Thank you Netgalley for the ARC! I wanted to like this story but it was slow and uneventful. I had a hard time focusing when reading it. I rate this book a 2.1

I really enjoyed this book and am surprised I've never seen it posted anywhere. I enjoyed the pacing and interconnectedness of the story. Even though the ending left me unsatisfied, I appreciated the journey and the unique plot.

I found The Other Side of Everything by Lauren Doyle Owens to be such an underrated gem of a book! Tying together both plot and character growth, a adored reading this novel about the aftermath of a murder in a Florida community.

Though I liked the book, I made the decision when I finished not to review it on my site because it didn't fit into my editorial schedule. I may include it in a review post or possibly a book list post in the future.

The Other Side of Everything
by Lauren Doyle Owens FOUR STARS!!! Thank you to the publisher and author for an e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book was a little disappointing. Maybe I expected too much from the synopsis. Slow read and the ending left a lot to be desired. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC of this book in return for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this title. I liked that this book stands on it's own in a genre. Lately, all of the books coming out are of a similar vein. This one reaches outside the box. Likewise, the characters are all different than most you'll see...and you have different generations interacting in this mystery. I really enjoyed this.

This book was not what I expected, but this is a good thing. When reading a book about murder, there is a level of thrill and chill expected as the story evolves. This, to me, was more emotional that it was thrilling. I felt for all the characters involved because I felt like I knew them. The author wrote with wonderful, detailed characteristics for each person involved, and this made the book move quick. It was an enjoyable read, even with a heavy topic.

This is an intriguing, dark read. At first, I wasn’t sure about it, but it grew on me as I became more and more attached to the characters. It’s the story of a fairly close-knit neighborhood, its inhabitants and their reactions as first one, then another elderly person are brutally murdered. These aren’t superbly likable characters, each of them has done (and some continue to do) some not-so-pleasant things. Yet, somehow, I was drawn to them, flaws and all. Bernard, the elderly man who knew (and didn’t really like) the murder victim, gathers together with the other longtime residents to create safety in numbers. Amy, the emotionally messed up cancer survivor who begins to paint what she believed happened during the murders, to the point where she draws suspicion upon herself. And Maddie, the teenage waitress who might know who committed the murders but doesn’t really believe it. A captivating story with a satisfying conclusion.

On a stormy day, a gruesome tragedy will unsettle a quiet town in Florida. Bernard was the first to smell the smoke and called 911. But it was too late. When the paramedics carried Adel out covered in a white sheet, life in the Seven Springs would never be the same. Especially for Bernard, Amy, and Maddie.

The Other Side of Everything is about the intersection of three individuals, three different generations, living in a small town. Bernard, a widower, lost his wife from Cancer and a lover from suicide. He lives alone in his home which he rarely leaves. Amy, an artist and cancer survivor has lost her spirit to live. Numbing her pain through alcohol, her marriage is slowly whittling until her husband leaves. Maddie is a 15-year-old trying to navigate herself in an adult world. With her father working at night, she fumbles through life making some wrong decisions to placate the wound left by her mother’s abandonment. The murder creates a shift in all these individuals, bringing back some feeling from the numbness. Creating movement where there was stagnation. It causes everyone to take a hard look in the mirror.

Owen’s ease of writing creates a novel that is pleasurable to read. She uses just the right words and amount to fill our imaginations with the characters and scenes. She develops each character slowly and carefully, revealing relevant details while leaving some questions for the reader’s imagination. The plot of the novel is unique and different from other mysteries I have read. The piece almost comes across as more psychological rather than a crime story. The three main characters have experienced loss in several ways. Bernard his wife and a lover, Amy her uterus, and Maddie’s abandonment. All of these individuals are in a stagnant state of purgatory crippled by their pain. As we learn the backstory of the characters, we understand their present life. Each of these characters finds a way to deal with the crime, some finding their passion again. And then there is another murder.

Owen’s creates an emotionality charged atmosphere of an elderly population. There is a polarization of loneliness and isolation to companionship and love. With the loss of life in the story, the emotional fragility of age gives the reader a deeper awareness on the backside of life.

As I former resident of Fort Lauderdale, I really enjoyed being transported to the Sunshine state. From the afternoon threats of thunderstorms, the no-see-ums longing to nip at your skin, the endless display of canals and waterways, Owen’s depiction of Florida is on point. Tropical Acres!

