Review: I Found You by Lisa Jewell 


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Release date: April 25, 2017

Publisher: Atria Books

Genre: Mystery/Thriller 

Blurb: 

A young bride, a lonely single mother, and an amnesiac man of dubious origin lie at the heart of New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jewell’s next suspenseful drama that will appeal to fans of Liane Moriarty and Paula Hawkins.


In a windswept British seaside town, single mom Alice Lake finds a man sitting on the beach outside her house. He has no name, no jacket, and no idea how he got there. Against her better judgment, she invites him inside.


Meanwhile, in a suburb of London, twenty-one-year-old Lily Monrose has only been married for three weeks. When her new husband fails to come home from work one night she is left stranded in a new country where she knows no one. Then the police tell her that her husband never existed.


Twenty-three years earlier, Gray and Kirsty are teenagers on a summer holiday with their parents. Their annual trip to the quaint seaside town is passing by uneventfully, until an enigmatic young man starts paying extra attention to Kirsty. Something about him makes Gray uncomfortable—and it’s not just that he’s playing the role of protective older brother.


Two decades of secrets, a missing husband, and a man with no memory are at the heart of this brilliant new novel, filled with the “beautiful writing, believable characters, pacey narrative, and dark secrets” (London Daily Mail) that make Lisa Jewell so beloved by audiences on both sides of the Atlantic.

Review: 

This is my first experience reading a Lisa Jewell novel but it most certainly will not be my last! I was completely blown away by this book, it was absolutely stunning. It came highly recommended, especially from my buddy Renee at It’s Book Talk. If anyone has read any other of Jewell’s books and has a favorite, please let me know!

I so love converging storylines, I like trying to figure out how they’ll all end up being connected and intertwined. You have three separate stories here; Alice is a single mom of three children who sees a man sitting for hours in a storm outside her house. He has no idea who he is or where he came from. Meanwhile Lily is a young woman who was recently married. Her husband never returns home from work one evening which is completely out of character for him. Then, we flashback to 1993 to a family on vacation. This may sound like a little bit too much going on, but trust me, it’s not confusing at all when you’re actually reading it. 

Jewell’s writing really draws the reader in, I was totally hooked and captivated by the plot and the characters. I adored Alice and loved her openness and honesty. She’s far from perfect and she’s not afraid to admit it. Whenever I want to befriend a book character, I know I’ve found a winning book. Lily is so very different from Alice, she’s only twenty one and from the Ukraine and has no one besides her now missing husband in the U.K. Even though I thought I knew exactly how their stories would merge, I was wrong. The additional story from over twenty years ago added an extra layer of mystery and intrigue as well as even more fantastic characters. Gray and his sister Kirsty are on a vacation with their parents. They are just an average, normal family and I was so curious as to how they would all fit into everything.

This is yet another book that I would recommend going into blind, so I won’t be delving too far into the plot. I’m fascinated by the thought of amnesia and found myself thinking how terrifying it would be not to know anything about my life. This book has a little bit of everything, there is mystery, suspense, romance and family drama. I really didn’t want to put it down anytime I had to, it was that fantastic. It’s already a hit in the U.K. and I’m quite sure that it will be here in the US as well. Look out for this one in 2017; preorder it, request it on Netgalley, badger the publisher for a copy, just plan on reading this one. 

Overall rating: 5/5

Thanks to the publisher and Jellybooks for my copy.

36 thoughts on “Review: I Found You by Lisa Jewell ”

  1. Renee says:
    Reply

    Excellent review Amy! You’ve highlighted the tone and characters without giving any of the plot away which is hard to do with this awesome book! I completely agree about going into this one blind, I’m so glad I didn’t know much about it. I just got The Third Wife and The Girls In the Garden from the library so I hope to get to those soon, I’ll let you know how they are

    Liked by 1 person

  5. nickimags says:
    Reply

    I love that book too it’s one of my favourites this year, by one of favourite authors! I can thoroughly recommend ‘The House We Grew Up In’, ‘The Third Wife’ and ‘The Girls’ which I think is ‘The Girls in The Garden’ in the US. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

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