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All That Is Lost Between Us
A mother's worst fears. A daughter in distress. A family falling apart.
Seventeen-year-old Georgia has a secret--one that is isolating her from everyone she loves. She is desperate to tell her best friend, but Sophia is ignoring her, and she doesn't know why. Before she can find out, Sophia is left fighting for her life after a hit and run, with Georgia a traumatized witness.
As a school psychologist, Georgia's mother Anya should be used to dealing with scared adolescents. However, it's very different when the girl who needs help is your own child. Meanwhile, Georgia's father is wracked with a guilt he can't share; and when Zac, Georgia's younger brother, stumbles on an unlikely truth, the family relationships really begin to unravel.
Georgia's secret is about to go viral. And yet, it will be the stranger heading for the family home who will leave her running through the countryside into terrible danger. Can the Turner family rise above the lies they have told to betray or protect one another, in order to fight for what matters most of all?
Set against the stark, rugged beauty of England's Lake District, All That is Lost between Us is a timeless thriller with a modern twist.
Seventeen-year-old Georgia has a secret--one that is isolating her from everyone she loves. She is desperate to tell her best friend, but Sophia is ignoring her, and she doesn't know why. Before she can find out, Sophia is left fighting for her life after a hit and run, with Georgia a traumatized witness.
As a school psychologist, Georgia's mother Anya should be used to dealing with scared adolescents. However, it's very different when the girl who needs help is your own child. Meanwhile, Georgia's father is wracked with a guilt he can't share; and when Zac, Georgia's younger brother, stumbles on an unlikely truth, the family relationships really begin to unravel.
Georgia's secret is about to go viral. And yet, it will be the stranger heading for the family home who will leave her running through the countryside into terrible danger. Can the Turner family rise above the lies they have told to betray or protect one another, in order to fight for what matters most of all?
Set against the stark, rugged beauty of England's Lake District, All That is Lost between Us is a timeless thriller with a modern twist.
1 pages, Audio CD
First published February 1, 2016
463 people are currently reading
1342 people want to read
About the author
Sara Foster
13 books722 followersSara Foster is a critically acclaimed, bestselling fiction author with a passion for psychological suspense and a keen interest in exploring zeitgeist issues and strong female characters in her nail-biting novels. Her latest, When She Was Gone (2025), begins when an au pair and two small children vanish from a remote Australian beach, and is a race-against-time thriller, exploring themes around misogyny, wealth, power and control.
Sara is also the author of dystopian thriller The Hush and seven more bestselling novels. Two of her books have been optioned for television, and You Don’t Know Me was adapted into a chart-topping podcast series by Listnr. Sara has a PhD in creative writing (studying maternal representations in fiction) and lives in Perth, WA, with her husband, two daughters, three cats, Luna the cavoodle and Sunny the bearded dragon.
Follow Sara on Substack at Story Matters (for readers) and The Resilient Author (for writers). Or visit her website: www.sarafoster.com.au
Sara is also the author of dystopian thriller The Hush and seven more bestselling novels. Two of her books have been optioned for television, and You Don’t Know Me was adapted into a chart-topping podcast series by Listnr. Sara has a PhD in creative writing (studying maternal representations in fiction) and lives in Perth, WA, with her husband, two daughters, three cats, Luna the cavoodle and Sunny the bearded dragon.
Follow Sara on Substack at Story Matters (for readers) and The Resilient Author (for writers). Or visit her website: www.sarafoster.com.au
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 146 reviews
March 1, 2024
EXCERPT: GEORGIA
It was only a memory now. The three of them walking along the dark, narrow lane. The awkward silence that lingered in their footsteps. The phone buzzing insistently in her pocket. They had been there just a few hours ago, but already it had become a distant recollection of a time when their lives had travelled in a neat, straight line. Georgia could see them vividly without needing to close her eyes - hear the tread of their shoes on the deserted road, feel the chilly late-September wind toying with her hair, a contrast to the warmth of her right hand, wrapped within Danny's. They hadn't known that they were sleepwalkers, unaware of what headed towards them, until it was too late. Until all Georgia could see was darkness, before the minutes snuck in and made an unbridgeable gap of time, and it was impossible to go back and change anything.
ABOUT 'ALL THAT IS LOST BETWEEN US': Seventeen-year-old Georgia has a secret – one that is isolating her from everyone she loves. She is desperate to tell her best friend, but Sophia is ignoring her, and she doesn’t know why. And before she can find out, Sophia is left fighting for her life after a hit and run, with Georgia a traumatised witness.
As a school psychologist, Georgia’s mother Anya should be used to dealing with scared adolescents. However, it’s very different when the girl who needs help is your own child. Meanwhile, Georgia’s father is wracked with a guilt he can’t share; and when Zac, Georgia’s younger brother, stumbles on an unlikely truth, the family relationships really begin to unravel.
Georgia’s secret is about to go viral. And yet, it will be the stranger heading for the family home who will leave her running through the countryside into terrible danger. Can the Turner family rise above the lies they have told to betray or protect one another, in order to fight for what matters most of all?
MY THOUGHTS: I enjoyed the wild ride this book took me on. Every time I thought I knew where it was going, something unexpected would happen.
Families are difficult. Relationships are difficult. Familiarity breeds contempt.
Secrets and lies, both well intentioned and malicious, are exposed.
Anya and Callum have been married for what seems like forever. Their marriage is feeling a little stale, but neither will yet admit there is a problem. They snipe at each other. They are rushed, harried, and spend little time together. Anya resents the time Callum devotes to volunteering with Mountain Rescue. And Callum feels pushed aside for the children.
Anya is a counsellor at the school her children Georgia and Zac attend but feels excluded from her children's lives as well as from her husband's life.
But then seventeen-year-old Georgia is involved in a hit and run accident that leaves her cousin Sophia seriously injured. Georgia and Sophia have always been close, but this summer they have drifted apart, each harboring their own secrets.
Was the hit and run deliberate or a random accident? Who is the woman seen lurking outside Sophia's hospital room? And how will Zac's actions affect the family? Will they pull together, or will this be the thing that finally shatters their fragile relationship?
This book is beautifully written from multiple points of view, but only Anya's pov is in first person.
I am sure that most of us will be familiar with the emotions that rage in this book - teenage angst and bravado, fragile friendships, first love, forbidden love, marriage worn thin by the daily grind, temptation . . .
I found All That is Lost Between us to be a gripping read, even the second time around. It is a coming-of-age story, a family drama, a story of secrets and discovery, and the perils of social media. It is a story of a mother's fierce love for her children as they struggle to assert their independence, and of a marriage breaking down due to lack of communication. Sara Foster weaves these threads together into a taut and suspenseful tale that kept me reading late into the night.
I have also listened to the audiobook of All That is Lost Between us which is superbly narrated by Anne Dover.
⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
#AllThatisLostBetweenUs #NetGalley
THE AUTHOR: Sara is passionate about developing strong women characters and female-led stories, She is currently studying for her PhD, looking at maternal representation in fiction with young adult heroines, and she lives in Western Australia with her husband and daughters.
DISCLOSURE: Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing a digital ARC of this All That is Lost Between Us by Sara Foster for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
It was only a memory now. The three of them walking along the dark, narrow lane. The awkward silence that lingered in their footsteps. The phone buzzing insistently in her pocket. They had been there just a few hours ago, but already it had become a distant recollection of a time when their lives had travelled in a neat, straight line. Georgia could see them vividly without needing to close her eyes - hear the tread of their shoes on the deserted road, feel the chilly late-September wind toying with her hair, a contrast to the warmth of her right hand, wrapped within Danny's. They hadn't known that they were sleepwalkers, unaware of what headed towards them, until it was too late. Until all Georgia could see was darkness, before the minutes snuck in and made an unbridgeable gap of time, and it was impossible to go back and change anything.
ABOUT 'ALL THAT IS LOST BETWEEN US': Seventeen-year-old Georgia has a secret – one that is isolating her from everyone she loves. She is desperate to tell her best friend, but Sophia is ignoring her, and she doesn’t know why. And before she can find out, Sophia is left fighting for her life after a hit and run, with Georgia a traumatised witness.
As a school psychologist, Georgia’s mother Anya should be used to dealing with scared adolescents. However, it’s very different when the girl who needs help is your own child. Meanwhile, Georgia’s father is wracked with a guilt he can’t share; and when Zac, Georgia’s younger brother, stumbles on an unlikely truth, the family relationships really begin to unravel.
Georgia’s secret is about to go viral. And yet, it will be the stranger heading for the family home who will leave her running through the countryside into terrible danger. Can the Turner family rise above the lies they have told to betray or protect one another, in order to fight for what matters most of all?
MY THOUGHTS: I enjoyed the wild ride this book took me on. Every time I thought I knew where it was going, something unexpected would happen.
Families are difficult. Relationships are difficult. Familiarity breeds contempt.
Secrets and lies, both well intentioned and malicious, are exposed.
Anya and Callum have been married for what seems like forever. Their marriage is feeling a little stale, but neither will yet admit there is a problem. They snipe at each other. They are rushed, harried, and spend little time together. Anya resents the time Callum devotes to volunteering with Mountain Rescue. And Callum feels pushed aside for the children.
Anya is a counsellor at the school her children Georgia and Zac attend but feels excluded from her children's lives as well as from her husband's life.
But then seventeen-year-old Georgia is involved in a hit and run accident that leaves her cousin Sophia seriously injured. Georgia and Sophia have always been close, but this summer they have drifted apart, each harboring their own secrets.
Was the hit and run deliberate or a random accident? Who is the woman seen lurking outside Sophia's hospital room? And how will Zac's actions affect the family? Will they pull together, or will this be the thing that finally shatters their fragile relationship?
This book is beautifully written from multiple points of view, but only Anya's pov is in first person.
I am sure that most of us will be familiar with the emotions that rage in this book - teenage angst and bravado, fragile friendships, first love, forbidden love, marriage worn thin by the daily grind, temptation . . .
I found All That is Lost Between us to be a gripping read, even the second time around. It is a coming-of-age story, a family drama, a story of secrets and discovery, and the perils of social media. It is a story of a mother's fierce love for her children as they struggle to assert their independence, and of a marriage breaking down due to lack of communication. Sara Foster weaves these threads together into a taut and suspenseful tale that kept me reading late into the night.
I have also listened to the audiobook of All That is Lost Between us which is superbly narrated by Anne Dover.
⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
#AllThatisLostBetweenUs #NetGalley
THE AUTHOR: Sara is passionate about developing strong women characters and female-led stories, She is currently studying for her PhD, looking at maternal representation in fiction with young adult heroines, and she lives in Western Australia with her husband and daughters.
