THEN AND ALWAYS By Dani Atkins ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Publisher:  Ballantine Books
Expected Release Date:  May 20, 2014
Pages:  320
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction

Book Description:  Rachel Wiltshire has everything she’s ever wanted: a close group of friends, a handsome boyfriend, and acceptance to the journalism program at her top-choice college. But one fateful evening, tragedy tears her world apart. 

Five years later, Rachel returns home for the first time to celebrate her best friend’s wedding. Still coping with her grief, she can’t stop thinking about the bright future she almost had, if only that one night had gone differently. But when a sudden fall lands her in the hospital, Rachel wakes to find that her life has completely changed. Now she has her dream job as a writer and a stylish apartment, but the people she loves most are not the way she remembers them. Unable to trust her own recollections, Rachel tries to piece together what really happened, and not even she can predict the astonishing truth.

Wanda's Thoughts:  Then and Always is a story about tragedy, love, and second chances. Rachel Wiltshire wakes up in a hospital after an accident, which caused a nasty blow to her head. She seem to be waking up to a whole new world and one that might actually be far better than the one in which she had lived. She was told that she was suffering from a type of amnesia in which she believes she is remembering things which hadn't actually happened. It all seemed ludicrous and surreal. The whole world around her appeared false and she had absolutely no recollection of this life. She felt confused and frustrated. And the story unfolds---

This is skillful storytelling that draws you in from the beginning with beautiful descriptive writing and attention to detail. The story has a well constructed plot with compelling characters. And I was deeply moved by the ending scenes of the book - a perfect and satisfying conclusion. An interesting read - 4 stars.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions shared are my own.

The Author - Dani Atkins - Dani was born and brought up in Cockfosters, London, whose chief claim to fame is that it’s at the end of the Piccadilly Tube Line. 

This served her well for commuting into the city, where from the age of 18 she worked in a succession of secretarial positions in companies as diverse as a BMW car dealership to the BBC. Dani spent her two hour commute avidly reading and dreamed that one day she would become an author herself. 

When her two children grew up and left home, Dani set about turning this dream into reality and devoted her time to writing. She now lives in a rural Hertfordshire cottage with her husband, a crazy border collie dog and two geriatric cats.

FRACTURED is her first novel.