A review by mgncpr
Aurora by Emma L. McGeown
4.0
When I read the blurb for this book I figured it was the perfect book to settle into a comfy chair and spend a few hours feeding my guilty pleasure of angsty romance novels. When Elena wakes in a hospital room, she's shocked to find out that she's been hit by a bus and the injuries she's sustained has caused amnesia - she's lost eight years. Of course, everyone believes that allowing Elena to recover her memories on her own and not tell her that over the last eight years she's kicked her jerk boyfriend to the curb, had a baby, fallen in love with a woman and has been living as a happily married woman and mother. Having her return home to live with her "roomate" Jax and Jax's son. It was bit like being a passenger on a speeding train and seeing that the bridge around the bend is gone.
Preposterous? Yeah. Angsty? Oh yeah. But the blend of characters, story and writing work really well and this was a great read.
The book switches 1st person POV between Elena and Jax - so you get the double whammy of angst as they both deal with the situation. Jax is so desperate to not push Elena too fast or too far she often takes a more passive role, even when Elena starts reaching out to her (ex) boyfriend - who she last remembers being in a relationship. On the other hand, Elena's struggling to deal with the blanks in her memory - and once she learns about her current life, it's still so foreign and terrifying for her to have to come out again (she's got a lot of baggage)..
I was really impressed that this was Ms McGeown's first novel - she's managed to find the difficult balance of angsty situations and real and interesting characters that are compelling. She provides enough backstory and past events to make the characters' actions and reactions believable and to ground the angst from getting out of control
Preposterous? Yeah. Angsty? Oh yeah. But the blend of characters, story and writing work really well and this was a great read.
The book switches 1st person POV between Elena and Jax - so you get the double whammy of angst as they both deal with the situation. Jax is so desperate to not push Elena too fast or too far she often takes a more passive role, even when Elena starts reaching out to her (ex) boyfriend - who she last remembers being in a relationship. On the other hand, Elena's struggling to deal with the blanks in her memory - and once she learns about her current life, it's still so foreign and terrifying for her to have to come out again (she's got a lot of baggage)..
I was really impressed that this was Ms McGeown's first novel - she's managed to find the difficult balance of angsty situations and real and interesting characters that are compelling. She provides enough backstory and past events to make the characters' actions and reactions believable and to ground the angst from getting out of control