DISCLOSURE: Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing a digital ARC of this All That is Lost Between Us by Sara Foster for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
January 14, 2019
3★
“Initial sessions are always full of conversation – the general impression of teenagers as monosyllabic grouches is largely unfair. Nine times out of ten they are eager to talk, open to understanding and considering the world around them, and, most of all, anxious to fit in, to find a place in their school or home life where they feel comfortable and accepted.”
This is Anya speaking, the mother of the Turner family, and it's one of her (too many) teaching moments. Anya's chapters are written in the first person. She is the one who voices so many of the questions and opinions (and lessons).
Callum is the dad, Georgia is 17 and Zac is almost 14. Anya is a part-time school counsellor, and the author uses her to inform us about many issues affecting teens, like bullying, anorexia, peer pressure, and alienation. Of course, we’re also subject to being taught about why marriages drift apart, why work takes over, why teens experiment.
Didactic is the word, I believe, but it’s not one I’m comfortable using. I tend to call books like this teachy-preachy (and annoying). Show me, don’t tell me. I feel the same way about Jodi Picoult’s books.
Briefly, Georgia is a fell runner, a popular kind of hill-running sport, and she’s good enough to attract sponsorship if she wins the big event coming up soon. Of course, we’re introduced to fell running.
“Georgia’s love of her surroundings had deepened in the past few years, thanks to fell-running. It was a sport unlike any other – competitive racing through this ever-changing mountainous terrain that might see her scrabbling up grassy banks, balancing along jagged rocky summits, negotiating waterfalls and sliding down scree slopes. It was racing that might take hours – even days, at the most competitive levels – and required her to pack water, sustenance, wet-weather gear, a map, a compass and a whistle.”
The book opens telling us that she’s got some major secret that she is absolutely busting to tell her best-friend, cousin Sophie. It’s not that hard to guess what sort of secret she probably has, and it’s not hard to guess why Anya and Callum are drifting apart. Anya is busy with her own kids plus the kids at school who really depend on her. Callum has found an excellent interest and outlet for his attention in volunteer rescue work – another area where people are needed and valued. But they don’t seem to need each other anymore.
There’s a car “accident” that seems deliberate, and one of the kids ends up in hospital. A lot of the story revolves around visits to the hospital and the internal dialogues of the parents and Georgia. Younger brother features because he stumbles over something he’s not meant to see, but he’s a minor character.
All the members of this family rely on the woods, the fells, the hills, the beauty of the English Lake District to feel free and sane. We run with Georgia many times, but here’s her dad’s experience.
“As Callum set off, his breath formed mist clouds that floated and fell along with the rhythm of his feet on the gravel track. With each exhale he felt his head clearing, his body relaxing, the cares of the day drifting away. The fells had always had this effect on him.”
For some reason, although they used to go together to walk and picnic, each now chooses to seek solitude there and walk or run alone. There seems to be no disagreement that this is an important part of all their lives, including young Zac’s. It does sound terrific.
“‘This is the quintessential English view, surely.’ . . . Beyond the lake, the gentle rolling green hills were generously dappled with blossoming trees, and all this formed an intricate hemline for the larger, steeper Langdale peaks behind. Directly in front . . . the whole vast and verdant scene was perfectly mirrored in the still waters of the tarn. . .
Georgia began to enjoy her role as tour guide. . . this place was well known as one of Wordsworth’s favourites.”
The beauty of the place is undeniable, the story is okay, and it's obvious lots of readers aren't as put off as I am by being lectured.
“Initial sessions are always full of conversation – the general impression of teenagers as monosyllabic grouches is largely unfair. Nine times out of ten they are eager to talk, open to understanding and considering the world around them, and, most of all, anxious to fit in, to find a place in their school or home life where they feel comfortable and accepted.”
This is Anya speaking, the mother of the Turner family, and it's one of her (too many) teaching moments. Anya's chapters are written in the first person. She is the one who voices so many of the questions and opinions (and lessons).
Callum is the dad, Georgia is 17 and Zac is almost 14. Anya is a part-time school counsellor, and the author uses her to inform us about many issues affecting teens, like bullying, anorexia, peer pressure, and alienation. Of course, we’re also subject to being taught about why marriages drift apart, why work takes over, why teens experiment.
Didactic is the word, I believe, but it’s not one I’m comfortable using. I tend to call books like this teachy-preachy (and annoying). Show me, don’t tell me. I feel the same way about Jodi Picoult’s books.
Briefly, Georgia is a fell runner, a popular kind of hill-running sport, and she’s good enough to attract sponsorship if she wins the big event coming up soon. Of course, we’re introduced to fell running.
“Georgia’s love of her surroundings had deepened in the past few years, thanks to fell-running. It was a sport unlike any other – competitive racing through this ever-changing mountainous terrain that might see her scrabbling up grassy banks, balancing along jagged rocky summits, negotiating waterfalls and sliding down scree slopes. It was racing that might take hours – even days, at the most competitive levels – and required her to pack water, sustenance, wet-weather gear, a map, a compass and a whistle.”
The book opens telling us that she’s got some major secret that she is absolutely busting to tell her best-friend, cousin Sophie. It’s not that hard to guess what sort of secret she probably has, and it’s not hard to guess why Anya and Callum are drifting apart. Anya is busy with her own kids plus the kids at school who really depend on her. Callum has found an excellent interest and outlet for his attention in volunteer rescue work – another area where people are needed and valued. But they don’t seem to need each other anymore.
There’s a car “accident” that seems deliberate, and one of the kids ends up in hospital. A lot of the story revolves around visits to the hospital and the internal dialogues of the parents and Georgia. Younger brother features because he stumbles over something he’s not meant to see, but he’s a minor character.
All the members of this family rely on the woods, the fells, the hills, the beauty of the English Lake District to feel free and sane. We run with Georgia many times, but here’s her dad’s experience.
“As Callum set off, his breath formed mist clouds that floated and fell along with the rhythm of his feet on the gravel track. With each exhale he felt his head clearing, his body relaxing, the cares of the day drifting away. The fells had always had this effect on him.”
For some reason, although they used to go together to walk and picnic, each now chooses to seek solitude there and walk or run alone. There seems to be no disagreement that this is an important part of all their lives, including young Zac’s. It does sound terrific.
“‘This is the quintessential English view, surely.’ . . . Beyond the lake, the gentle rolling green hills were generously dappled with blossoming trees, and all this formed an intricate hemline for the larger, steeper Langdale peaks behind. Directly in front . . . the whole vast and verdant scene was perfectly mirrored in the still waters of the tarn. . .
Georgia began to enjoy her role as tour guide. . . this place was well known as one of Wordsworth’s favourites.”
The beauty of the place is undeniable, the story is okay, and it's obvious lots of readers aren't as put off as I am by being lectured.
August 12, 2017
All That is Lost Between Us is about family and how they can slowly drift apart. The drift is so slow that one day you realise that you don’t know who these people are and they don’t know you.
The story is told in the changing view points of the Turner family, Callum, Georgia and Zac with Anya’s being in first person. I think this was done so we feel more empathy for Anya or maybe I just did because I’m a mum of a teen and I could relate to Anya and her thoughts more readily.
”Once I start the engine, I don’t say anything more. We might be sitting next to one another, but that’s where the closeness ends. I’m desperate to comfort her, but I can’t find the right words. On the short journey home, each second is riven by our silence.”
“I have so many questions for Georgia- and when she’s not around I wonder why we find it so hard to talk. But whenever I’m with her there’s a force-field around her, holding me at bay, stilling my tongue.”
Foster has captured relationships with such expertise and those interminable years between child and adult. The feelings of a mother of a teen, sometimes being too scared to say anything because it may be the wrong thing and feeling shut out. Also the crumbling relationship between husband and wife due to the slow breakdown of communication.
The Turner family is very likeable and you want things to work out for them and for Anya and Callum to reconnect.
The mystery element of the story was compelling and I found it hard to put the book aside. At times it is fast paced and at other times you are able to sit back and enjoy the beautiful scenery of the Lake District.
Clues are dropped sparingly throughout the story which builds on the mystery.
I was amazed how Foster gets into the head of a teenager and the mother of a teenager with finesse and without taking sides.
All That is Lost Between Us is a must read family drama.
With my thanks to the publisher via Netgalley for my copy to read and review.
The story is told in the changing view points of the Turner family, Callum, Georgia and Zac with Anya’s being in first person. I think this was done so we feel more empathy for Anya or maybe I just did because I’m a mum of a teen and I could relate to Anya and her thoughts more readily.
”Once I start the engine, I don’t say anything more. We might be sitting next to one another, but that’s where the closeness ends. I’m desperate to comfort her, but I can’t find the right words. On the short journey home, each second is riven by our silence.”
“I have so many questions for Georgia- and when she’s not around I wonder why we find it so hard to talk. But whenever I’m with her there’s a force-field around her, holding me at bay, stilling my tongue.”
Foster has captured relationships with such expertise and those interminable years between child and adult. The feelings of a mother of a teen, sometimes being too scared to say anything because it may be the wrong thing and feeling shut out. Also the crumbling relationship between husband and wife due to the slow breakdown of communication.
The Turner family is very likeable and you want things to work out for them and for Anya and Callum to reconnect.
The mystery element of the story was compelling and I found it hard to put the book aside. At times it is fast paced and at other times you are able to sit back and enjoy the beautiful scenery of the Lake District.
Clues are dropped sparingly throughout the story which builds on the mystery.
I was amazed how Foster gets into the head of a teenager and the mother of a teenager with finesse and without taking sides.
All That is Lost Between Us is a must read family drama.
With my thanks to the publisher via Netgalley for my copy to read and review.
August 6, 2019
I didn't just read this book, I devoured it!
Above them, the floodlit spire of St Mary’s defied the darkness, spearing the night, blocking out the moon. She tried to let go of Danny’s hand, but he held on to her tightly. She felt her phone begin to vibrate in her pocket, and just had time to wonder who was calling when there was a noise behind them. She turned to see a pair of headlights impossibly close, the heat of them throwing sudden warmth towards her legs. The driver couldn’t fail to spot them and yet the car was still moving. She tried to look at the windscreen but was dazzled, her vision becoming wavy lines of fluorescence. Without warning, Danny dropped her hand, only seconds before she was lifted completely off her feet.
********
All That is Lost Between Us by Sara Foster is potent, captivating, and compelling! There are so many secrets throughout the story, some we are privy to and some that remain tantalizingly out of reach!
