All That is Lost Between Us in Aussie Readers

Oct 24, 2016 PattyMacDotComma rated it liked it

Shelves: australian-author, mystery-crime-thriller, aa-ce, aa

3★
“Initial sessions are always full of conversation – the general impression of teenagers as monosyllabic grouches is largely unfair. Nine times out of ten they are eager to talk, open to understanding and considering the world around them, and, most of all, anxious to fit in, to find a place in their school or home life where they feel comfortable and accepted.”

This is Anya speaking, the mother of the Turner family, and it's one of her (too many) teaching moments. Anya's chapters are written in ...more

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Oct 02, 2015 Brenda rated it really liked it

Shelves: net-galley, aussie-authors, sent-by-publisher, read-on-kindle, own-read, arc, psychological-thriller, uncorrected-proof, 2016-release

4.5★s

Georgia Turner had felt isolated and alone for a little while – her cousin and best friend Sophia was being distant and Georgia felt a desperate need to talk to her. The secret she held in her head felt like a lead weight, and she needed to talk to Sophia about it before she went mad. The night of the party was when Georgia would talk to her she felt sure – but then on their walk home, there was a terrible accident and Sophia was dreadfully injured. The trauma that Georgia felt rocked her w 4.5★s

Georgia Turner had felt isolated and alone for a little while – her cousin and best friend Sophia was being distant and Georgia felt a desperate need to talk to her. The secret she held in her head felt like a lead weight, and she needed to talk to Sophia about it before she went mad. The night of the party was when Georgia would talk to her she felt sure – but then on their walk home, there was a terrible accident and Sophia was dreadfully injured. The trauma that Georgia felt rocked her world and sent her towards the edge…

Georgia’s mother Anya had felt the cracks starting to splinter the family unit for some time, and though she tried hard, she was unable to get through to seventeen year old Georgia. Younger son Zac hadn’t had the same reactions to life as Georgia - yet… Anya also couldn’t work out when Callum and she had lost their closeness – the drifting apart had been so gradual; he was never home anymore with his volunteer work with the mountain rescue unit plus his job. It was left to Anya to care for their two children, and she was finding the lack of support numbing.

When Zac unwittingly came across something he shouldn’t have seen, he was shocked. He also had no idea what to do. The decision he made started an avalanche of terror – with a stranger stalking family members, the danger suddenly became intense. What would happen to Georgia; to injured Sophia; to Zac and his parents? Was the shattering of the family inevitable?

All That Is Lost Between Us is a brilliant psychological thriller by Aussie author Sara Foster. Filled with gripping suspense, the tension kept me turning the pages quickly, especially during the second half of the book. The setting of the novel is beautiful, with the rugged hills and mountains of England’s Lake District surrounding the fells; the small town the story is set in. It was a unique plot, one that worked well for me. I’ve loved all this author’s work and her latest release didn’t disappoint. Highly recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this copy in exchange for my honest review.
...more

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Sep 23, 2015 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it it was amazing

Shelves: aussie-author, provided-by-publisher, arc-are

All That is Lost Between Us is a compelling modern domestic thriller from Sara Foster.

Unfolding from the perspectives of the four members of the Turner family, it is a story about guilt, secrets, betrayal and loyalty.

Seventeen year old Georgia Turner, high school student and champion Fells runner, is preoccupied by a secret she can't share, not even with her best friend and cousin, Sophia.
Anya is frustrated by her inability to connect with her increasingly withdrawn daughter who spurns both her
All That is Lost Between Us is a compelling modern domestic thriller from Sara Foster.

Unfolding from the perspectives of the four members of the Turner family, it is a story about guilt, secrets, betrayal and loyalty.

Seventeen year old Georgia Turner, high school student and champion Fells runner, is preoccupied by a secret she can't share, not even with her best friend and cousin, Sophia.
Anya is frustrated by her inability to connect with her increasingly withdrawn daughter who spurns both her concern and affection, as does her husband, Callum.
Callum, mired in unspoken resentments, has thrown himself into his voluntary work with the local Fells rescue team, and taken solace in the attentions of a younger colleague.
When Zac accidentally discovers a shocking photo hidden in his sister's bedroom, he is at a loss as how to best deal with his discovery.

A hit and run incident involving Georgia and Sophia is the catalyst that drives the members of the Turner family to the brink of crisis. As suspicion grows that the actions of the unidentified driver was deliberate, Foster builds the tension as secrets begin to collide.

One of the main themes Foster's story thoughtfully explores is the vulnerabilities of family. Emotional distance has frayed the bonds between husband and wife, parent and child, in All That is Lost Between Us. The strained relationships are sensitively and realistically portrayed, disconnected, they are each vulnerable in the crisis and struggle to bridge the gap to offer each other the support they need.

