Don't Let Me Go by Susan Lewis - Book Review

At first, I found Lewis' writing really hard to adapt to after finishing a Nicholas Spark's novel.

I've often heard people say that if you are going to write, you need to make it 'you.'

You need people to be able to see that it is your work without needing your name scribbled at the foot of the page.

I didn't really understand that - until now.
 

Her writing is very different and I really wasn't sure how to handle all of the abbreviations that were slung my way within the first few pages... calling a Bachelor Pad a 'Bach,' for some arbitrary reason... little things like that tend to bug me probably a lot more than they should.
Or every time a character would hang up the phone, which happened quite frequently... she would describe it as: Ringing off.
Perhaps I've been out of the UK for too long, but it just wasn't the descriptions that I was used to.

Either which way, I forced myself to keep turning the pages as beneath the unfamiliar writing style lay an undeniably good story line.

That much I could tell.

I didn't really understand what was going on at first. How Charlotte, the main character, and her three year old daughter, Chloe, got to where they were and who they were with.

At first it felt like I was supposed to have known more to the story than I did.

Only then did I realize that it is actually a sequel to her novel, 'No Child of Mine.'

I had no way of knowing this however, as it was the first time I'd picked up a Susan Lewis book and the book did not have any information about that on it!

While trying to Google more information on the book, a few readers' managed to tempt me to stay reading on by saying that they too didn't realize that it was a sequel, but that they were slowly able to puzzle piece it all together.. each one raving about how incredible the book was in the end.

So I pushed on further...

By chapter five, I was hooked. Despite the occasional off-putting writing style – her story-telling was rather charming as you discover more of, ‘Charlotte’ and ‘Chloe’s’ story.

All of the characters in the novel kind of spill out in one go so I found myself continuously flipping back to remember who was who.

Eventually I learned the ins and outs of Charlotte’s birth mothers family though; and that she goes to stay with them on an Island in New Zealand after fleeing from England with her daughter after a horrific event occurs in their lives.

It is Charlotte’s first time meeting her immediate family and soon discovers that she has step-siblings and a step-father to bond with now too. 

Her step brother, Rick, turns out to be the only man that Chloe can connect with and Charlotte too finds herself feeling quite at ease around him. 

Rick is engaged to Katie, a short-haired blond woman whom everyone loves – besides Charlotte and Chloe. Something about her just doesn’t sit well with either of them and as Katie deals with her fiancées growing fondness and affection for his newly found step-sister, things start to get messy.

Another thing I found was that drama after drama was slung at you like a cricket ball, smacking you right in the face.
Although it was good and kept me biting my nails, I struggled to see how one family could go through that much turmoil in their lives! Literally everything that could go wrong went wrong... and more... things that are close to impossible to think up! These poor people went through everything!!! More than anyone should ever go through in their lives - things that were revolting and made me shudder to even imagine it.  

A lot of what Charlotte’s past entails is very cryptic to the reader although you know the basics – Lewis only gives off slight hints here and there about the events that had once occurred but it all starts to unravel slowly which is actually pretty interesting because you are made to use your imagination for so much, that when the truth finally comes out you learn how off the mark you really were!

I found that really clever and enjoyable and it kept me turning the pages. 

I hadn't even realized how much I'd indulged in Lewis' writing until the start of the book became thicker in my left hand than the end of the book which lay almost weightlessly in my right!

I loved it!

Once I had gotten into it, I literally could not put it down.

I am also not one to cry while reading a novel... I've certainly never done it before. Some of the reviews had warned me that by the end of the book the tears would be free-falling but I didn't see them coming until they splattered onto the pages!

Fantastic book, brilliant story and something that will envelope you into its turmoil in the most pleasurable way imaginable.

The cover makes it look like your typical romance when in actual fact, it is far from.
There really isn't much romance in this book at all, just the unfaltering love between a fully grown woman and a three year old child.

It took my breath away