If you love stories that slowly unravel all secrets, which, in turn, lead the way to the final reveal, this book is for you!
After reading Sara Foster's The Hidden Hours and Beneath the Shadows, another book I relished, she has become one of my favorite authors.
(love this cover!) and
are on my shelves just waiting to be opened!
Above them, the floodlit spire of St Mary’s defied the darkness, spearing the night, blocking out the moon. She tried to let go of Danny’s hand, but he held on to her tightly. She felt her phone begin to vibrate in her pocket, and just had time to wonder who was calling when there was a noise behind them. She turned to see a pair of headlights impossibly close, the heat of them throwing sudden warmth towards her legs. The driver couldn’t fail to spot them and yet the car was still moving. She tried to look at the windscreen but was dazzled, her vision becoming wavy lines of fluorescence. Without warning, Danny dropped her hand, only seconds before she was lifted completely off her feet.
********
All That is Lost Between Us by Sara Foster is potent, captivating, and compelling! There are so many secrets throughout the story, some we are privy to and some that remain tantalizingly out of reach!
If you love stories that slowly unravel all secrets, which, in turn, lead the way to the final reveal, this book is for you!
After reading Sara Foster's The Hidden Hours and Beneath the Shadows, another book I relished, she has become one of my favorite authors.
(love this cover!) and
are on my shelves just waiting to be opened! 
January 25, 2016
4.5★s
Georgia Turner had felt isolated and alone for a little while – her cousin and best friend Sophia was being distant and Georgia felt a desperate need to talk to her. The secret she held in her head felt like a lead weight, and she needed to talk to Sophia about it before she went mad. The night of the party was when Georgia would talk to her she felt sure – but then on their walk home, there was a terrible accident and Sophia was dreadfully injured. The trauma that Georgia felt rocked her world and sent her towards the edge…
Georgia’s mother Anya had felt the cracks starting to splinter the family unit for some time, and though she tried hard, she was unable to get through to seventeen year old Georgia. Younger son Zac hadn’t had the same reactions to life as Georgia - yet… Anya also couldn’t work out when Callum and she had lost their closeness – the drifting apart had been so gradual; he was never home anymore with his volunteer work with the mountain rescue unit plus his job. It was left to Anya to care for their two children, and she was finding the lack of support numbing.
When Zac unwittingly came across something he shouldn’t have seen, he was shocked. He also had no idea what to do. The decision he made started an avalanche of terror – with a stranger stalking family members, the danger suddenly became intense. What would happen to Georgia; to injured Sophia; to Zac and his parents? Was the shattering of the family inevitable?
All That Is Lost Between Us is a brilliant psychological thriller by Aussie author Sara Foster. Filled with gripping suspense, the tension kept me turning the pages quickly, especially during the second half of the book. The setting of the novel is beautiful, with the rugged hills and mountains of England’s Lake District surrounding the fells; the small town the story is set in. It was a unique plot, one that worked well for me. I’ve loved all this author’s work and her latest release didn’t disappoint. Highly recommended.
With thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this copy in exchange for my honest review.
Georgia Turner had felt isolated and alone for a little while – her cousin and best friend Sophia was being distant and Georgia felt a desperate need to talk to her. The secret she held in her head felt like a lead weight, and she needed to talk to Sophia about it before she went mad. The night of the party was when Georgia would talk to her she felt sure – but then on their walk home, there was a terrible accident and Sophia was dreadfully injured. The trauma that Georgia felt rocked her world and sent her towards the edge…
Georgia’s mother Anya had felt the cracks starting to splinter the family unit for some time, and though she tried hard, she was unable to get through to seventeen year old Georgia. Younger son Zac hadn’t had the same reactions to life as Georgia - yet… Anya also couldn’t work out when Callum and she had lost their closeness – the drifting apart had been so gradual; he was never home anymore with his volunteer work with the mountain rescue unit plus his job. It was left to Anya to care for their two children, and she was finding the lack of support numbing.
When Zac unwittingly came across something he shouldn’t have seen, he was shocked. He also had no idea what to do. The decision he made started an avalanche of terror – with a stranger stalking family members, the danger suddenly became intense. What would happen to Georgia; to injured Sophia; to Zac and his parents? Was the shattering of the family inevitable?
All That Is Lost Between Us is a brilliant psychological thriller by Aussie author Sara Foster. Filled with gripping suspense, the tension kept me turning the pages quickly, especially during the second half of the book. The setting of the novel is beautiful, with the rugged hills and mountains of England’s Lake District surrounding the fells; the small town the story is set in. It was a unique plot, one that worked well for me. I’ve loved all this author’s work and her latest release didn’t disappoint. Highly recommended.
With thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this copy in exchange for my honest review.
June 27, 2016
This was a fascinating and at times gripping story about a family who suddenly find themselves embroiled in the circumstances of their daughter's (and sister's life) and unwittingly implicated in a sequence of events which are the fallout of the complex consequences of her unthinking actions.
Seventeen year old Georgia has a secret which is eating at her conscience, and much to her distress, her best friend Sophia has not been available for her to confide in.
It seems that ever since returning from her holiday Sophia seems to be avoiding Georgia for some reason, and she is desperate to talk to her now.
Unbeknownst to Georgia, Sophia has her own guilty secret and has in fact been avoiding Georgia out of guilt.
When they are both invited the same party one night, Georgia is determined that she will tell her friend what has been troubling her. Sophia has quietly determined to do the same.
The opportunity to talk doesn't present itself until they are leaving and agree to walk home together late that night.
As they are walking Georgia seizes the opportunity before it gets later and just as she is about to confess to her friend, they are interrupted by Danny, one of the boys from the party who has caught up with them and asked if he can walk with them.
Both Georgia and Sophia are quietly disappointed at this further obstruction to their confessions.
While they are thinking this, a car suddenly speeds up from out of nowhere behind them with blinding headlights and smashes into them.....just before impact Danny realizes and grabs Georgia out of harms way, leaving her with just superficial injuries from the fall. Sophia however cops the full impact and is left unconscious with severe injuries.
With investigations into the accident leaving more unanswered questions, we are led to believe that it may not have been an accident after all. This leads to more questions and the discoveries of secrets and lies, and shines a light on the slow breakdown of relationships with long unresolved issues.
For me there were a few unresolved issues with this story too, but I can't mention them here without spoilers. I will be interested to see what other readers think.
Still an absorbing read 4★s.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my copy to read and review.
April 6, 2020
Sometimes stories told from differing points of view work well and sometimes they don’t. This one, in my opinion, does as the four viewpoints gives a more comprehensive view of this family. There is Georgia, seventeen years old and with a secret she longs to tell her cousin and best friend Sophia. Then there is Georgia’s younger brother Zac who finds something he shouldn’t have seen and it ends up with consequences he could not have foreseen. Lastly there are the parents, Callum and Anya. Callum spends more time with his voluntary mountain rescue group than at home and there are reasons for that. Anya is a counsellor at the children’s school and seems able to help deal with problems with other young people but not in her own family. When a hit and run accident occurs, that may not have been an accident, a lot of the problems with this family and in the marriage are exposed.
The other thing this book covers is how two young people take photos on their phones they think are just personal but they end up going viral. If this helps even one young person think more carefully about what they do with images and what information they reveal on line, it will be worth it. The story definitely highlights too that choices can often have severe consequence affecting more than just the person or persons concerned.
I found this an interesting and a quick read of a family who love each other but have lost their way. Each member of the family has his or her own secrets that affect their actions. The story maintained its tension throughout and the characters are well drawn. If not always likeable, their motivations are understandable. The setting in The Lakes District of England is as much as character as any of the human characters are. This was a good read achieved with minimal examples of the f word.
The other thing this book covers is how two young people take photos on their phones they think are just personal but they end up going viral. If this helps even one young person think more carefully about what they do with images and what information they reveal on line, it will be worth it. The story definitely highlights too that choices can often have severe consequence affecting more than just the person or persons concerned.
I found this an interesting and a quick read of a family who love each other but have lost their way. Each member of the family has his or her own secrets that affect their actions. The story maintained its tension throughout and the characters are well drawn. If not always likeable, their motivations are understandable. The setting in The Lakes District of England is as much as character as any of the human characters are. This was a good read achieved with minimal examples of the f word.
January 31, 2016
This story opens at the beginning of a new school year with cousins Georgia and Sophia starting their final year. Georgia hasn't been herself for the last few weeks although is looking forward to school fell running competition which she has won for the last two years and has been training as hard as ever. But something happened to her during the summer break and she longs to share her secret with Sophia. However, before she gets the chance to talk to her the pair are hit by a speeding car and Sophia ends up unconscious in hospital. Georgia’s family sense something is wrong with her but she won’t talk to them and they have their own troubles and secrets. It soon becomes clear that what looked like an accidental hit and run may have been intentional, but was Georgia the intended victim or Sophia?
From starting out as an interesting family drama set in the English lake district, the story rapidly moves more into the realm of a psychological thriller and becomes a real page turner as the suspense builds and we try to work out who is at risk and why. The author has a real talent for getting into the heads of teenage characters, showing us what it’s like to be at that stage of life where the need to be independent and secretive is overwhelming but competing with the need to still be cherished and protected by their parents. Set amongst gorgeous descriptions of the beautiful but rugged peaks and lakes, tales of mountain rescues and descriptions of the joys of fell running, this is a rich and original family drama and thriller.
With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an ecopy to read and review
From starting out as an interesting family drama set in the English lake district, the story rapidly moves more into the realm of a psychological thriller and becomes a real page turner as the suspense builds and we try to work out who is at risk and why. The author has a real talent for getting into the heads of teenage characters, showing us what it’s like to be at that stage of life where the need to be independent and secretive is overwhelming but competing with the need to still be cherished and protected by their parents. Set amongst gorgeous descriptions of the beautiful but rugged peaks and lakes, tales of mountain rescues and descriptions of the joys of fell running, this is a rich and original family drama and thriller.
With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an ecopy to read and review
March 8, 2016
A story about a family this close to falling apart.
Mom Anya is a closeted helicopter mom, driving dad Callum away, who then throws all his zeal in his volunteering work for Mountain Rescue. 17 Year old daughter Georgia feels disconnected to her mother and does everything she can to shut her out of her life. She is a fervent fell runner and is determined to win a scholarship to a prestigious college. Her brother Zac is still trying to find his way as a teenager with raging hormones and when he stumbles upon Georgia's secret, he isn't sure what to do. When an accident shakes up the already fragile relationships within this family, things start to unravel...
