A FIVE MINUTE LIFE
by EMMA SCOTT
Remember us...when I can't.
Thea Hughes has five minutes to live.
A car accident stole her parents and left her with the second-worst documented case of amnesia in the world. She now has only minutes of experiences, of consciousness, of life…before her memory is wiped clean. The once effervescent artist with a promising future is reduced to scribbling with pens and paper, living an empty, quiet life, three hundred seconds at a time.
Jim Whelan is on autopilot.
A foster kid shuffled around the system since birth, he’s lived his entire life without knowing love…and it’s taken its toll—until he learned to fight back, carry his armor, and keep his head down.
Working as an orderly in the Blue Ridge Sanitarium, deep in Virginia countryside, Jim looked up…and found Thea.
When Thea has the chance to break free of her five-minute prison with a risky, experimental surgery, it could lead them both to an epic love they never thought possible… or one that could require the ultimate sacrifice.
REVIEW: DNF at 56%
"The stronger the love, the more helpless the person feels in the wake of its loss."
This synopsis read to me like an emotional, angst-ridden, heartbreaking book that explored the reality of amnesia and the possibility of falling in love. One that was going to take me on a journey and yank my heart out. I was super excited to make this my first Emma Scott book and couldn't wait to dive in. The reviews were phenomenal, and the hype was LOUD. I was so excited. I couldn't lose with this one.
THE TRUTH: I don't do fluffy. I don't do light and easy when the subject matter is heavy. I most definitely don't do inspirational. I think my twisted heart craves the heaviness and the angst that inherently comes along with this type of storyline. I didn't get any of that heaviness, but definitely got all the fluff. I know that MANY love the fluff and it's what works for them and I totally respect that. It just doesn't work for me. I will get bored too quickly, and when the eye rolls come along too frequently, it stifles my enjoyment. I had to message a friend who had already read it and loved it to discuss my feelings. Wondering and questioning why this book didn't work for me, I needed to talk it out. While our opinions didn't match - she knows what kinds of books I like to read and so she could understand why it wasn't working for me. I am thankful I had someone that I could chat about it with, but I am walking away now.
I can honestly pinpoint what wasn't working for me: namely the super soft Hero, the continual 'blasts from the past' on virtually every page - alright already!!, and the unbelievable aspects of many parts of Thea's 'fix' and her recovery. I mean, I couldn't imagine her first trip to the mall, I couldn't understand how some people got hired, and I most definitely couldn't see how everyone missed everything. I was told I had to suspend belief because she is more of an inspirational writer, and while I can easily and generally do that to a certain degree, not much of anything else added up or worked for me, so I think my enjoyment suffered immensely.
There was a certain flamboyance with her over dramatization of certain aspects of the plot, but I pushed on because the story was progressing forward. My curiosity was still piqued and I wanted to see how it all played out. I also wanted to desperately know when they'd figure out what was really going on - because I already knew, and THAT was super frustrating in and of itself. The characters lacked depth and the heroine was especially awkward at best while her sister was the most hated character in the book. I have absolutely ZERO understanding or empathy towards her and her anger besides the normal "my entire family is dead" side to it all, but her anger towards everyone else and her bitchiness took the cake. That was very hard for me to accept. Very. Jim's background, while it provided a few feel-good moments, how he ends up being the "amnesia detective" is beyond my comprehension. Again, I can understand why she "placed" everything in the story the way she did, it just didn't read that way to me - just too unbelievable. It wasn't emotional and it didn't make me feel invested. It didn't feel organic in some spots and it almost felt like it just 'happened' - like the plot points were just placed there to give circumstances an opportunity to unfold.
It's not often that I jump into an author's book and genuinely feel bad that it didn't work for me, but this time I did. It wasn't because this book was super hyped up. It wasn't even because I was looking forward to what everyone said was a heavy read that I would absolutely love. It's because it was my first book by an author that I have been wanting to read for a long time and it feels like it jilted me a little bit. The writing was super soft - which isn't my favorite, but the flow was there. There is an honesty to her storytelling, and I was able to settle in almost immediately. I found it really easy to envision the picture she was "painting" with her words. I won't deny that I gasped at the end of the prologue - even though I knew what was coming, and was excited to continue on - and I did for a while. But when I'm told she's a deep writer and she's angsty and I'm going to love it? Man! That pressure is intense when I am not feeling any of that at all. I definitely feel like there is something wrong with me right about now. Maybe I set myself up for failure. Maybe I anticipated more than was going to be delivered, and maybe that didn't allow the story to play out naturally for me. Either way, it's safe to say that this one just didn't work for me....on any level.
I found myself getting increasingly aggravated because I wasn't feeling anything at all, so I think I knew a that point that I needed to accept it and move on. I tried. I really did. But when the irritation set in from everything adding up, I knew I couldn't force the issue and needed to walk away. With all those issues I named, along with many more that would ruin it for any future readers, I am going to shelve this book and move onto her duet since that was my original desired read of hers. I know many people loved this book, and I can see why. It just wasn't for me. I'm hoping for a win with my next read of hers....I'm not giving up.
"All good stories have a romance. Love. Without love, what's the point?"
~BEE
~MEET EMMA SCOTT~
Remember us...when I can't.
Thea Hughes has five minutes to live.
A car accident stole her parents and left her with the second-worst documented case of amnesia in the world. She now has only minutes of experiences, of consciousness, of life…before her memory is wiped clean. The once effervescent artist with a promising future is reduced to scribbling with pens and paper, living an empty, quiet life, three hundred seconds at a time.
