Who do you trust when everyone is lying?

My name is Tess Parker.

Two days ago, I was in a car accident with my sister-in-law, Torrie. Before she slipped into a coma, she asked my husband and me to care for her four-month-old son, Levi.

Yesterday, a woman claiming to be Torrie’s estranged sister knocked on our door. But Torrie has no siblings . . . or so she said. She and my brother were only together a short time before he left, and Torrie has clearly been keeping secrets.

Today, another of Torrie’s “sisters” has come to town. Both say the other is lying about who they are.

Neither of them is telling the truth.

Both of them want Levi.

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My Review

I chose to read this book after receiving a free e-copy from the author. All opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased.

I have read Erik Therme‘s books and enjoy his writing style and the suspense in his books. I read the first book in this series, If She Dies, about a year ago. It wasn’t my favorite book, but I really liked that last quarter of it, so I was happy to read If She Wakes. I was not disappointed.

This book is full of suspense. I had to find out what was going to happen, so I had to stay up late into the night to finish reading it. Tess is still a mess but part of that is because she’s too hard on herself and her husband is not supportive. He thinks he is, but he blames Tess for overreacting to everything. But is she?

The end was a surprise which is always nice. A lot was resolved but because of the last line in the book, I’m sure there will be a book #3. I’m looking forward to reading it.

PROLOGUE

The first thing I see when I open my eyes is blood; running down my left forearm, glazing the backside of my hand and dripping from my fingers. My father cursed me with thin blood, and my first emergency room visit was at age seven after crashing my bicycle and cutting my ankle on a broken spoke. It had been a gusher, painting the sidewalk red within seconds. Genetics, the friendly ER doctor with the overbite told my mother. My bone marrow didn’t produce enough platelets to properly clot.

Pain flares through my neck as I turn my head. I’m in the driver’s seat of my car, and something white and soft dangles from the steering wheel. It looks like a crumpled pillowcase, and it only takes me a moment longer to realize it’s a deflated airbag. Through the cracked windshield, I can see the giant wooden utility pole that’s taken a large bite out of my hood. The Malibu’s left headlamp is flickering, and the right headlamp is pointed crazily toward the sky.

A deer, I tell myself. We swerved to avoid hitting a deer.

We.

My heart leaps inside my chest as I look to the passenger seat for Josh. The seat’s empty, but the airbag there has also deployed, and the door is open. Someone was in the seat, but not my husband. Josh is home babysitting, because I went out to dinner with—

“Torrie,” I rasp.

Everything comes rushing back.

About the Author

Erik Therme has thrashed in garage bands, inadvertently harbored runaways, and met Darth Vader. When he’s not at his computer, he can be found cheering on his youngest daughter’s volleyball team, or watching horror movies with his oldest. He currently resides in Iowa City, Iowa—one of only twenty-eight places in the world that UNESCO has certified as a City of Literature. Join Erik’s mailing list to be notified of new releases and author giveaways: http://eepurl.com/cD1F8L

Website: http://eriktherme.com
Twitter: eriktherme