If you’ve been following the blog for some time you’ll know that I’ve started enjoying thrillers. When I saw the sign up for He’ll Be Waiting I needed to know more. I was hoping for a wild ride when reading this one, but I have to say it wasn’t completely what I was expecting. If you want to know more about the book and what I thought, keep on reading.
A big thanks to Inkslinger PR and the author for providing me with an e-arc to read and review!
What would you do to remember? What would you give to forget?
When Tess Porter agrees to pick up her boyfriend’s college pal at the airport on a snowy December night, she has no idea she’s about to embark on the most dangerous ride of her life.
Two days later, the 17-year-old wakes up in a hospital with broken bones, unable to remember how she got there. Her parents are acting strange, and neither James, her boyfriend, nor her best friend, Izzy, has visited.
As she struggles to physically recover, Tess wrestles with haunting questions: What happened? Will her memory ever return? And what if she’s better off not recalling any of it?
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Review
He’ll Be Waiting starts off really intense. The main character Tess wakes up at the hospital, but doesn’t remember what happened the last few days. This story pulled me in from the start. The switch from past and present kept me needing to know more! It was interesting see Tess put the puzzle pieces together as she went.
On top of the whole figuring out what happened that December night we start learning more about the problems her family is going through. Certain events have been adding to the problems already there and Tess’ awful night ends up being the aftermath of everything that’s happened.
The moments of Tess remembering what happened had me on the edge of my seat needing to know more and how it would all play out. If I’m honest the big event ended up being revealed earlier on in the book than I expected. While it was interesting to see the aftermath and her learning to “move on” it didn’t always work for me. I think He’ll Be Waiting would’ve worked better for me if everything leading up to that awful night got highlighted more and we read more about it.
Tess and her family are interesting and definitely flawed, but they all seemed to know this. I think this book could’ve been shorter, but all in all an interesting ride. If you’re looking for an intense story that also deals with the aftermath and learning to live again I definitely recommend He’ll Be Waiting.
About the Author
Liz Alterman lives in New Jersey with her husband and three sons. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Parents, McSweeney’s, and other publications. He’ll Be Waiting is her first young adult novel. When she isn’t writing, she spends most days microwaving the same cup of coffee and looking up synonyms.
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Even though He’ll Be Waiting was everything I was expecting I did enjoy this story. The author had a way of writing that kept me reading! Are you a fan of thrillers? What are some of your favorites? I’m always looking for new recommendations!