In an Instant

Oh my - perfection is all I can use to describe this book. Raw, emotional, and so sad. It follows 16 y/o Finn who looses her life in an accident and watches of those she loves. She attends the vigil and sees the aftermath of what happened.

Me throughout most of this book:

Redfearn is remarkable at allowing us to feel one with Finn as she watches her family. It gave me “If I Stay Vibes,” but better. Loss, grief, and healing - from the human world and beyond - are explored with such grade in this book.

If I was bad in the beginning, I was no better at the end. Thank god I had tissues on hand!

More Tragic if i stay. Probably the singular best way to describe this book is to take a fairly well known book/ movie that has a very similar overall narrative structure - if i stay - and point out that this is a survival tale that is even more tragic than that tale. Going into this blind, I thought from the prologue that something would happen to a particular character (and that this tale would thus become more similar to Catherine McKenzie's I'll Never Tell), but the expected tragedy strikes an unexpected character instead. The rest of the book is then a tale about the fight to survive the tragedy, both in the immediate physical fight to live and in the aftermath of dealing with the consequences of that fight. Overall a very powerful, very raw, look at human nature and just what happens in the face of true imminent peril. One made even more powerful by the afterword, where the author reveals a stunningly tragic episode from her real life. Very much recommended.

When I started this book I was sure it was going to be a 5 star read. A tale of survival at what cost? Difficult decisions, complex characters, and a ghost! Yaassss! But after the tension eased the story became a run of the mill family saga (completely unrealistic - who gets over the loss of a child in 5 weeks?!?) and it became a 4 star. Then ALL the convenient romances wrapped up in a bow - urgghhh. 3 stars.

I borrowed this book as a way to force myself to read something different. I am so glad I did. The journey of not seeing clearly to the redemption each character is searching for, makes this book a page turner. The writing is almost as if you were there, the feelings of joy, sadness, anger, guilt all can be felt. It takes you on a journey you can't forget.