Hi Everyone! I am super excited to host the Elizas’ Blog Tour today! Thank you so much atria books for inviting me to take part in sara shepard’s blog tour!

Synopsis from Simon & Schuster:

New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Little Liars Sara Shepard makes her mark on adult fiction with this Hitchcockian double narrative composed of lies, false memories, and a protagonist who must uncover the truth for survival.

When debut novelist Eliza Fontaine is found at the bottom of a hotel pool, her family at first assumes that it’s just another failed suicide attempt. But Eliza swears she was pushed, and her rescuer is the only witness.

Desperate to find out who attacked her, Eliza takes it upon herself to investigate. But as the publication date for her novel draws closer, Eliza finds more questions than answers. Like why are her editor, agent, and family mixing up events from her novel with events from her life? Her novel is completely fictional, isn’t it?

The deeper Eliza goes into her investigation while struggling with memory loss, the closer her life starts to resemble her novel, until the line between reality and fiction starts to blur and she can no longer tell where her protagonist’s life ends and hers begins.

Fans of Pretty Little Liars, S.J. Watson’s Before I Go to Sleep, and Ruth Ware’s The Woman in Cabin 10 will be drawn to the drama of feeling like no one is on your side, the high tension of not knowing who you can trust, the hair-raising truths hidden among lies, and a faceless, nameless presence controlling Eliza’s life from the shadows.

About: The Elizas is a mystery thriller written by Sara Shepard. It was recently published on 4/17/18 by Atria Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, 352 pages. The genres are adult, mystery, thriller, and fiction. Please see below for more information about the author.

My Experience: I started reading The Elizas on 3/26/18 and finished it on 4/7/18. This book is an okay read. I like the glimpse into the author’s experience when comes to publishing a book. I smile following the discussion between Eliza and her agent about bloggers & instagramers reviewing her book and getting tons of advance review copy requests. It’s fun to read about the other side because I am on the blogger’s side. I like the main character’s dry sarcastic humor when she couldn’t find her phone because she worries she has been missing hours of news from Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, etc even statuses on some relatives she doesn’t even like. This is my first read from the author even though I am aware of her other books.

This book is told in the first person point of view following Eliza Fontaine, a young woman with a record for attempted suicides by drowning in hotel pools. When she was yet found in the bottom of another hotel pool, her mom wanted to send her to a psychiatric home for treatment. However, Eliza claims that this time she didn’t intentionally try to hurt herself but was pushed by someone. She couldn’t remember the details because she had ingested some drinks with her medications. In past suicide attempts, Eliza also explained the same reasons but when doctors performed a brain scan, they said that she suffered from a tumor pressing against an amygdala. This pressure causes the body to tell the brain how to react to emotions. Before the current incident, the tumor has been removed. Since the current incident is so similar to her past attempts, no one believes Eliza of what she claims to be true. The story goes parallel with a book Eliza authored calls The Dots, where the character named Dot suffers seizures but not knowing exactly the causes. In Eliza’s book, Dot is very close to her aunt Dorothy and resents her mom for always working. In Eliza’s life, she lives with two roommates and not very close with her mom and family, but adores her aunt Eleanor. Eliza often has blackouts where she doesn’t remember what happened in the chunk of time that passed by. Since no one believes her, Eliza set out to investigate what happened. This book narrates between Eliza and her book’s main character, Dot.

This book has an interesting take when comes to alternating through two separate stories. I don’t enjoy reading about characters with false memory so much because it makes the story slow going. There are some oddities that I don’t enjoy reading, such as her quickies with guys that hardly have any background info from a bar. Eliza just takes Desmond’s words without questions. She puts a move on him and he backs away, yet he came back to ask her out. Everything I read and thought I understand started to change because of Eliza’s false memory. I was able to guess about Dot’s aunt Dorothy but this type of story just couldn’t hold my attention. I still recommend everyone to read it and form your own opinion.

Pro: easy to read, fast paced, dry sarcastic humor,

Con: slow story building, just not my cup of tea in general with false memory

I rate it 3 stars!

Buy it here for free shipping: Book Depository or Simon & Schuster’s Website

About the Author:

Sara Shepard is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Pretty Little Liars series. She has also written other young adult series and novels, including The Lying Game, The Heiresses, and The Perfectionists. Sara now lives outside of Philadelphia with her husband and dogs. http://www.saracshepard.com Twitter @sarabooks (Info obtained from Simon & Schuster’s website and Photo obtained from the author’s website).

***Disclaimer: Many thanks to Atria Books for inviting me to host a blog tour. I appreciate the opportunity to read and review. Please be assured that my opinions are honest.

xoxo,
Jasmine