J.T. Ellison - TEAR ME APART

Plot (via Goodreads):

One moment will change their lives forever…

Competitive skier Mindy Wright is a superstar in the making until a spectacular downhill crash threatens not just her racing career but her life. During surgery, doctors discover she’s suffering from a severe form of leukemia, and a stem cell transplant is her only hope. But when her parents are tested, a frightening truth emerges. Mindy is not their daughter.

Who knows the answers?

The race to save Mindy’s life means unraveling years of lies. Was she accidentally switched at birth or is there something more sinister at play? The search for the truth will tear a family apart…and someone is going to deadly extremes to protect the family’s deepest secrets.

With vivid movement through time, Tear Me Apart examines the impact layer after layer of lies and betrayal has on two families, the secrets they guard, and the desperate fight to hide the darkness within. 

Review:

About seven years ago, when I lived in Boston it was an amazing experience. I mean the city is gorgeous, the people are great, and the food and shopping was superb. One thing, I will always take from my experience in this amazing city was the winter months. As much as I love winter and it's beauty, it's also a great time for me to kind of soul search and really hibernate and enjoy the cozy moments of thick sweaters, TV marathons, red wine, and of course...books! During my winter months in Boston, I brought my Kindle with me everywhere. I read on the train, on my lunch breaks at work, and yes, even in my apartment. I'm not one to usually start a series as much as I'd love to, I find that I get bored and looking at a series of 5+ books is strangely more intimidating to me than a book of 5+ standalone novels. Well, that winter in Boston, I got hooked on the Taylor Jackson series by J.T. Ellison. While I didn't finish the series, I gobbled up three or four of them before eventually getting distracted in other reads. Still, the experience of reading those novels was amazing because I fell in love with Ellison's writing and I have been a huge fan ever since. 

Cue to last summer when LIE TO ME came out and I was reintroduced to Ellison and her captivating writing. I was hooked again and I loved that novel so much. So, it came as no surprise to me when TEAR ME APART was announced and I just knew I had to reach out to Ellison's publicist (who has been fantastically supportive of my blog) and try to get a copy. I think I actually squealed when the package came and I saw that haunting and stunning cover. I didn't even read the synopsis. All I was aware of was that J.T. Ellison had a new novel coming out and I needed it. It could've been about lawn gnomes and I would've still read it, to be honest. Going in blind to this novel was a really good decision. Now usually, I'm really meticulous and do a lot of research before agreeing to or reaching out to cover a novel on my blog, but Ellison will always be a priority. Clearly. 

The prologue to this one is a little dark, but intriguing and psychologically tasty. It doesn't give too much away, but is vague enough to make you really wonder what is going to happen next. This novel begins beautifully and so different than most thrillers that I've read. It doesn't start off with a huge violent scene similar to a 90s slasher movie. It starts out hopeful, introducing us to what could be an Olympic athlete at the beginning of her career. Right away I was hooked with Ellison's brilliance in creating a scene on a snowy mountain and how I just felt like I was there. I could see the trees, feel the brisk wind, and smell the snow. Tragedy strikes and the novel takes a really unique turn very early on in the novel. Ellison's characters are glorious, honestly portrayed, and so entertaining to read. Not only in their personalities on page, but you feel like you've known them for a while. You chuckle at their banter with one another, take sides during arguments, and really care about their well-being. Ellison has a flair for writing characters that you want to get to know better and really invest in their lives, like meeting a new friend and hitting it off right away. But, like people in real life, everyone has secrets and everyone has a backstory. Some are good, some are bad. You never really know who a person is until you really get to know their full lives. That is the kind of novel that this is. These are the kind of characters that I love. This is a story worth telling. 

This novel is emotional, haunting, suspenseful, and at times, spine-tingling. At almost 500 pages, I could not believe how the numbers were just increasing as I was going along with this story. I was captivated with a multi-layered plot that just really took me by storm. The pacing within this story is honestly steady throughout. For the first 400 pages, I was just devouring each scene, each word, and every last punctuation mark. The pacing didn't slow down, I didn't skim any pages, I didn't wonder when it was going to pick up. It was just a great story with mini-cliffhangers and small revelations throughout. Until the last 100 pages, everything came to a head and the pacing just increased and did not let up. Not only was this a suspenseful and entertaining read, but Ellison covered a few pretty controversial social issues that I can say I haven't read in a lot novels, especially in this genre. But, to no surprise, Ellison tackled these issues within the story with grace and dignity. Her way of writing such a heavily poignant novel and remaining sensitive to issues including mental health was just awe inspiring. She also kept the novel thrilling and justified. With the big reveal at the end of the novel, I was shocked and a little brokenhearted, I will say. I was not expecting to get emotional during this read as I hadn't prepared myself, but Ellison's writing touched me and really brought out a plethora of emotions during this wild and beautiful tale. Also, the epilogue featured in this one ended with one of the best last sentences I've read in a while and really just brought everything I had read full circle.

So thank you to J.T. Ellison for yet another pleasurable and phenomenal read. You not only stole my time, but you really stole my heart with this one. See you again soon, I hope. 

Special thanks to MIRA for this copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 5/5