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Until the Day I Die by Emily Carpenter

Until the Day I Die (Lake Union Publishing) is one of those unique books that straddles multiple genres with equal brilliance to all sides. It is women’s fiction in its exploration of character development and growth, the intimacy Emily Carpenter builds between her characters and her readers. It is suspense in the careful unfolding of clues and deceit, the heart-racing twists Carpenter weaves into the plot.

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Reeling from the sudden death of her husband, Erin and her daughter Shorie are struggling to put the pieces of their life back together. From the outside, Erin seems to be on a self-destructive course that has her family and business partners worried. A family intervention sends Erin to a rehab spa in the Caribbean that, she quickly realizes is less about her recovery than about making her disappear. Shorie, meanwhile, is thrust into college life as a reluctant freshman. Not only is she worried about her mom, but also about strange, secretive activities at parents’ company.

Carpenter expertly unwinds the threads of the story, leading her characters and readers deeper into a jungle of deceit and danger. Told from two points of view, Erin and Shorie, it’s an engaging story about family and friendships, love and betrayal.

Emily Carpenter’s writing is captivating with vivid descriptions and beautiful phrasing that left me both wanting to linger and breathless to get to the safety of the next chapter. Her ability to yank the story thread at the exact moment you think you’ve got it figured out and make you twist until you find your footing, is a masterclass in story development.

I adored so many things about this book. And while I loved the fierce and raw relationship between Erin and Shorie, it’s the ending that was perhaps my favorite. Not so much because it was the “perfect” ending or because of its holy-cow-I-didn’t-see-that-coming factor. What knocked the wind from my lungs when I turned the last page was the depth of the human emotions in that last scene. How a character you’ve learned to hate, a character who is truly despicable, can open a window to those unimaginable places we’re willing to let ourselves go – or more appropriately, unable to keep ourselves from going. I closed the book unsettled and unable to stop thinking.

Until the Day I Die is now available.

 

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Until the Day I Die by Emily Carpenter
Genre: Fiction
Author: Emily Carpenter
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
ISBN: 9781503904220
Orly Konig

Orly Konig is an escapee from the corporate world where she spent roughly sixteen (cough) years working in the space industry. Now she spends her days chatting up imaginary friends, drinking entirely too much coffee and negotiating writing space around two overfed cats. She is the founding president of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association and author of the books The Distance Home, which was a finalist in both the debut and general category for the Women’s Fiction Writers Association Star Award, and Carousel Beach.

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