Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult

Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - in and out over 5 days

Pages - 402

Publisher - Hodder & Stoughton

Source - Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

Number One bestselling author Jodi Picoult returns with her compulsive new novel - about the lengths we go to for those who have left us behind; about the staying power of love; and about how three broken souls might have just the right pieces to mend each other.
Jenna Metcalf was with her mother the night she disappeared in tragic and mysterious circumstances, but she remembers nothing.

Over ten years have passed, and still Jenna reads and rereads her mother's journals, hoping to find some clue hidden there, in the meticulous recording of her scientific research with elephants.

Desperate for answers, Jenna uses all her savings to recruit the aid of a private detective - and a psychic.

Jenna knows her mother loved her. She knows she would not leave her. And she will not rest until she finds out what happened that night. In her most gripping mystery since House Rules, Jodi Picoult brings us a powerful story of a young girl's determination to uncover the truth, however shocking and life-changing it might be.


My Review

Another Jodi Picoult with an animal theme/focus, remember like with the wolves? But this time it is elephants and I know not everyone likes that but I do. So the book goes between present day, Jenna wants help to finally find out what happened to her mum Alice. Alice disappeared when Jenna was just a baby, now a teen she hires a psychic, Serenity and an ex cop now PI. Serenity was once famous before scandal reduced her to being the one thing she hated "a swamp with" charging to read peoples fortune by cold reading. The unlikely trio work together to try and find out what happened to Alice all those years ago.

The book flips between characters and when we hear from Alice, Jenna's mum that is where we meet the elephants. She studied them in the wild before meeting Jenna's dad and joining him at his elephant sanctuary.

I love anything with ghosts so the whole psychic thing I was absolutely YES and as the book goes on we find out what happened and why she is so disgraced. Same with the Cop turned PI. The elephants, oh the elephants. There is talk of death/harm and the things these beautiful beings go through and their behaviours, health and care. This won't be for everyone but I love learning about stuff and I love animals so it was a win win for me. At the end of the book she also adds links to check out, you can help out and learn more. There is even a live camera from a sanctuary, three free webcams you can watch elephants, support these fantastic causes and learn about the harm/Ivory trade and what you can do to help.

A few themes that some may find triggering and I can't cover them all without spoilers which we don't do. Elephants well fare and harm, loss, murder, mental health, love, lies, secrets, ghosts/medium, 4/5 for me. I do enjoy Picoults books so this is no surprise that I enjoyed this one but I think it could be a marmite for some.

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Our Life in a Day by Jamie Fewery

Our Life in a Day by Jamie Fewery
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 304

Publisher - Orion

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

Our Life in a Day is a breathtaking, ten-year love story told in twenty-four individual hours - for fans of One Day by David Nicholls, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, and The Note by Zoe Folbigg.

The rules are simple. Choose the most significant moments from your relationship - one for each hour in the day.
You'd probably pick when you first met, right?
And the instant you knew for sure it was love?
Maybe even the time you watched the sunrise after your first night together?

But what about the car journey on the holiday where everything started to go wrong?
Or your first proper fight?

Or that time you lied about where you'd been?

It's a once in a lifetime chance to learn the truth. But if you had to be completely honest with the one you love, would you still play?

For Esme and Tom, the game is about to begin. And once they start, there's no going back . . .


My Review

This one has sat on the review pile for a wee bit and I am glad I didn't leave it longer than I already had. I think because folk had been saying it was like "One Day" by David Nicholls (I wasn't a fan) I wasn't rushing to read it. Guys it is so far from "One Day" I really disliked that book but I thought this was really well done and doesn't read like a debut at all. Esme and Tom have been together for 10 years and to celebrate Esme has created a game in which Tom has to put together memories of their time. One story from a specific hour of any given day in their time together to make up 24 hours, each marked that hourly time. It can't all be good, it must be real, relevant to the hour time stamp and real to their relationship. The result is honest, brutal, emotive and allows the reader to delve into Esme and Tom's relationship warts and all.

It is pretty unique the way the author has created this. Timeline jumps can be difficult to pull off let alone jumping months/hours on the clock. There isn't a part of the story you get lost, the timeline is marked clearly at the start of the chapters. We meet at their anniversary and with Tom constructing the game we travel back and forth, to their meeting and the start of their relationship. They carve out ground rules very quickly and set the tone for their unique relationship. We know early on that Tom isn't telling everything to Esme and something has happened to him recently. As the book goes on and more hints are dropped by his family we get a bit more insight into who Tom is, what he has survived and his daily battle and how it affects him.

Male mental health is at the heart of this story, meshed in with his relationship with Esme, warts and all. They are chalk and cheese and Tom has pinned a lot of his hope for going forward on Esme, unknown to her as he tries to battle his illness, inner demons, protect her and keep the battle a secret from her. We see his inner turmoil and get a glimpse of what it is like for someone living with this and trying every day to stay on top.

If you have ever had depression or loved someone with it I think this book will pack a very emotive punch. If it is something you have never encountered it gives you an intimate look and bit of insight into what a battle like that is like and a small idea of why they do what they do. The way the book has been written is pretty smart, engaging and snapshots in and out of a ten year period. Like an onion it reveals another layer as you delve in and perhaps bringing a tear as you go. I think this book will evoke different emotions from readers depending on your life experiences but I challenge anyone to read it and not feel anything. 4.5/5 for me, I very much look forward to seeing what will come next from this author and will be keeping an eye out for their next offering!

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