Book Review: The Choice

I am loving a lot of the books I've gotten for review this year, this is just another home run for me and as soon as you read the synopsis, you'll want to read it too!

The Choice - Alex Lake

A kidnap…

Matt Westbrook only turned his back for a moment. But when he looks around, his car – with his three young children inside – has vanished.

A ransom…

Panicked, Matt assumes a car thief has got more than he bargained for, but then he starts to receive text messages: This is a ransom. If you want to see your children again, you will exchange them for your wife.

A choice…

Matt and his wife Annabelle are horrified. They can’t involve the police, or their children will be killed. Which means they have to choose: Annabelle, or their children. Either option is unthinkable. But one is inevitable. And they have only hours to make their decision…

Woooosh... so let's just think about that. Can you imagine having to choose between your spouse or your children? I mean, really think about that. I feel like it is a Sophie's Choice kind of thing, both options are terrible and no matter what you choose, could you ever really go on to be happy? I mean, you have to assume worst case scenario, the person(s) you don't choose would likely be tortured and probably killed, who could make that kind of choice? 

I was worried that this would be a slow read but that was not the case at all. The chapters are very short and there are alternating POV's but it isn't confusing or hard to keep track of. We follow Matt and Annabelle from shortly before they meet each other in college, how their relationship started, continuing on until present day. You find yourself trying to figure out who this nut job is, it is abundantly clear it is someone who knows them but who? 

I absolutely loved this one and was sucked in immediately. I had a hard time putting it down for bed and what a ride it was. By the time we find out who it is, the danger isn't over because this person is still running the show. I have so much I want to say, and more I want to ask other people who've read this because I was on edge throughout the whole thing. It isn't just the thriller part that was a hit, I loved the relationship Matt and Annabelle has. Outsiders don't really get it but to them, it's perfect. I feel like a lot of us know at least one couple where we wonder what the heck they see in the other, but it really is perfect from their perspective. I just really loved the whole aspect in conjunction with the thriller piece. I also love that the author gave us SO MANY potential suspects in the years leading up to the abduction, all of them are good ones but in different ways. I kind of suspected the person it was but I was kind of torn between two so it wasn't a slam dunk. 

I highly enjoyed this one and I think you will too. A huge thank you to Harper360 for having me on this tour- what a book to sink into. 

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Book Review: Seven Days

You might recognize this author because I reviewed The Last Lie last January I gave that one 4 stars and absolutely loved it. It's safe to say I wasn't disappointed this time either.

Seven Days - Alex Lake

A race against time to save her child…

In seven days, Maggie’s son, Max, turns three. But she’s not planning a party or buying presents or updating his baby book. She’s dreading it. Because in her world, third birthdays are the days on which the unthinkable happens… she loses her child.

For the last twelve years Maggie has been imprisoned in a basement. Abducted aged fifteen, she gave birth to two sons before Max, and on their third birthdays her captor came and took them from her.

She cannot let it happen again. But she has no idea how to stop it. And the clock is ticking…

Alright, I have to tell you that not only did I fly through this book over the course of two days, but this felt like the longest seven days of my life. The story takes place over the last seven days before Maggie's son, Max, turns three. The third birthday is significant because her other two boys were taken from her when they turned three and she knows the same will happen to Max unless she can figure out a way to save them both. She has no idea where she even is and she doesn't know what is just beyond the door she hasn't been allowed to go through in 12 years, but she's determined to save Max even if she can't save herself.

I had so many questions throughout this book and I was initially fairly frustrated because even though Maggie was abducted as a teen, she was kind of stupid. I mean, the manner in which she was abducted is startling and terrifying but also not super creative and we all tell kids to not talk to strangers in cars. Ever. I mean, come on. Her life inside this.... box (because that's basically what this is) is so isolating and it's clear from the get go that she wasn't dealing without someone without mental illness.

The book alternates between present day and flashbacks to when she was abducted, snapshots of past things from the last 12 years, we get the point of view of other characters, and it sets the book up to go quickly. Once you start reading this it is hard to put down because you just want to know- is she going to get out? Can she save Max? I can't tell you what happens but honest to god I thought I was going to have a panic attack the last 50 pages or so because I had to know what was going on.

It was stressful.

I have to tell you this is absolutely a 5 star read for me because even some of the things that made me roll my eyes or things that made me question something, the fact that I couldn't put it down sold me on this. I absolutely loved this one in all of its creepy glory.

   

A big thank you to HarperCollins and TLC Book Tours for having me on this tour and sending me an ARC of Seven Days! This post contains affiliate links.