Review: The Alone Time by Elle Marr Narrated by Jennifer Aquino, Christina Ho, Naomi Mayo, and Kenneth Lee

 

Yet another book by one of my favorite authors, Elle Marr. I listened to this on the drive back from visiting my boyfriend at the beginning of summer. I will say, this is not my favorite of Marr's books, unfortunately this one and the one I read before, The Family Bones, just don't match up with the quality of her other books. Still, I enjoyed listening to this book on my way home. 

This book is about two grown women who survived a terrible plane crash that resulted in their parents' deaths and left them alone in the woods when they were children. They referred to this time as the alone time in which they did what they could to survive on their own. 

Fiona, the older sister, becomes an artist as an adult and incorporates her experiences from the alone time into her art. She's just beginning to get the recognition she's been wanting when a documentary director comes to talk to her about her experience in the woods. She's completely against this until her father's alleged mistress comes out of the woodwork claiming to have additional information about the period before the fatal flight. 

Violet, the younger sister, is in college once again after struggling with addiction for a long time. She's become estranged from her sister, but when she's approached by the aforementioned director, she shows up on her sister's doorstep. Together they decide they need to ensure the narrative of their story in the woods needs to be controlled by them which they must do by participating in the documentary. The director claims to be 100% on their side, desiring only to tell their side of the story, but can they really trust him? 

Jumps back in time immediately reveal that despite what the girls said, their parents survived the initial crash and were with them, alive, in the first few days. I quickly began to question why they lied about their parents dying in the crash and what exactly they were hiding about the alone time.

Marr's time jumps are one of the things about her writing that draws me in. It's interesting fitting the past and present together like a puzzle to figure out the truth behind the mystery. I was really hanging on, desperate to figure out what exactly happened, but I will admit I was a bit disappointed in the ending. I feel that the "twist" just didn't match up with the usual surprise of Marr's twists. 

Although I think she has better books, I still really enjoyed listening to this one. It was entertaining and kept me on the edge of my seat wanting to find out the truth. If you're looking for something fun to read or listen to, this may be the book for you. I'm excited to see what Marr writes next. 

As always, happy reading!