Jim Whelan is on autopilot.
A foster kid shuffled around the system since birth, he’s lived his entire life without knowing love…and it’s taken its toll—until he learned to fight back, carry his armor, and keep his head down.
Working as an orderly in the Blue Ridge Sanitarium, deep in Virginia countryside, Jim looked up…and found Thea.
When Thea has the chance to break free of her five-minute prison with a risky, experimental surgery, it could lead them both to an epic love they never thought possible… or one that could require the ultimate sacrifice.
"The stronger the love, the more helpless the person feels in the wake of its loss."
This synopsis read to me like an emotional, angst-ridden, heartbreaking book that explored the reality of amnesia and the possibility of falling in love. One that was going to take me on a journey and yank my heart out. I was super excited to make this my first Emma Scott book and couldn't wait to dive in. The reviews were phenomenal, and the hype was LOUD. I was so excited. I couldn't lose with this one.
THE TRUTH: I don't do fluffy. I don't do light and easy when the subject matter is heavy. I most definitely don't do inspirational. I think my twisted heart craves the heaviness and the angst that inherently comes along with this type of storyline. I didn't get any of that heaviness, but definitely got all the fluff. I know that MANY love the fluff and it's what works for them and I totally respect that. It just doesn't work for me. I will get bored too quickly, and when the eye rolls come along too frequently, it stifles my enjoyment. I had to message a friend who had already read it and loved it to discuss my feelings. Wondering and questioning why this book didn't work for me, I needed to talk it out. While our opinions didn't match - she knows what kinds of books I like to read and so she could understand why it wasn't working for me. I am thankful I had someone that I could chat about it with, but I am walking away now.
I can honestly pinpoint what wasn't working for me: namely the super soft Hero, the continual 'blasts from the past' on virtually every page - alright already!!, and the unbelievable aspects of many parts of Thea's 'fix' and her recovery. I mean, I couldn't imagine her first trip to the mall, I couldn't understand how some people got hired, and I most definitely couldn't see how everyone missed everything. I was told I had to suspend belief because she is more of an inspirational writer, and while I can easily and generally do that to a certain degree, not much of anything else added up or worked for me, so I think my enjoyment suffered immensely.
There was a certain flamboyance with her over dramatization of certain aspects of the plot, but I pushed on because the story was progressing forward. My curiosity was still piqued and I wanted to see how it all played out. I also wanted to desperately know when they'd figure out what was really going on - because I already knew, and THAT was super frustrating in and of itself. The characters lacked depth and the heroine was especially awkward at best while her sister was the most hated character in the book. I have absolutely ZERO understanding or empathy towards her and her anger besides the normal "my entire family is dead" side to it all, but her anger towards everyone else and her bitchiness took the cake. That was very hard for me to accept. Very. Jim's background, while it provided a few feel-good moments, how he ends up being the "amnesia detective" is beyond my comprehension. Again, I can understand why she "placed" everything in the story the way she did, it just didn't read that way to me - just too unbelievable. It wasn't emotional and it didn't make me feel invested. It didn't feel organic in some spots and it almost felt like it just 'happened' - like the plot points were just placed there to give circumstances an opportunity to unfold.
It's not often that I jump into an author's book and genuinely feel bad that it didn't work for me, but this time I did. It wasn't because this book was super hyped up. It wasn't even because I was looking forward to what everyone said was a heavy read that I would absolutely love. It's because it was my first book by an author that I have been wanting to read for a long time and it feels like it jilted me a little bit. The writing was super soft - which isn't my favorite, but the flow was there. There is an honesty to her storytelling, and I was able to settle in almost immediately. I found it really easy to envision the picture she was "painting" with her words. I won't deny that I gasped at the end of the prologue - even though I knew what was coming, and was excited to continue on - and I did for a while. But when I'm told she's a deep writer and she's angsty and I'm going to love it? Man! That pressure is intense when I am not feeling any of that at all. I definitely feel like there is something wrong with me right about now. Maybe I set myself up for failure. Maybe I anticipated more than was going to be delivered, and maybe that didn't allow the story to play out naturally for me. Either way, it's safe to say that this one just didn't work for me....on any level.
I found myself getting increasingly aggravated because I wasn't feeling anything at all, so I think I knew a that point that I needed to accept it and move on. I tried. I really did. But when the irritation set in from everything adding up, I knew I couldn't force the issue and needed to walk away. With all those issues I named, along with many more that would ruin it for any future readers, I am going to shelve this book and move onto her duet since that was my original desired read of hers. I know many people loved this book, and I can see why. It just wasn't for me. I'm hoping for a win with my next read of hers....I'm not giving up.
"All good stories have a romance. Love. Without love, what's the point?"
~BEE
Emma Scott is a bestselling author of emotional, character-driven romances in which art and love intertwine to heal, and in which love always wins. If you enjoy emotionally-charged stories that rip your heart out and put it back together again, with diverse characters and kind-hearted heroes, you will enjoy her novels.
~CONNECT WITH EMMA~
ARC REVIEW
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Thank you for giving us your honest review this makes me happy to see a complete unbiased opinion.
ReplyDeleteI'm always good for an opinion, whether it's positive or negative....I am just so sad because I wanted this one to be amazing for me. Hopefully the next one will be a win.
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