While a gripping read in the last part of the book, the beginning was a very slow read. Only halfway did it pick up some speed. Being told from alternating family members' point of views, it is a bit of a jumble. Suspense lines the story, but every time something was about to happen or revealed, a convenient cop out was introduced, slowing down the pace yet again. I also think that certain plot points were exaggerated, while others were introduced but never really took off. Which was a shame, cause it could have made things more thrilling.
Lovers of drama will enjoy this to their heart's content.
Review copy supplied by publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a rating and/or review.
Mom Anya is a closeted helicopter mom, driving dad Callum away, who then throws all his zeal in his volunteering work for Mountain Rescue. 17 Year old daughter Georgia feels disconnected to her mother and does everything she can to shut her out of her life. She is a fervent fell runner and is determined to win a scholarship to a prestigious college. Her brother Zac is still trying to find his way as a teenager with raging hormones and when he stumbles upon Georgia's secret, he isn't sure what to do. When an accident shakes up the already fragile relationships within this family, things start to unravel...
While a gripping read in the last part of the book, the beginning was a very slow read. Only halfway did it pick up some speed. Being told from alternating family members' point of views, it is a bit of a jumble. Suspense lines the story, but every time something was about to happen or revealed, a convenient cop out was introduced, slowing down the pace yet again. I also think that certain plot points were exaggerated, while others were introduced but never really took off. Which was a shame, cause it could have made things more thrilling.
Lovers of drama will enjoy this to their heart's content.
Review copy supplied by publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a rating and/or review.
March 9, 2017
A mother's worst fears.
A daughter in distress.
A family falling apart.
This was a fairly mild psychological thriller - to me it's more about a family struggling to connect. A family that fears that the things that are lost between them may never be recovered. It's about secrets. Secrets that hurt. Secrets that can tear lives apart.
It's about mothers and teenage daughters. Husbands and wives. Sisters and brothers.
Set in a small town in the rugged beauty that is England's Lake district, Sara Foster has created characters that feel real.
A great read.
A daughter in distress.
A family falling apart.
This was a fairly mild psychological thriller - to me it's more about a family struggling to connect. A family that fears that the things that are lost between them may never be recovered. It's about secrets. Secrets that hurt. Secrets that can tear lives apart.
It's about mothers and teenage daughters. Husbands and wives. Sisters and brothers.
Set in a small town in the rugged beauty that is England's Lake district, Sara Foster has created characters that feel real.
A great read.
February 5, 2016
All That is Lost Between Us is a compelling modern domestic thriller from Sara Foster.
Unfolding from the perspectives of the four members of the Turner family, it is a story about guilt, secrets, betrayal and loyalty.
Seventeen year old Georgia Turner, high school student and champion Fells runner, is preoccupied by a secret she can't share, not even with her best friend and cousin, Sophia.
Anya is frustrated by her inability to connect with her increasingly withdrawn daughter who spurns both her concern and affection, as does her husband, Callum.
Callum, mired in unspoken resentments, has thrown himself into his voluntary work with the local Fells rescue team, and taken solace in the attentions of a younger colleague.
When Zac accidentally discovers a shocking photo hidden in his sister's bedroom, he is at a loss as how to best deal with his discovery.
A hit and run incident involving Georgia and Sophia is the catalyst that drives the members of the Turner family to the brink of crisis. As suspicion grows that the actions of the unidentified driver was deliberate, Foster builds the tension as secrets begin to collide.
One of the main themes Foster's story thoughtfully explores is the vulnerabilities of family. Emotional distance has frayed the bonds between husband and wife, parent and child, in All That is Lost Between Us. The strained relationships are sensitively and realistically portrayed, disconnected, they are each vulnerable in the crisis and struggle to bridge the gap to offer each other the support they need.
Georgia's angst is well drawn, her increasingly fraught emotional state is believable as she obsesses over her secret with the self absorption of youth.
I empathised strongly with Anya, it is difficult to let your children pull away from you, to find the balance between encouraging them to make their own choices, and protect them from their inevitable mistakes. My oldest daughter is 19 and I too feel as if she is "breaking off a piece of my heart and taking it with her." as she forges her own life.
Set in England's Lake District, Foster's descriptions of the landscape are vivid and evocative. The rugged beauty of the Fells, its craggy peaks and forested valleys and sheer cliffs, reflects the changeable emotional states of the characters.
All That is Lost Between Us is a captivating read I'd recommend to both an adult and mature young adult audience.
February 2, 2016
Tension packed!
My View:
Sara Foster draws us into a chillingly tense narrative of secrets and lies with an explosive prologue that has her protagonist Georgia in a very dire situation (no spoilers here). The stage is now set, the scenery and back drops in place, and the principal characters ready – the excitement is building!
Sara Foster has produced a domestic narrative that is tension packed and full of surprises. Georgia’s secret is devastating and tantalising, slowly, ever so slowly we are given hints as to the nature of this secret, and it is one that will shatter the innocence of youth and test the multiple relationships discussed in this book.
Tension is just one element that Sara Foster excels in, she also captures that difficult relationship between parents (particularly mothers) and their teenage children - the dialogue or lack of it, the mood swings, the umbilical cord of protection almost severed by the child’s growing independence …the child like almost adult exposed for the world to see. A great accounting of these difficult times.
“Georgia has a secret…it is about to go viral….” Get your copy now and find yourself enmeshed in this family’s troubled life. It could easily be yours.
My View:
Sara Foster draws us into a chillingly tense narrative of secrets and lies with an explosive prologue that has her protagonist Georgia in a very dire situation (no spoilers here). The stage is now set, the scenery and back drops in place, and the principal characters ready – the excitement is building!
Sara Foster has produced a domestic narrative that is tension packed and full of surprises. Georgia’s secret is devastating and tantalising, slowly, ever so slowly we are given hints as to the nature of this secret, and it is one that will shatter the innocence of youth and test the multiple relationships discussed in this book.
Tension is just one element that Sara Foster excels in, she also captures that difficult relationship between parents (particularly mothers) and their teenage children - the dialogue or lack of it, the mood swings, the umbilical cord of protection almost severed by the child’s growing independence …the child like almost adult exposed for the world to see. A great accounting of these difficult times.
“Georgia has a secret…it is about to go viral….” Get your copy now and find yourself enmeshed in this family’s troubled life. It could easily be yours.
February 9, 2016
4.5 stars
I rarely read books in this genre - suspense, thriller(?), so I don't have much to compare against. Regardless, I know what/when I enjoy reading something and this novel was a great read.
All That Is Lost Between Us is more of a contemporary, psychological novel, where every member of the Turner family is thoroughly dissected. The Turners are a middle-class family, who have slowly been drifting apart.
Not unlike in many other families, the mum, Anya, is the glue that holds them together, she's the nurturer, the worrier and the warrior, but lately she feels like she doesn't know her kids, Georgia, seventeen, and Zac, fourteen. As for her husband, Callum, she barely sees him anymore, as he's never home, having become a volunteer rescuer, on top of his day job.
I loved how Sara Foster went about giving each and every character a voice, we really get to know them so well, as the novel is made up of chapters of each character's point of view. What I thought was quite different was the fact that Anya's point of view was written in the first person, whereas all the other member's of the family speak to us via the third person narrative.
This novel is extremely realistic. What the Turners go through is relatable. The minutiae and busyness of life make it so easy for people to live together but actually live very separate lives. Anya's fears of losing connection with her kids and husband are palpable, it's hard not to empathise and worry alongside her.
It's so much more difficult raising kids these days than it was a few decades before when there were no social networking, no mobile phones with cameras. We've all done silly things in our youth, but we got away with it, as it wasn't posted on the internet for perpetuity and for the whole wide world to see and comment on it.
Sara Foster does a great job of showcasing some of the dangers of social networking. One unintended mistake can have dramatic consequences.
I won't say much more, as I don't want to give away too much.
If you have the opportunity, do read this as it's well written, compelling, realistic and relatable, and the suspense/thriller bits are also very well done.
Cover: 3 stars - The photographer in me grumbles about that strong dark vignette at the top, as that's so passé. Also, I'm not crazy about the colouring.
I rarely read books in this genre - suspense, thriller(?), so I don't have much to compare against. Regardless, I know what/when I enjoy reading something and this novel was a great read.
All That Is Lost Between Us is more of a contemporary, psychological novel, where every member of the Turner family is thoroughly dissected. The Turners are a middle-class family, who have slowly been drifting apart.
Not unlike in many other families, the mum, Anya, is the glue that holds them together, she's the nurturer, the worrier and the warrior, but lately she feels like she doesn't know her kids, Georgia, seventeen, and Zac, fourteen. As for her husband, Callum, she barely sees him anymore, as he's never home, having become a volunteer rescuer, on top of his day job.
I loved how Sara Foster went about giving each and every character a voice, we really get to know them so well, as the novel is made up of chapters of each character's point of view. What I thought was quite different was the fact that Anya's point of view was written in the first person, whereas all the other member's of the family speak to us via the third person narrative.
This novel is extremely realistic. What the Turners go through is relatable. The minutiae and busyness of life make it so easy for people to live together but actually live very separate lives. Anya's fears of losing connection with her kids and husband are palpable, it's hard not to empathise and worry alongside her.
It's so much more difficult raising kids these days than it was a few decades before when there were no social networking, no mobile phones with cameras. We've all done silly things in our youth, but we got away with it, as it wasn't posted on the internet for perpetuity and for the whole wide world to see and comment on it.
Sara Foster does a great job of showcasing some of the dangers of social networking. One unintended mistake can have dramatic consequences.
I won't say much more, as I don't want to give away too much.
If you have the opportunity, do read this as it's well written, compelling, realistic and relatable, and the suspense/thriller bits are also very well done.
Cover: 3 stars - The photographer in me grumbles about that strong dark vignette at the top, as that's so passé. Also, I'm not crazy about the colouring.
July 18, 2016
A well-written and well-paced story which is part family drama and part psychological suspense. From a low-key opening, the story builds gradually in intensity to a genuinely nail-biting climax. In some ways this is a bit surprising, as the setting and the various episodes are very much in the domestic sphere. There are no dramatic action sequences - it’s more about human emotions and misunderstandings. The upside of this is that there is very little bloodshed or violence - it is very much a battle of words and minds.
I really enjoyed the author’s exploration of a dysfunctional family. The parents, Callum and Anya, are drifting apart and their relationship is on the rocks. The two teenage children, main protagonist Georgia, and her younger brother Zac, are typical disaffected youth. But Georgia has a special gift, her great athletic talent. Her determination to win her running race drives her, over the needs of family and friends.
