who also had the unfortunate reality of being in love with Maddie. He had approached her years before and had made his feelings known - but then backed off and let Aiden and Maddie live their lives. Maddie would have been lying if she said that she hadn't thought about what it would be like with J.C., but Aiden (and Gabe - their son) was her life. J.C. had been with Aiden when he died, and he feels guilt over not being able to save him, and guilt for wanting to be with Maddie now that he is gone.
Emily Colin is able to weave together all of these characters into a wonderful story of loss, love, grief, promises and discovering what it means to live a life of passion. I loved this book and can't wait to see what else Emily Colin writes in the future.
~I received a complimentary ecopy of this book from Random House/Edelweiss in exchange for my unbiased review.~
The Memory Thief
Publisher/Publication Date: Random House, Aug 21, 2012
ISBN: 978 - 0345530394
432 pages
1 comment:
You've certainly piqued my interest.
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