Review: The Elizas by Sara Shepard

Title: The Elizas

Author:  Sara Shepard
Publisher: Atria Books 

Publishing Date:  April 17th, 2018

Pages: 352
Genre: Adult Psychological Thriller

Series:  Stand Alone
Source:  Audio

 

When debut novelist Eliza Fontaine is found at the bottom of a hotel pool, her family at first assumes that it’s just another failed suicide attempt. But Eliza swears she was pushed, and her rescuer is the only witness.
Desperate to find out who attacked her, Eliza takes it upon herself to investigate. But as the publication date for her novel draws closer, Eliza finds more questions than answers. Like why are her editor, agent, and family mixing up events from her novel with events from her life? Her novel is completely fictional, isn’t it?
The deeper Eliza goes into her investigation while struggling with memory loss, the closer her life starts to resemble her novel until the line between reality and fiction starts to blur and she can no longer tell where her protagonist’s life ends and hers begins.

I don't remember how I came across this book, I think I was searching for new books for this genre on Goodreads. It came up and I was like hmmm... I didn't know she did an adult book. Sounds interesting enough. I think I might check it out. Then I went to Audible and found it was on audio. Oh even better. So I grabbed it, I read it, I really liked it. I was a big fan of Pretty Little Liars at first. Then it went too long and I gave up. I was excited to see a stand-alone and I am very happy to say I loved the writing, the story, the characters. It was really really good. 

Eliza is an up and coming author. Her debut book is just about to be released, and so far people are loving it. Things seem to be looking up since she had that brain tumor. Brain tumor gone, a book coming out, things are good. That is until she is found in lifeless in a pool. She was saved but she has been told she did this to herself. She is sure she remembers someone pushing her.  
Eliza decides to take it upon herself to figure out who is out to get her and what really happened that night. She enlists the help of her savior from that night. 
With all the questions and mystery upon mystery, she only seems to be more confused and can't seem to keep things straight in her life. She can't remember things that happened in her past, she can't remember people, and something is up with her family. 
Eliza starts to really think she has gone crazy and finding out what happened to her that night seems to be the answer to all her problems. 

So I really really enjoyed this book. The story was so fascinating. I loved the writing and the style of the story. The story is told two parts. One part of Eliza's life and the other part in excerpts from her book. It was like two stories in one and I just couldn't get enough of either story. I can't say which I enjoyed more. I was just as much invested in Eliza's book story as I was her story. I found it annoying at times when I was so into what I was reading and the story would switch. So worth the aggravation though. It did feel strange at first that excerpts from the book were part of the story, but in the end, it all makes sense. It was told brilliantly really it was. 

The characters were all crazy or eccentric in this book. This I also loved. I really enjoyed Eliza. At times she felt completely crazy and unreliable and at other times she felt genuine and intelligent and perceptive. I couldn't figure her out or her story. I did like her though. She had her issues and at times seemed quite immature and selfish, but I couldn't help but love her and root for her. I was so hoping for the non-crazy over the crazy and I really didn't know what I would get. It was a was quite a journey with Eliza. 

There were some other very noteworthy characters. I truly adored Desmond, the boy who saved Eliza's life. He was for sure one of a kind, unique, and so loveable. The Dots - Dot and Dorthy fromt Eliza's book were also some pretty good characters. Crazy and loveable. I truly liked all the main charcters...even the ones that weren't so easy to love. They were just so unique and so well written, I knew them so well. 

The story was really one of a kind and I just loved it. I can't say too much becuase not knowing wha the heck is going on, not knowing who to trust, not knowing fact from fiction. That was the entire recipe of this story and I don't want to ruin it for anyone. 

My one and only complaint about this book, there was a problem with the pacing. Most of the time I was really into the book, but there were a couple of parts the book lagged and I found I spaced a bit. Now I have been having issues with this with a lot of books lately... so it may just be me. Other than the pacing, loved the book. 

Very lovely read with so much to love. 

Sara Shepard graduated from NYU and has an MFA from Brooklyn College. She has lived in New York City, Brooklyn, Tucson, Arizona, Philadelphia, and now lives in Pittsburgh, PA. Sara's Pretty Little Liars novels were inspired by her upbringing in Philadelphia's Main Line.