Her lack of balanced perspective allows her to fantasise about a desirable man who is not really within her grasp at any time. The juddering reality of this leads to the gripping climax of this page-turning novel. 4★s from me.
I really enjoyed the author’s exploration of a dysfunctional family. The parents, Callum and Anya, are drifting apart and their relationship is on the rocks. The two teenage children, main protagonist Georgia, and her younger brother Zac, are typical disaffected youth. But Georgia has a special gift, her great athletic talent. Her determination to win her running race drives her, over the needs of family and friends.
Her lack of balanced perspective allows her to fantasise about a desirable man who is not really within her grasp at any time. The juddering reality of this leads to the gripping climax of this page-turning novel. 4★s from me.
January 31, 2016
Georgia has a secret that has been tearing her up inside. She wants to talk to her cousin and best friend Sophia but the girls have been drifting apart. After attending the same party the girls are walking home with another friend, Danny, when out of nowhere a car comes up behind them and the trio become the victims of a hit and run. Danny manages to pull Georgia out of the way but Sophia is seriously injured. Afterwards Danny seems to think that the accident may have been an attempt on Georgia's life.
All That is Lost Between Us is a psychological thriller that focuses on a family of four and all of the problems and secrets between them. Georgia has withdrawn from her family after an affair over the previous summer. Zac, Georgia's younger brother feels a bit isolated and doesn't know what to do after his sister's accident but ends up making things worse when he finds evidence of Georgia's secrets. With two teenagers Anya and Callum have drifted apart in their marriage but with their daughter in danger the two struggle to come together for their family.
An intense story of secrets and lies and the struggles of one family when tragedy strikes. Each chapter switches the POV between the different family members and all involved have their own things they are dealing with to keep the reader hooked right from the start. A bit of a mystery with who it is that could be after Georgia thrown into the mix and you certainly a page turner on your hands with this read.
Overall, great writing, an intense plot with intriguing characters, would definitely recommend this thriller.
I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
For more reviews please visit https://carriesbookreviews.wordpress....
All That is Lost Between Us is a psychological thriller that focuses on a family of four and all of the problems and secrets between them. Georgia has withdrawn from her family after an affair over the previous summer. Zac, Georgia's younger brother feels a bit isolated and doesn't know what to do after his sister's accident but ends up making things worse when he finds evidence of Georgia's secrets. With two teenagers Anya and Callum have drifted apart in their marriage but with their daughter in danger the two struggle to come together for their family.
An intense story of secrets and lies and the struggles of one family when tragedy strikes. Each chapter switches the POV between the different family members and all involved have their own things they are dealing with to keep the reader hooked right from the start. A bit of a mystery with who it is that could be after Georgia thrown into the mix and you certainly a page turner on your hands with this read.
Overall, great writing, an intense plot with intriguing characters, would definitely recommend this thriller.
I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
For more reviews please visit https://carriesbookreviews.wordpress....
January 14, 2016
REVIEW TO COME
April 2, 2016
For more of my reviews, go to http://bookmusterdownunder.blogspot.c...
Georgia has a secret that she’s desperate to share with her cousin and best friend, Sophia. Before she gets the opportunity though, the two girls and a friend are involved in a hit and run accident which leaves Sophia in a coma and Georgia in a state of turmoil, wondering if her secret is the reason why the unknown driver was on the road that night.
As she continues her preparations for the new school year and the annual Fell Running Championships and, possibly because of the typical self-absorption of adolescence, she doesn’t realise that the remainder of her family are being shadowed by problems of their own
Her mother, Anya, is not only trying to figure out why a chasm has developed between herself and Georgia but is also preoccupied with the fact that her marriage to Callum seems to be falling apart; Callum is wracked with his own guilt as he harbours a secret that could tear his family apart forever; and Zac, Georgia’s younger brother has stumbled across a photograph that is going to cause him no end of worry as he struggles to decide if he should confide in someone or not.
Sara Foster writes taut psychological thrillers which tend to ask big questions and that's one of the things I love about her writing. Having had the opportunity to read all of her books, it's no secret that I'm a fan.
In All That is Lost Between Us, Sara’s Lake District is alive with fell running, explosive secrets, teenage angst, parental anguish, marital disharmony, emotional turmoil and fracturing family dynamics.
While plot development, pacing and projecting an evocative sense of place assist in generating plenty of suspense, it is Sara’s innate talent for exploring the vast palette of human emotional states that is outstanding.
In particular, I found myself relating to and sympathising with Anya’s struggles as both a mother and a wife, not only stumbling through the miasma that most of us with children will undoubtedly sooner or later have to traverse, but also having to cope with the fact that her marriage is flailing. Her first person narrative is full to the brim with introspection – wondering why Georgia has distanced herself from her and when she began to have difficulty talking to her; the lack of communication that exists between her and Callum; the longing for someone to snuggle up to in the evenings, perhaps making her dinner and asking how her day has gone; and her loneliness and fears that once her children leave home she will be the one sitting waiting for Callum to get home from work.
Georgia’s character too is so astutely written that readers won’t be able to help but feel a close connection to her as she stumbles through the quagmire of late adolescence - her first romantic relationship, the last year of school, the build-up to the Fell Running Championships and for the position she finds herself in - and my heart absolutely tore.
Going back and forth in time and alternately shifting points of view between Georgia, Anya, Zac and Callum, we see her characters struggling to maintain the familial bonds that are fast unravelling as she slowly peels back the layers to reveal their pain, confusion, inter-personal isolation and the insecurity of youth, at the same time laying bare the hopes of a parent, the frustrations of a husband and wife, the fears of their children and the destructive nature of secrets on the family unit.
A well-written, multi-faceted and engaging psychological suspense novel that will captivate readers on multiple levels, this is an intriguing exploration of contemporary family relationships, motherhood and human frailties that is propelled by one question: What is Georgia running from?
Georgia has a secret that she’s desperate to share with her cousin and best friend, Sophia. Before she gets the opportunity though, the two girls and a friend are involved in a hit and run accident which leaves Sophia in a coma and Georgia in a state of turmoil, wondering if her secret is the reason why the unknown driver was on the road that night.
As she continues her preparations for the new school year and the annual Fell Running Championships and, possibly because of the typical self-absorption of adolescence, she doesn’t realise that the remainder of her family are being shadowed by problems of their own
Her mother, Anya, is not only trying to figure out why a chasm has developed between herself and Georgia but is also preoccupied with the fact that her marriage to Callum seems to be falling apart; Callum is wracked with his own guilt as he harbours a secret that could tear his family apart forever; and Zac, Georgia’s younger brother has stumbled across a photograph that is going to cause him no end of worry as he struggles to decide if he should confide in someone or not.
Sara Foster writes taut psychological thrillers which tend to ask big questions and that's one of the things I love about her writing. Having had the opportunity to read all of her books, it's no secret that I'm a fan.
In All That is Lost Between Us, Sara’s Lake District is alive with fell running, explosive secrets, teenage angst, parental anguish, marital disharmony, emotional turmoil and fracturing family dynamics.
While plot development, pacing and projecting an evocative sense of place assist in generating plenty of suspense, it is Sara’s innate talent for exploring the vast palette of human emotional states that is outstanding.
In particular, I found myself relating to and sympathising with Anya’s struggles as both a mother and a wife, not only stumbling through the miasma that most of us with children will undoubtedly sooner or later have to traverse, but also having to cope with the fact that her marriage is flailing. Her first person narrative is full to the brim with introspection – wondering why Georgia has distanced herself from her and when she began to have difficulty talking to her; the lack of communication that exists between her and Callum; the longing for someone to snuggle up to in the evenings, perhaps making her dinner and asking how her day has gone; and her loneliness and fears that once her children leave home she will be the one sitting waiting for Callum to get home from work.
Georgia’s character too is so astutely written that readers won’t be able to help but feel a close connection to her as she stumbles through the quagmire of late adolescence - her first romantic relationship, the last year of school, the build-up to the Fell Running Championships and for the position she finds herself in - and my heart absolutely tore.
Going back and forth in time and alternately shifting points of view between Georgia, Anya, Zac and Callum, we see her characters struggling to maintain the familial bonds that are fast unravelling as she slowly peels back the layers to reveal their pain, confusion, inter-personal isolation and the insecurity of youth, at the same time laying bare the hopes of a parent, the frustrations of a husband and wife, the fears of their children and the destructive nature of secrets on the family unit.
A well-written, multi-faceted and engaging psychological suspense novel that will captivate readers on multiple levels, this is an intriguing exploration of contemporary family relationships, motherhood and human frailties that is propelled by one question: What is Georgia running from?
March 22, 2024
First thoughts...Loved it! Watch out for this one in 2016
I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
Wow, this was good. A multi-faceted story which depicted seemingly every day wholesome families in a different light to the one they portrayed. Family dynamics and needing to deal with first romances and established marriages and all that lies in between are drawn together in All That is Lost between Us. A fateful night sees a group of teenage friends fall victim to an act of violence that catapults two families into disarray. It enables a domino effect of conflict and division through the demands and stress placed on both families and their ability to adapt to the situations they are now faced with.
Set in the Fells, a part of the English countryside I was inspired to research as I was drawn into the story. We meet Georgia, a passionate runner who is getting ready to return to school for her final year. During the holidays, she teams up with a fellow enthusiast and who soon consumes her time to the extent she feels miserable when she’s not with him. Excluding Sophia her cousin from this exciting moment in her life feels wrong and she struggles with how to get around this lie by omission in not sharing her news of her new running partner earlier. Georgia and her cousin always shared, not doing so now didn’t sit well with Georgia but when the opportunity to remedy the situation arose, it fell through.
The Fells is a small community her family has lived in for generations and with an ongoing affinity to the natural landscape embraced by at least one family member in each generation. The main attraction being the hiking tracks and stunning views that provided a wonderful visual backdrop to the dark drama that unfolded.
The suspense holds up throughout and you are not aware from where the trouble is brewing. Along the way, quick decisions are made, some good, others not so. There were some great lessons to be learned about social media illustrating the impact taunting and bullying have on people. It was integrated into the plot without pontificating, yet the message came through loud and clear.
The ending brings you to a clear moment in time when life has turned another chapter. Whether it is what you hoped for will depend on the reader. I say I was on the fence as to whether the story took me where I wanted to go but in retrospect it ended on the right note.
