This Is Not Over

A Novel

By: Holly Brown

Narrated by: Madeleine Maby, Donna Postel

Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

You'll have your deposit within seven business days, just like it says on Getaway.com. I've put through a refund to your credit card for the full amount, minus $200 to replace the stained sheets.

Miranda

When 30-year-old Dawn reads Miranda's email, she sees red. People have always told Dawn she's beautiful, and she just hopes they don't see beneath - to how she grew up, to what she's always tried to outrun. She revels in her getaways with her perfect (maybe too perfect) husband, the occasional long weekend in luxurious homes, temporarily inhabiting other people's privileged lives. Miranda's email strikes a nerve, with its lying intimation that Dawn is so dirty you need to throw out her sheets.

Beware of your "host"

I wouldn't have left a review at all if I didn't feel it was my civic duty to warn others.

Fifty-seven-year-old Miranda thought she'd seen it all, but she can't believe her eyes when she reads Dawn's review. She's a doctor's wife but she needs that rental money desperately. People might think her life is privileged, but they don't know what's really going on. They don't know about her son. She won't take this threat to her livelihood - to her very life - lying down.

Two very different women with this in common: Each harbors her own secret, her own reason why she can't just let this go. Neither can yield, not before they've dredged up all that's hidden, even if it has the power to shatter all they've built.

This is not over.

This is so not over.

©2017 Holly Brown (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers

Hard to Review

Listened for Fun (Audible)
Overall Rating: 3.25
Story Rating: 3.50
Character Rating: 3.00

Audio Rating: 4.50 (not part of the overall rating)

Quick Thoughts: This is a hard book for me to review. I listened to it in one day but there were points I thought about DNFing it. The characters really were hard to take and I think they were supposed to be. I couldn't sympathize with either of them (even at the end). That being said, the idea that a negative review could lead to this kind of thing absolutely made sense to me. In that essence, the characters were spot on. It would take two incredibly narcissistic people to take it as far as these two did. Did I like the book? Hard to say. Did I find it fascinating? At times. Would I recommend it? Maybe it would depend on the reader.

Audio Thoughts:

Narrated by: Madeleine Maby , Donna Postel /Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins


The narrators nailed this. I honestly think I stuck with the book because of how well they did. They really brought out every little thing about the characters. This was great audiobook casting.

Part of my Read It, Rate It, File It, DONE! Reviews

totally enjoyed this book

hi as always there will be no spoilers in my reviews
I went on an adventure with this book. up down and sideways. I laughed, I gasped, and really connected with characters ( thanks to the narrator I got a good feel for each person).
the back and forth isn't something I normally prefer however a lot of authors are working with that style and I am starting to like it.
no disappointments with this book

Enjoyed

I enjoyed this story. It was easy to follow, held my interest and was something different, a nice change.
The story itself is nothing amazing in a literary sense, but the characters had a certain truth to them that I liked. I related to them in an odd way.

Awesome book

This book was hard to put down. Start to finish. I enjoyed it very much.

Definitely a different twist... thumbs up!

I liked this selection mainly because the plot was so different then most on the thriller credits. Well written although not a huge shock thriller, the story moves well and is enjoyable to listen to.

Can’t say enough....

I cried because there are so many life lessons in this book.
I listened in one sitting. There is loss, revenge, hope and ultimately redemption. Extremely well written with very very well fleshed out characters. This is one I will be thinking about for a while.

Pettiness Turn Twisted!

Yes, this book is literally about an online review from a guest to the host of a vacation rental property. And somehow the author is able to create twists and turns and develop complex characters. I really like how I was never led on to think the story was going a certain way -- all the elements in the story are very relevant and concise. I very much appreciate the way the story constantly kept coming together and every detail was meaningful all the way to the end. It maintained my interest the entire time and I do recommend this book.

A Tale of Two Women

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would absolutely recommend this book to a friend. It was different from most books I have read, and I read 3-5 books a week. This fictional story is about how misunderstandings effect lives.

Who was your favorite character and why?

This question is hard to answer. Both women were people I loved and hated at the same time. I saw both sides and became aggravated at them both. Comparable to the soap opera stars, the one everybody loves to hate, maybe.

Which scene was your favorite?

When one figures out her husband wasn't who she thought. Nothing more to say, or I would give too much away.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

There are a couple of parts that were sad for me, as a mother.

Any additional comments?

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but have been trying to branch out from the genres I usuallly read. (Lots of romance for many years, now mostly thrilllers and horror.) I'm so glad I gave this book a try. I can't really explain why I enjoyed it so, but I found it drew me in and I didn't want to stop listening.

Great Grudge Match

Any additional comments?

Wow! Brilliant execution.

The first indication that this isn't going to be one of those drippy, cliche filled thrillers with gut wrenching circumstances that don't have the tone or punch to back it up, is the quote on the front by Mary Kubica, a master of psychological depth and suspense herself. "A Master storyteller and an expert of suspense," Kubica says. I almost missed this one, as it wasn't recommended to me like all the others I see on my Audible queue. I found it because I typed the authors name in, and found this book, which appears to have not garnered that much attention. (And it deserves more than most of the recommendations/suggestions I'm offered on kindle.)

Swerving from one disillusioned pov to the other, these two women in very different circumstances encounter each other online through trivial coincidence, and somehow become embedded in each others thoughts until they're total enemies. A lot of the chapters begin with letters written or reviews from one to the other, followed by the characters thoughts. I really like the way Brown started out with such a superficial premise, the kind of thing you'd expect to see in a Jane Green or Sophie Kinsella book that's light and comic, but that superficial premise was just one guise to draw you into the tumultuous depths of these two women's lives.

Holly Brown delivers both povs with unflinching individuality. I sided with one voice more than the other (Miranda's) but I'm sure there are probably just as many people who sided more with Dawn. I'm in awe of the way the author was able to grow a faint grudge into a war with casualties on both sides, and the way these two women kept misinterpreting each other at every turn. That was the brilliant part: Brown really captured those insightful psychological details of what goes on when you're misunderstanding someone else's motives.

However, if you're the type of reader that needs to really root for a character, to have a hero that is going to inspire you with their moral clarity, this isn't your type of book at all. While the characters do find a way to overcome their circumstances and their biases, the trip is filled with rocky moments of moral grey, incidents that might might make you hate the characters before you reach any satisfaction. (I'm guessing if I read other reviews there will be complaints like "the characters were unlikable" which seems to be a complaint I hear a lot in plenty of the books I tend to like.)

This is the second Holly Brown book I've read, (The first was "Don't Try To Find Me") and I have not been disappointed yet. I hope that the next one I read (A Necessary End) is as good.

One decent narrator one average...

I'm enjoying this novel, but the woman who narrate's the chapters for the character Dawn really does a horrible male voice, but she insists. It's quite distracting.