The Other Emily (Group Read - Spring 2021)

[K.L.]

Started it today and have made my way through roughly the first quarter of the book. The story is definitely intriguing, and if I wasn't so tired I'd keep on reading, but I know if I try I'll end up falling asleep and dropping my kindle on my head. And yes that has happened many times of the years with hardcovers, paperbacks, my kindle, and worst of all my iPad....that ones hurt! So I'll calling it a night and will resume in the morning.

[Mary]

K.L. wrote: "Started it today and have made my way through roughly the first quarter of the book. The story is definitely intriguing, and if I wasn't so tired I'd keep on reading, but I know if I try I'll end u..."

:-)

[Pål]

😂 can’t say I don’t know what your talking about...

[K.L.]

well I finished it up this morning and I must say overall I ended up being disappointed. The start was definitely good and hooked me in, but I don't know as it went on he kind of lost me. It felt like two different stories that were bring forced together. And about halfway through I actually stopped liking David as much as I had a the start. And the 'ending/answer' to what was going on just didn't feel natural/right, as if Dean had a killer idea but then when it came time to answer all the questions he'd been posing to the reader he kind of lost his way. Definitely understandable, happens to plenty of writers...Stephen King has definitely had some endings that didn't work all that well IMO, but am I glad I read it? Sure, but unlike many of Koontz's other works, I don't imagine this is one I'll be dying to reread again and again in the future.

[Pål]

I agree, I was also a little disappointed by the ending. The book needed more story for that solution to really work.

[Kateblue]

K.L. wrote: "It felt like two different stories that were bring forced together."

I hadn't really thought of it like that. But it does seem that the reason for the ending could have been another book entirely.

Pål also wrote: "I don't imagine this is one I'll be dying to reread again and again in the future"

So true. I have several that I remember and wouldn't mind rereading, but only one that I know the name of--Watchers.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Finally started reading The Other Emily this morning. Plan to finish in a few days.

[Claire]

It's funny that he lost you half way in because that's when he picked me up. I felt it was very slow to start, but once David got moving and taking some action it got more interesting.

Honestly, I felt David was kind of flat and didn't care much for him. His entire personality was grieving man who feels guilty and is look for his missing girlfriend. There wasn't a lot else to him, like with Odd Thomas who was also grieving but had so much more to him.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

I'm almost finished with The Other Emily - this is not going to be one of my favorites.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Mary wrote: "So, is this another series? If so, does it go back and start with devoted?"

I don't think it's a series and The Other Emily is not connected to Devoted.

[Mary]

I just finished it, and I loved it! I had read some of his older books, and this one made me think of them, the ones from the 80s/early 90s. I thought it was surprising he didn't include a dog as one of the main characters, and I would have liked to see a little rearranging of some plot elements, but overall, it was really good.

[K.L.]

Dustin Crazy little brown owl wrote: "I'm almost finished with The Other Emily - this is not going to be one of my favorites."

definitely not making the top ten list for me

[Susan]

I read Devoted, Elsewhere and The Other Emily in sequence. I liked Elsewhere and Emily. I was kind of disappointed with Devoted. I found some of the plot points from Devoted and Elsewhere reflected on Emily. As I said in my review for Emily (on Goodreads and Amazon), a group of stories went to a party and fell into a mix master. New elements kept being added to the story, kind of like one of my long dreams.

[Karen]

Agreed. The ending was the part I couldn't buy into.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Susan wrote: "I read Devoted, Elsewhere and The Other Emily in sequence. I liked Elsewhere and Emily. I was kind of disappointed with Devoted. I found some of the plot points from Devoted and Elsewhere reflected..."

Elsewhere is my favorite of the three Dean Koontz novels published so far by Thomas & Mercer (Amazon Publishing).

[Kateblue]

Does anyone else have trouble with the Amazon published books because they insist upon being double spaced? It bugged me in Emily, and then I started devoted and quit because of it

[Pål]

Devoted is worth the read, especially if you have Watchers in the back of your head reading it. ebook/Kindle would solve your issue I guess?

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

I hadn't really noticed the spacing in hardcover edition. I have a harder time when the print is smaller and when the words are closer together.

[Kateblue]

Pål wrote: "Devoted is worth the read, especially if you have Watchers in the back of your head reading it. ebook/Kindle would solve your issue I guess?"

That's where I am getting the extra spacing. Grr. But thanks for trying, Pål.

[Pål]

I see, FYI on the Kindle I’m using there are 3 different spacing options.

[Kateblue]

Yes, I have tried all of the spacing options, but no luck. Devoted, like Emily, seems to have some sort of "enhanced" features (I think Emily said enhanced--have not looked for a while), and there was a direction about how to turn them off. But the menu on my Kindle did not contain the command that the directions said it would.

It's been a while since I looked, and I am reading other things instead of devoted now, so just forget I said anything :-)

[Matthew]

Hello, friends and neighbors--I finished the book a few days ago and definitely wonder what others thought. Let me ask for everyone's opinion...do you all think this story could have been told without the time travel element? Was thinking about that after I closed the book and I do believe that with a little tinkering time travel could've been left out and that would've resulted in fewer readers scratching their heads.

[Karen]

I agree. The time traveler aspect left me uneasy as a plot direction. I think there were others possibilities. I was totally taken by the book until the resolution.

[Fred]

The book is good. Different approach to other Koontz books with a little “love”. The time travel access makes the story, a “past” person you loved is gone & a ”new” person appears to love. Knows your past already? The Other Emily...

[Mary]

fyi
7/20
The Other Emily is reduced price
$4.99

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Thank you for posting about the special ebook price Mary :-)

[Mary]

If you haven’t yet read my novel, The Other Emily, I can’t help but wonder what’s wrong with you. Well, whatever it is, you can for a period of time read it free if you’re an Amazon Prime member.

FREE---NOV FREE with Prime, Nov, 14, 2022