I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
Wow, this was good. A multi-faceted story which depicted seemingly every day wholesome families in a different light to the one they portrayed. Family dynamics and needing to deal with first romances and established marriages and all that lies in between are drawn together in All That is Lost between Us. A fateful night sees a group of teenage friends fall victim to an act of violence that catapults two families into disarray. It enables a domino effect of conflict and division through the demands and stress placed on both families and their ability to adapt to the situations they are now faced with.
Set in the Fells, a part of the English countryside I was inspired to research as I was drawn into the story. We meet Georgia, a passionate runner who is getting ready to return to school for her final year. During the holidays, she teams up with a fellow enthusiast and who soon consumes her time to the extent she feels miserable when she’s not with him. Excluding Sophia her cousin from this exciting moment in her life feels wrong and she struggles with how to get around this lie by omission in not sharing her news of her new running partner earlier. Georgia and her cousin always shared, not doing so now didn’t sit well with Georgia but when the opportunity to remedy the situation arose, it fell through.
The Fells is a small community her family has lived in for generations and with an ongoing affinity to the natural landscape embraced by at least one family member in each generation. The main attraction being the hiking tracks and stunning views that provided a wonderful visual backdrop to the dark drama that unfolded.
The suspense holds up throughout and you are not aware from where the trouble is brewing. Along the way, quick decisions are made, some good, others not so. There were some great lessons to be learned about social media illustrating the impact taunting and bullying have on people. It was integrated into the plot without pontificating, yet the message came through loud and clear.
The ending brings you to a clear moment in time when life has turned another chapter. Whether it is what you hoped for will depend on the reader. I say I was on the fence as to whether the story took me where I wanted to go but in retrospect it ended on the right note.
November 30, 2015
I was given an electronic copy by Simon & Schuster: Australia and NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
All That is Lost Between Us is a classic story about teenage angst, with a slightly twisted and darker underlying issue to bring up the suspense level. The beginning half of this book is not too memorable, as the story has been told dozens of times by many other authors. A seventeen year old girl has a secret, which starts to affect her life and relationships with her family. An accident that has a sinister twist, which becomes the best part of the second half of the book. This is where the book gets interesting and I am glad that I pushed through. This would have been a very different review had I not stuck around, as the plot picks up and the suspense turns a mundane book into a good one. My favorite character in the book is Anya, as she is the most developed in the book. Her anguish for her daughter comes through clearly, as well as her frustrations regarding her relationship with both her husband and her daughter. All That is Lost Between Us is not without issues, however. The constant points of view changes affected the continuity of the book, as a more straightforward approach would have provided more of an impact. There are some issues with formatting and grammatical errors, which I hope will be fixed in the final editing process. Although this book is slow to start, the second half of the book makes it a worthwhile read.
All That is Lost Between Us is a classic story about teenage angst, with a slightly twisted and darker underlying issue to bring up the suspense level. The beginning half of this book is not too memorable, as the story has been told dozens of times by many other authors. A seventeen year old girl has a secret, which starts to affect her life and relationships with her family. An accident that has a sinister twist, which becomes the best part of the second half of the book. This is where the book gets interesting and I am glad that I pushed through. This would have been a very different review had I not stuck around, as the plot picks up and the suspense turns a mundane book into a good one. My favorite character in the book is Anya, as she is the most developed in the book. Her anguish for her daughter comes through clearly, as well as her frustrations regarding her relationship with both her husband and her daughter. All That is Lost Between Us is not without issues, however. The constant points of view changes affected the continuity of the book, as a more straightforward approach would have provided more of an impact. There are some issues with formatting and grammatical errors, which I hope will be fixed in the final editing process. Although this book is slow to start, the second half of the book makes it a worthwhile read.
November 28, 2015
This is a story about family dynamics, love, hate, envy .... even attempted murder.
Georgia is 17 years old and has a secret. Because of that secret, she's withdrawn from her family and friends. Her mother is the school psychologist and has no idea why all of a sudden her daughter has turned away from her. Georgia's father has his own guilty secret that's badly affecting his relationship with his wife. And Zac, the little brother accidentally discovers the secret that leads to disaster for everyone.
The characters are well-defined. Being a teenager isn't easy and when you're trying to grow up too fast and especially if you're keeping secrets from the very people who are trying to help you, it becomes even harder to figure out where you fit in. Having a little brother who looks up to you is great ... until he tries to help and makes things even worse. Mom and Dad have lost their way with each other and neither know how to make things right again.
A hit-and-run accident starts the ball rolling .... who was actually the intended victim...and why? And who was driving the car?
Very well-written book. This was a new author to me and I will definitely be looking at her other books.
My thanks to the author / Simon & Schuster (Australia) / NetGalley who furnished a digital copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
Georgia is 17 years old and has a secret. Because of that secret, she's withdrawn from her family and friends. Her mother is the school psychologist and has no idea why all of a sudden her daughter has turned away from her. Georgia's father has his own guilty secret that's badly affecting his relationship with his wife. And Zac, the little brother accidentally discovers the secret that leads to disaster for everyone.
The characters are well-defined. Being a teenager isn't easy and when you're trying to grow up too fast and especially if you're keeping secrets from the very people who are trying to help you, it becomes even harder to figure out where you fit in. Having a little brother who looks up to you is great ... until he tries to help and makes things even worse. Mom and Dad have lost their way with each other and neither know how to make things right again.
A hit-and-run accident starts the ball rolling .... who was actually the intended victim...and why? And who was driving the car?
Very well-written book. This was a new author to me and I will definitely be looking at her other books.
My thanks to the author / Simon & Schuster (Australia) / NetGalley who furnished a digital copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
November 12, 2015
To be honest, I rated this 2.5 on my blog. I desperately wanted to like this -- the blurb hit ALL my buttons and I was excited when I started...but anyway, here's my review:
What is this about: the secrets in one family that culminate in an unexpected dangerous showdown for them all.
What else is this about: there's an attempt to pull in a crime twist to the story that drove me crazy.
Should you read this: No. This book doesn't know what it wants to be. It ignores its strengths and tries for a twist it never reaches.
This is the story of Anya, Callum, Zac and Georgia and the secrets they keep in their family. But, ultimately, it is Georgia that the story revolves around.
She is your stereotypical angsting teenager. At 17, the author seems to think she is old enough in some ways and yet portrays her as a bratty child in others. To an extent, I can understand this, but there's very little to empathise with as a result. Georgia doesn't grow in this story, not until the end where there's no time to see the difference in her. A few pages devoted to a change isn't satisfying.
Her secret is an illicit relationship, which isn't a spoiler, and she spends the book wallowing in her misery at being apart from a guy she knows she can't be with. That's kind of it. She wants to share it with her best friend, but they too are growing apart and Georgia doesn't know how to fix that.
She argues with her mother a lot, ignores her father and tolerates her brother.
Georgia is tiring. Teenagers, especially at 17, are capable of so much more than wallowing and being boy obsessed. What is driving me crazy in this book is that the family dynamic has such potential but, it never quite reaches it.
Anya and Callum are parents who are at odds with each other and their kids, and neither knows how to bridge either of these gaps. Anya is offered more care here (what little there is) than Callum and that's through her relationship with Georgia. Funnily enough, she says Georgia talks more to Callum, but she is the only one who talks properly to Georgia and even then their conversations are fights or sullen, short ones. It's an opportunity for angst, I guess, but Callum could have provided so much more insight into the family and Georgia.
Instead he is the weak link in this book, offered very little depth compared to Anya. And what depth there is, is offered by something you can see coming a mile away.
Zac, oh Zac. He is the little brother, the one no one pays attention to but knows all, so to speak. His secret has to do with Georgia, but here is where the book annoyed me no end. Anya is a counsellor, she works at a school where she deals with girls and boys and all the messiness that comes with hormones. In an era of Steubenville, or revenge porn and God knows what else is out there, this is what Anya tells her son on the subject of a photo that went viral (of a girl that eventually left the school) earlier in the timeline of the book:
The girls need to understand the dangers of this; and the boys need to be mature and responsible enough to protect them.
I stopped reading right there and spent several hours trying to figure out whether I wanted to read more. For the record, boys should be mature and responsible and not share private photos their girlfriends trust them with -- you know why? Because they're decent human beings and they know what they've been entrusted with.
Given that viral is mentioned in the blurb, I assumed Anya would address this in some way by the end of the book and the author would correct her ... but nope. This was a reason for Zac to try and protect his sister later in the book.
I rolled my eyes so hard. I can appreciate that it's some sort of character motivation for Zac, but the sentiment was expressed badly, and there were no consequences experienced by certain characters.
And somehow in all of this, there's a side story involving someone stalking Georgia, through no fault of her own -- but the person whose responsibility it is? Is in the hospital, and only wakes in time to warn Georgia about her stalker. Georgia keeps telling readers how close she is with this particular character, but really, there's no substance to this relationship for me as a reader, which in turn made the stalker situation stick out like a sore thumb in this narrative.
There's much potential in this story, but there's so much happening that the characters, their relationships and what made them good in the beginning is lost in the rush for a twist.
What is this about: the secrets in one family that culminate in an unexpected dangerous showdown for them all.
What else is this about: there's an attempt to pull in a crime twist to the story that drove me crazy.
Should you read this: No. This book doesn't know what it wants to be. It ignores its strengths and tries for a twist it never reaches.
This is the story of Anya, Callum, Zac and Georgia and the secrets they keep in their family. But, ultimately, it is Georgia that the story revolves around.
She is your stereotypical angsting teenager. At 17, the author seems to think she is old enough in some ways and yet portrays her as a bratty child in others. To an extent, I can understand this, but there's very little to empathise with as a result. Georgia doesn't grow in this story, not until the end where there's no time to see the difference in her. A few pages devoted to a change isn't satisfying.
Her secret is an illicit relationship, which isn't a spoiler, and she spends the book wallowing in her misery at being apart from a guy she knows she can't be with. That's kind of it. She wants to share it with her best friend, but they too are growing apart and Georgia doesn't know how to fix that.
She argues with her mother a lot, ignores her father and tolerates her brother.
Georgia is tiring. Teenagers, especially at 17, are capable of so much more than wallowing and being boy obsessed. What is driving me crazy in this book is that the family dynamic has such potential but, it never quite reaches it.
Anya and Callum are parents who are at odds with each other and their kids, and neither knows how to bridge either of these gaps. Anya is offered more care here (what little there is) than Callum and that's through her relationship with Georgia. Funnily enough, she says Georgia talks more to Callum, but she is the only one who talks properly to Georgia and even then their conversations are fights or sullen, short ones. It's an opportunity for angst, I guess, but Callum could have provided so much more insight into the family and Georgia.
