Book Review: Tear Me Apart | J. T. Ellison

What a tangled web of lies J. T. Ellison has created!!! The more I read the more shocked I became with the twisted trail of deception that was uncovered by a single incident. Ellison is a favorite author of mine, and I noticed she liked to play with the reader a bit. She doesn’t mind having flawed characters. In fact, Ellison’s work thrives on flawed characters! But her characters feel real because of that. They feel like they make mistakes, they forgive those they shouldn’t, they lie in ways that are understandable and even ways you can empathize with. And then she hits you with those final twists and everything suddenly falls into place and you wonder how these characters got to this point! This book was a fun, twisty read that I completely loved!

About the Book

Mindy Wright is a young star in the competitive skiing world, with a real shot at making the national team. Mindy has two parents who adore her, Lauren and Jasper Wright. They live in a gorgeous mountainside home, close to her training facility. They homeschool her so she can compete and train to make the team. And they love and support Mindy in every way.

When Mindy takes a fall on her last qualifying run, her parent’s are devastated. Rushing Mindy to the hospital to have her broken leg fixed, they discover something shocking: Mindy has cancer and needs a stem cell transfusion. Desperate to help any way they can, Lauren and Jasper offer to be tested, only to discover something even more shocking: Mindy is not biologically related to them.

With Mindy’s life on the line, Lauren and Jasper will do anything they can to protect their daughter. But what if their lies are the barrier to finding the match for Mindy? Is it possible her parents know more than they let on? Or is this a terrible mix-up with devastating consequences?

Reflection

I’ve mentioned that J. T. Ellison is one of my favorite authors, and there is a reason for that. Ellison does not ever take the easy road through her novels. There is never a quick and easy twist, never a moment where a character gets off the hook, and she doesn’t baby her characters. We see her characters with all of their flaws, their lies, and their regrettable moments. And they are ALL liars to an extent. They lie to us, they lie to themselves, and sometimes they lie to eachother.

I think many authors struggle with falling in love with their characters. And when that happens, it can be very difficult to show them with all of their good and bad traits. Ellison takes the reverse approach. Most of her characters seem awful at first, and then the more you know them the more human they become, and the more rootable. Her characters impression manage to an extreme degree—hiding themselves from the reader, the other characters, and sometimes even from themselves.

Lauren and Jasper are such fascinating characters. You’ll go in finding them boring a bit entitled and overbearing of Mindy. But they love her so much, that its hard not to cheer them on. And as each other them become more real, I was drawn into the story. Then we have a mysterious third narrator with a seriously dark story. I was dying to know who this third narrator was and how she fits into the story! She has her own cast of characters way back in time, and each one fascinated me. Ellison uses this parallel story so effectively, laying out all of the pieces at just the right times.

There are a lot of other great characters, but I don’t want to spoil the ride so I’ll keep them to myself. Except to say that there is a pretty great dog in the book named Kat (lol) and she is so cute and loveable, even over text!

This is truly a story about the immense love of a mother and father for their daughter, and the horrifying secret that threatens to tear the family apart. Those lies we tell for the greater good come back to haunt us. And because we are all human, the lies tend to build. Instead of living in our truths, we bury ourselves in the lies we’ve created. To save Mindy’s life, a lot of lies need to be exposed. What a twisted tale!!!

This was a buddy read with two of my Book Besties, Melisa and Berit!

Many thanks to Harlequin MIRA and to J. T. Ellison for a copy of this book to review.