Georgia's angst is well drawn, her increasingly fraught emotional state is believable as she obsesses over her secret with the self absorption of youth.
I empathised strongly with Anya, it is difficult to let your children pull away from you, to find the balance between encouraging them to make their own choices, and protect them from their inevitable mistakes. My oldest daughter is 19 and I too feel as if she is "breaking off a piece of my heart and taking it with her." as she forges her own life.

Set in England's Lake District, Foster's descriptions of the landscape are vivid and evocative. The rugged beauty of the Fells, its craggy peaks and forested valleys and sheer cliffs, reflects the changeable emotional states of the characters.

All That is Lost Between Us is a captivating read I'd recommend to both an adult and mature young adult audience. ...more

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Feb 02, 2016 Bree T rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc, suspense, psychological-thriller, aww2016

I made a bad decision picking up this book when I only had a small amount of time to spare. I started it about half an hour before I had to leave to go and pick up my son from school and ended up taking it with me to read while I waited at pick-up, so difficult was it to put it down. When we arrived home I continued reading, all through dinner prep and then finished it after he went to bed.

This is Sara Foster’s fourth novel – I’ve read all of them now and every time a new one is released I remem I made a bad decision picking up this book when I only had a small amount of time to spare. I started it about half an hour before I had to leave to go and pick up my son from school and ended up taking it with me to read while I waited at pick-up, so difficult was it to put it down. When we arrived home I continued reading, all through dinner prep and then finished it after he went to bed.

This is Sara Foster’s fourth novel – I’ve read all of them now and every time a new one is released I remember just how much I loved her previous ones. She writes family relationships with depth and realism and I love the undertone of suspense that permeates the story.

The novel is told from four points of view – teenager Georgia who closely guards a secret, her frustrated mother Anya, a school counsellor who laments the inability to connect with her own daughter and the distant relationship she now shares with her husband, who has his own guilty secret. And Georgia’s younger brother Zac who discovers something that he doesn’t really know how to deal with.

Georgia wishes to reconnect with her cousin Sophia to confess her secret, quite unaware that Sophia also has a rather dangerous secret of her own. Before either can come clean though the two girls and a third teenager, a male friend are struck by a car, leaving Sophia in an induced coma. Although it seems a terrible accident at first, three teens walking on a badly lit road, soon there are questions raised.

I really thought I knew what Georgia’s secret was and was pleasantly surprised to find out that I was wrong. I love it when a book can surprise me and manipulate me into believing something. If I had’ve been right about Georgia’s secret I’m not sure I would’ve liked this book quite so much – it was being wrong and watching the story take a different path than the one I expected that really amplified the experience and made me even more interested in the story. I felt that I was able to connect quite easily to a lot of the characters – I’ve been a teenage girl with a secret, although not one quite so possibly damaging as Georgia’s. And now that I’m a parent myself, I could also empathise with Anya, who is aware that Georgia is growing up and will soon be off to university and a life removed from that of the family home. My children are younger but there will come a time when they won’t rush to tell me everything, that getting the smallest piece of information will be like extracting teeth. Anya is also doubly struggling as her husband Callum seems to have retreated as well, preferring to spend his free time with a volunteer rescue group than at home with Anya. The exciting early years have waned into a tedious routine of parenting and juggling busy lives and Callum is tempted by the grass on the other side of the fence. Callum has made a mistake and now he has to deal with the consequences and fallout of that mistake at the precise moment when something else is going very wrong. And poor Zac, who finds something that he doesn’t really know how to deal with and makes a choice which ends up having quite far-reaching consequences….well it was hard not to feel for him!

This book showcases how easily close relationships can be come distant – both Anya and Callum feel the frustration of their estrangement. They still share a house, they’re still married but they’re not really sharing a life. Anya feels the distance between her and Georgia and Georgia is feeling a new distance between her and Sophia. They’ve gone from telling each other things to both keeping their secrets, albeit for different reasons. Sara Foster has nailed the complications of not only the intricacy of teenage relationships but also the adult relationships too, with their peers and with each other. Although I never went through anything like what Georgia did, a lot of this book did remind me of my own time as a teen, wanting freedom and being able to go about my business without having to answer 200 questions. Now that I’m a parent I am on the ‘other side of the fence’ and I see just how necessary those questions can be at times.

Beautifully written and to me, showcasing that with each book, Sara Foster just gets better. ...more

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Dec 28, 2017 Tanya rated it really liked it

A thoroughly engrossing thriller that I ended up devouring in one sitting!

Told from multiple character's perspectives, All That Is Lost Between Us enfolds in present time interspersed with memories, all relating to secrets family members are with holding from each other.

Sometimes you find the twists and turns in a story are predictable, but I've got to say, until the climax I didn't see these ones coming! ...more

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