Instead he is the weak link in this book, offered very little depth compared to Anya. And what depth there is, is offered by something you can see coming a mile away.
Zac, oh Zac. He is the little brother, the one no one pays attention to but knows all, so to speak. His secret has to do with Georgia, but here is where the book annoyed me no end. Anya is a counsellor, she works at a school where she deals with girls and boys and all the messiness that comes with hormones. In an era of Steubenville, or revenge porn and God knows what else is out there, this is what Anya tells her son on the subject of a photo that went viral (of a girl that eventually left the school) earlier in the timeline of the book:
The girls need to understand the dangers of this; and the boys need to be mature and responsible enough to protect them.
I stopped reading right there and spent several hours trying to figure out whether I wanted to read more. For the record, boys should be mature and responsible and not share private photos their girlfriends trust them with -- you know why? Because they're decent human beings and they know what they've been entrusted with.
Given that viral is mentioned in the blurb, I assumed Anya would address this in some way by the end of the book and the author would correct her ... but nope. This was a reason for Zac to try and protect his sister later in the book.
I rolled my eyes so hard. I can appreciate that it's some sort of character motivation for Zac, but the sentiment was expressed badly, and there were no consequences experienced by certain characters.
And somehow in all of this, there's a side story involving someone stalking Georgia, through no fault of her own -- but the person whose responsibility it is? Is in the hospital, and only wakes in time to warn Georgia about her stalker. Georgia keeps telling readers how close she is with this particular character, but really, there's no substance to this relationship for me as a reader, which in turn made the stalker situation stick out like a sore thumb in this narrative.
There's much potential in this story, but there's so much happening that the characters, their relationships and what made them good in the beginning is lost in the rush for a twist.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 14, 2015
3.5
As a psychological suspense this one didn't quite keep me on the edge, but if you love novels of family drama and tension this is a stellar read.
When she gets the call that her daughter Georgia has been involved in an accident, Anya is desperately trying to hold her family together—her daughter has become withdrawn and secretive, her husband is absent even when he’s at home, and her son is lost in video games. Georgia is bruised but otherwise fine. But her cousin Sophie is in an induced coma, and when a young woman is seen loitering in the hospital ward it seems this was no accident. But was Sophie the intended victim or is Georgia in danger, and why? How can Anya protect her family when talking honestly is something they have forgotten?
All That is Lost Between Us is an interesting study of family dynamics. Though Anya is given the first person point of view it is Georgia who really shines. Georgia runs the fells and this sport was a great way to showcase the landscape of the novel, and just like her earlier book Beneath the Shadows (set on the Yorkshire moors), Foster uses the landscape to great effect, both plot wise and to set the tone. In a way, the fells also contribute to Georgie’s secret: the reason she’s withdrawn and for which she feels a mixture of grief and longing. Foster drips clues about this big secret throughout the novel and builds to the revelation and a nice twist.
Anya, her husband Callum, Georgia and her brother Zac, each have point of view chapters, though Anya’s is the only one in first person. This didn’t help me warm to Anya as perhaps it was supposed to though I certainly felt her fury and pain when Callum revealed his truth. The pace is slow in the first half of the book, partly because clues to Georgie’s ‘secret’ are too sparse in these early chapters and partly because there were several scenes with a character revealing backstory as they walked. In the second half the pace picks up and the final few chapters have plenty of punch.
All That is Lost Between Us is a story about a family (and a marriage) in trouble with a teen secret as the catalyst. It’s the kids who hold the story together and it’s the kids who are most impacted by what happens. Foster captures families beautifully, especially the angst, the fear and the longing that teenagers try to hide behind insolence. Though not suspenseful enough for me, as a tense story of family relationships this book delivers.
Recommended.
NB: Foster is so good at teenagers I’d love to see what she could do with a Young Adult suspense.
*Thanks to Net Galley and Simon and Schuster for the ARC
As a psychological suspense this one didn't quite keep me on the edge, but if you love novels of family drama and tension this is a stellar read.
When she gets the call that her daughter Georgia has been involved in an accident, Anya is desperately trying to hold her family together—her daughter has become withdrawn and secretive, her husband is absent even when he’s at home, and her son is lost in video games. Georgia is bruised but otherwise fine. But her cousin Sophie is in an induced coma, and when a young woman is seen loitering in the hospital ward it seems this was no accident. But was Sophie the intended victim or is Georgia in danger, and why? How can Anya protect her family when talking honestly is something they have forgotten?
All That is Lost Between Us is an interesting study of family dynamics. Though Anya is given the first person point of view it is Georgia who really shines. Georgia runs the fells and this sport was a great way to showcase the landscape of the novel, and just like her earlier book Beneath the Shadows (set on the Yorkshire moors), Foster uses the landscape to great effect, both plot wise and to set the tone. In a way, the fells also contribute to Georgie’s secret: the reason she’s withdrawn and for which she feels a mixture of grief and longing. Foster drips clues about this big secret throughout the novel and builds to the revelation and a nice twist.
Anya, her husband Callum, Georgia and her brother Zac, each have point of view chapters, though Anya’s is the only one in first person. This didn’t help me warm to Anya as perhaps it was supposed to though I certainly felt her fury and pain when Callum revealed his truth. The pace is slow in the first half of the book, partly because clues to Georgie’s ‘secret’ are too sparse in these early chapters and partly because there were several scenes with a character revealing backstory as they walked. In the second half the pace picks up and the final few chapters have plenty of punch.
All That is Lost Between Us is a story about a family (and a marriage) in trouble with a teen secret as the catalyst. It’s the kids who hold the story together and it’s the kids who are most impacted by what happens. Foster captures families beautifully, especially the angst, the fear and the longing that teenagers try to hide behind insolence. Though not suspenseful enough for me, as a tense story of family relationships this book delivers.
Recommended.
NB: Foster is so good at teenagers I’d love to see what she could do with a Young Adult suspense.
*Thanks to Net Galley and Simon and Schuster for the ARC
March 2, 2016
Told from alternating view points, All That Is Lost Between Us, tells the story of drifting apart—from a marital relationship to the mother-daughter connection that often frays during the teen years. It details, perhaps a little too finely at times, the fractures that occur inside families and just how deeply and acutely that disconnect is felt by all involved.
Foster presents both the mother and teenage daughter point of views with ease and that certainly allows you to immerse yourself in the character.
The story is underpinned by an event that turns into the novel into a chilling psychological thriller and from there the suspense and tension builds quickly.
A story of secrets, tension and ultimately redemption and reconnection. Forget what you had planned—once you start, you won't want to put this book down until you get to the very end.
Foster presents both the mother and teenage daughter point of views with ease and that certainly allows you to immerse yourself in the character.
The story is underpinned by an event that turns into the novel into a chilling psychological thriller and from there the suspense and tension builds quickly.
A story of secrets, tension and ultimately redemption and reconnection. Forget what you had planned—once you start, you won't want to put this book down until you get to the very end.
June 22, 2025
Tense and suspenseful family drama, filled with moral dilemmas and varying secrets.
February 12, 2016
I made a bad decision picking up this book when I only had a small amount of time to spare. I started it about half an hour before I had to leave to go and pick up my son from school and ended up taking it with me to read while I waited at pick-up, so difficult was it to put it down. When we arrived home I continued reading, all through dinner prep and then finished it after he went to bed.
This is Sara Foster’s fourth novel – I’ve read all of them now and every time a new one is released I remember just how much I loved her previous ones. She writes family relationships with depth and realism and I love the undertone of suspense that permeates the story.
The novel is told from four points of view – teenager Georgia who closely guards a secret, her frustrated mother Anya, a school counsellor who laments the inability to connect with her own daughter and the distant relationship she now shares with her husband, who has his own guilty secret. And Georgia’s younger brother Zac who discovers something that he doesn’t really know how to deal with.
Georgia wishes to reconnect with her cousin Sophia to confess her secret, quite unaware that Sophia also has a rather dangerous secret of her own. Before either can come clean though the two girls and a third teenager, a male friend are struck by a car, leaving Sophia in an induced coma. Although it seems a terrible accident at first, three teens walking on a badly lit road, soon there are questions raised.
I really thought I knew what Georgia’s secret was and was pleasantly surprised to find out that I was wrong. I love it when a book can surprise me and manipulate me into believing something. If I had’ve been right about Georgia’s secret I’m not sure I would’ve liked this book quite so much – it was being wrong and watching the story take a different path than the one I expected that really amplified the experience and made me even more interested in the story. I felt that I was able to connect quite easily to a lot of the characters – I’ve been a teenage girl with a secret, although not one quite so possibly damaging as Georgia’s. And now that I’m a parent myself, I could also empathise with Anya, who is aware that Georgia is growing up and will soon be off to university and a life removed from that of the family home. My children are younger but there will come a time when they won’t rush to tell me everything, that getting the smallest piece of information will be like extracting teeth. Anya is also doubly struggling as her husband Callum seems to have retreated as well, preferring to spend his free time with a volunteer rescue group than at home with Anya. The exciting early years have waned into a tedious routine of parenting and juggling busy lives and Callum is tempted by the grass on the other side of the fence. Callum has made a mistake and now he has to deal with the consequences and fallout of that mistake at the precise moment when something else is going very wrong. And poor Zac, who finds something that he doesn’t really know how to deal with and makes a choice which ends up having quite far-reaching consequences….well it was hard not to feel for him!
This book showcases how easily close relationships can be come distant – both Anya and Callum feel the frustration of their estrangement. They still share a house, they’re still married but they’re not really sharing a life. Anya feels the distance between her and Georgia and Georgia is feeling a new distance between her and Sophia. They’ve gone from telling each other things to both keeping their secrets, albeit for different reasons. Sara Foster has nailed the complications of not only the intricacy of teenage relationships but also the adult relationships too, with their peers and with each other. Although I never went through anything like what Georgia did, a lot of this book did remind me of my own time as a teen, wanting freedom and being able to go about my business without having to answer 200 questions. Now that I’m a parent I am on the ‘other side of the fence’ and I see just how necessary those questions can be at times.
Beautifully written and to me, showcasing that with each book, Sara Foster just gets better.
This is Sara Foster’s fourth novel – I’ve read all of them now and every time a new one is released I remember just how much I loved her previous ones. She writes family relationships with depth and realism and I love the undertone of suspense that permeates the story.
The novel is told from four points of view – teenager Georgia who closely guards a secret, her frustrated mother Anya, a school counsellor who laments the inability to connect with her own daughter and the distant relationship she now shares with her husband, who has his own guilty secret. And Georgia’s younger brother Zac who discovers something that he doesn’t really know how to deal with.
Georgia wishes to reconnect with her cousin Sophia to confess her secret, quite unaware that Sophia also has a rather dangerous secret of her own. Before either can come clean though the two girls and a third teenager, a male friend are struck by a car, leaving Sophia in an induced coma. Although it seems a terrible accident at first, three teens walking on a badly lit road, soon there are questions raised.
I really thought I knew what Georgia’s secret was and was pleasantly surprised to find out that I was wrong. I love it when a book can surprise me and manipulate me into believing something. If I had’ve been right about Georgia’s secret I’m not sure I would’ve liked this book quite so much – it was being wrong and watching the story take a different path than the one I expected that really amplified the experience and made me even more interested in the story. I felt that I was able to connect quite easily to a lot of the characters – I’ve been a teenage girl with a secret, although not one quite so possibly damaging as Georgia’s. And now that I’m a parent myself, I could also empathise with Anya, who is aware that Georgia is growing up and will soon be off to university and a life removed from that of the family home. My children are younger but there will come a time when they won’t rush to tell me everything, that getting the smallest piece of information will be like extracting teeth. Anya is also doubly struggling as her husband Callum seems to have retreated as well, preferring to spend his free time with a volunteer rescue group than at home with Anya. The exciting early years have waned into a tedious routine of parenting and juggling busy lives and Callum is tempted by the grass on the other side of the fence. Callum has made a mistake and now he has to deal with the consequences and fallout of that mistake at the precise moment when something else is going very wrong. And poor Zac, who finds something that he doesn’t really know how to deal with and makes a choice which ends up having quite far-reaching consequences….well it was hard not to feel for him!
This book showcases how easily close relationships can be come distant – both Anya and Callum feel the frustration of their estrangement. They still share a house, they’re still married but they’re not really sharing a life. Anya feels the distance between her and Georgia and Georgia is feeling a new distance between her and Sophia. They’ve gone from telling each other things to both keeping their secrets, albeit for different reasons. Sara Foster has nailed the complications of not only the intricacy of teenage relationships but also the adult relationships too, with their peers and with each other. Although I never went through anything like what Georgia did, a lot of this book did remind me of my own time as a teen, wanting freedom and being able to go about my business without having to answer 200 questions. Now that I’m a parent I am on the ‘other side of the fence’ and I see just how necessary those questions can be at times.
Beautifully written and to me, showcasing that with each book, Sara Foster just gets better.
February 2, 2016
Seventeen-year-old Georgia, her cousin Sophia, and her friend Danny become victims of a hit-and-run driver as they walk home from a party one night. While Sophia ends up in hospital, Georgia suffers only minor injuries, thanks to Danny's quick actions. Things become complicated when Danny reveals his suspicion that this was no accident. With everyone in Georgia's family hiding a secret, and with her parents' marriage slowly imploding, it might just take a tragedy to bring this broken family back together again.
The story is told from the points-of-view of all four members of Georgia's family: Georgia herself, her mother Anya, her brother Zac, and her father Callum. Anya's version is told in the first person, while the others are told in the third person. There doesn't appear to be any valid reason for this distinction, except that maybe the author relates most closely to Anya. Anya's perspective, in particular, is overly-introspective, although there are some nice sentiments as she reflects on her first-born child leaving home soon - a situation echoed in my own current circumstances.
In telling her story, the author chooses to use the present tense, with flashbacks in the past tense. Unfortunately, this just doesn't work: the writing is clunky; the flashbacks are telling, not showing; and we hear the same story over and over again - first in the present tense from one point-of-view, then in the past tense from at least one other point-of-view. In addition, the whole story is told in excruciating detail, and none of the characters are remotely likable, with the exception of Danny and possibly Zac.
With all of these drawbacks, the author still manages to maintain suspense by slowly revealing each family member's secret. *Spoiler alert* She throws in a number of red-herrings throughout the story, only to introduce a twist right at the end that no one could possibly see coming; this felt like cheating to me, and I was ultimately left unsatisfied.
While the premise is interesting, this one fails in the execution.
I received this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
Full blog post: https://booksdirectonline.blogspot.co...
The story is told from the points-of-view of all four members of Georgia's family: Georgia herself, her mother Anya, her brother Zac, and her father Callum. Anya's version is told in the first person, while the others are told in the third person. There doesn't appear to be any valid reason for this distinction, except that maybe the author relates most closely to Anya. Anya's perspective, in particular, is overly-introspective, although there are some nice sentiments as she reflects on her first-born child leaving home soon - a situation echoed in my own current circumstances.
In telling her story, the author chooses to use the present tense, with flashbacks in the past tense. Unfortunately, this just doesn't work: the writing is clunky; the flashbacks are telling, not showing; and we hear the same story over and over again - first in the present tense from one point-of-view, then in the past tense from at least one other point-of-view. In addition, the whole story is told in excruciating detail, and none of the characters are remotely likable, with the exception of Danny and possibly Zac.
With all of these drawbacks, the author still manages to maintain suspense by slowly revealing each family member's secret. *Spoiler alert* She throws in a number of red-herrings throughout the story, only to introduce a twist right at the end that no one could possibly see coming; this felt like cheating to me, and I was ultimately left unsatisfied.
While the premise is interesting, this one fails in the execution.
I received this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
Full blog post: https://booksdirectonline.blogspot.co...
February 2, 2016
Australian author Sara Foster has given us a suspenseful and emotive read in All That is Lost Between Us, set in the evocative landscape of the Lake District in England.
The Turners (Georgia, Zac, mother Anya and father Callum) are an average family trying to deal with their own personal problems and issues while doing a somewhat poor job of being united; instead seemingly isolated from each other.
The dialogue between the characters was realistic and very contemporary, and the unique use of mobile phone conversations to progress the story and deliver some of the key plot lines was fresh and entertaining. Told from different character's points of view, the reader gains a deeper understanding of the motives of each family member and how quickly things can go wrong.
There's a hit and run mystery begging to be solved, Georgia's secret begging to be revealed and the reader hoping Callum and Anya will work through their estrangement in time to save their family.
All That is Lost Between Us is a suspenseful tale about family dynamics, love, lies and trust and to celebrate this blog tour, I've created a Pinterest board so feel free to check it out before and after you read the book and let me know what you think: https://www.pinterest.com/traceyallen...
* Copy courtesy of Simon & Schuster *
The Turners (Georgia, Zac, mother Anya and father Callum) are an average family trying to deal with their own personal problems and issues while doing a somewhat poor job of being united; instead seemingly isolated from each other.
The dialogue between the characters was realistic and very contemporary, and the unique use of mobile phone conversations to progress the story and deliver some of the key plot lines was fresh and entertaining. Told from different character's points of view, the reader gains a deeper understanding of the motives of each family member and how quickly things can go wrong.
There's a hit and run mystery begging to be solved, Georgia's secret begging to be revealed and the reader hoping Callum and Anya will work through their estrangement in time to save their family.
All That is Lost Between Us is a suspenseful tale about family dynamics, love, lies and trust and to celebrate this blog tour, I've created a Pinterest board so feel free to check it out before and after you read the book and let me know what you think: https://www.pinterest.com/traceyallen...
* Copy courtesy of Simon & Schuster *
January 27, 2016
This book is so much more than a suspense novel. It's about a family losing their way with their loved ones and alienating those close to them and then trying to find their way back.
Anya and Callum's marriage has lost it's way and neither are really communicating with each other. Callum finds excuses to be over involved with the local mountain rescue team and Anya is a local school counsellor who is struggling to communicate with their 17yr old daughter, Georgia.
Meanwhile Georgia is harbouring a secret that her brother Zac has unwittingly stumbled upon. Neither can tell anyone, who and what are they each trying to protect?
Georgia a champion fells runner is looking for sponsorship and this novel is set over a few days in the lead up to a major schools fells running championship.
Told in alternating chapters of each family member, I really enjoyed getting into each characters head and getting their perspective and it was extremely easy to follow.
While this book does have a number of suspenseful moments, I'm not sure I would class it as a psychological thriller as such.
I feel it's a great family drama that portrays how easy it is to become wrapped up in our own ways and lose sight of what is really important to us.
Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for a copy to read and review.
Anya and Callum's marriage has lost it's way and neither are really communicating with each other. Callum finds excuses to be over involved with the local mountain rescue team and Anya is a local school counsellor who is struggling to communicate with their 17yr old daughter, Georgia.
Meanwhile Georgia is harbouring a secret that her brother Zac has unwittingly stumbled upon. Neither can tell anyone, who and what are they each trying to protect?
Georgia a champion fells runner is looking for sponsorship and this novel is set over a few days in the lead up to a major schools fells running championship.
Told in alternating chapters of each family member, I really enjoyed getting into each characters head and getting their perspective and it was extremely easy to follow.
While this book does have a number of suspenseful moments, I'm not sure I would class it as a psychological thriller as such.
I feel it's a great family drama that portrays how easy it is to become wrapped up in our own ways and lose sight of what is really important to us.
Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for a copy to read and review.
September 27, 2016
Disclaimer: I read this book because I was sick of it showing up on my home page when my Kindle was switched off. This is also why I have a closet full of Flonase.
Summary: Lax parenting leads to two teen cousins f***ing up (my Mom says I need to stop dropping the F-bomb) innocent adults' lives. The author expects us to feel empathy for the teens and their parents, but I'd prefer to see the teens doing time with kids that committed crimes to survive, rather than messed with people's lives for fun.
Obviously there are no consequences for the teens in this Cinderella novel, and they and their parents live happily ever after in upper-middle class British bliss.
I'm giving the book 1 1/2 stars because the author managed to put words together to make sentences.
Summary: Lax parenting leads to two teen cousins f***ing up (my Mom says I need to stop dropping the F-bomb) innocent adults' lives. The author expects us to feel empathy for the teens and their parents, but I'd prefer to see the teens doing time with kids that committed crimes to survive, rather than messed with people's lives for fun.
Obviously there are no consequences for the teens in this Cinderella novel, and they and their parents live happily ever after in upper-middle class British bliss.
I'm giving the book 1 1/2 stars because the author managed to put words together to make sentences.
April 5, 2016
I really enjoyed this compelling, modern day drama with secrets around every corner and this is one of those reads that you just have to keep reading to finally get to the bottom of it. Told from alternating points of view, I really enjoyed the characters and the family dynamics that threaten to tear a family apart. Quite a good read…..
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