Overall, this was an entertaining novel and binge-worthy read, I recommend The Other Side of Everything.

Thank you, NetGalley, Touchstone, and the author for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Don’t write this one off as just another murder mystery. The varying viewpoints don’t fall under the “unreliable” trend so rampant lately. There is a lot of depth here, interwoven to create a compelling cast of characters as the crimes are solved.

This is crime fiction that's more emotional than thrilling, but that's not a bad thing. You get to know the characters very well. They're all very different people, at different points of their life, but share one small connection: the neighborhood they live in.

Bernard has been in this neighborhood for what seems like forever. He's watched as some people move on, some people die, couples become one half of a whole... new people move in, everything changes. A widower, he lives a solitary existence, his adult children being scattered around the country. It's just Bernard and his ghosts in the house... his wife and the lover he lost. Every day seems to be the same, leaving him to look forward to the one day a week he runs errands and gets to interact with other people. One day, a neighbor is murdered. An old woman named Adel, she was supposed to die peacefully in her sleep... not bludgeoned in her kitchen. Who would do such a thing?

Maddie is a 15 year old waitress, missing her mother who simply took off one day. Her best friend recently left town as well, leaving her with only her younger brother and father. Lonely and restless, she has a hard time dealing with the abandonment. When someone she's grown fond of is arrested for murder, she's shaken to her core. He couldn't have possibly done it, right?

Amy is an artist who hasn't been creating. She's had huge health issues and turned to the bottle while pushing away her husband. He left town to work, but she's unsure if he'll ever come back... and she's not sure if she wants her too. Upon learning of the murder, she can't stop thinking about it. She begins to create again... sketches and paintings of Adel, of her final moments, of the murderer.

A lovely read, even if it is dark at times. The characters are so fleshed out, you feel like you know them. It's a great character study with a mystery attached, and a nice quick read I managed to finish in only two sittings.

I received an ARC of this book from Net Galley and Touchstone, thank you! My review is honest and unbiased.

The Other Side of Everything from Lauren Doyle Owens explores the lives of three characters as a series of murders takes place in a Florida community. That’s a one-sentence description of the book for those who want a quick summary. But for those who want a bit more, read on…

The Other Side of Everything concerns crime, murders to be precise, and so the book may be categorized as a crime novel and will probably end up on the mystery shelf in bookshops. But while this emotionally rich novel includes crime, the plot is more concerned with how residents in Seven Springs, this run-down, post-boom Florida community, react to the murders and how the murders impact their lives.

the other side of everything

Under scrutiny here are three characters: Bernard, a widower in his late seventies, a lonely man who lives with regrets. Then there’s middle-aged artist Amy who is not coping mentally following a cancer diagnosis which resulted in a hysterectomy and a double mastectomy. Finally there’s Maddie, a fifteen year old girl who lives with her mostly absent father and teenage brother after her mother abandoned them. All three of these people cope with their unhappy lives in various ways, and the murders pull them, ultimately, out of the ruts they’ve sunk into.

The Florida housing tract still contains some of the ‘originals‘–people who moved there in the 50s and 60s, but many of them died in the decades that passed. The first victim is one of the originals, and as other murders take place, it’s clear that someone is targeting elderly women. Bernard, who exists on frozen burritos and ice cream sandwiches, reconnects with Danny, an old friend he hasn’t seen in years even though they live just a few blocks apart. This visit forces memories of his prime to the surface:

Bernard looked around the sunporch, hunting for familiar objects. They used to play canasta out on the porch on hot summer nights in the days before air-conditioning. They would smoke cigarettes and laugh and drink. He could feel the ghosts of them all in that room, he could almost hear their lighthearted chatter, almost smell the cigarettes and beer.

Amy, alone now that her architect husband left to go work in San Juan, becomes obsessed with the first murder. The elderly victim lived right behind her, and Amy begins painting a series of murder scenes which are so realistic, she becomes a suspect.

Maddie who cuts herself to redirect her emotional pain, waitresses at the local diner where men try to get her attention. For the most part, her prickliness acts as armour, but then she accepts a ride from a young man named Nate whose predatory behaviour is magnified by Maddie’s lack of parental protection.

I’m not going to mince words here: I loved this novel for strong characterizations, and its exploration of pain and loneliness. The murders and the subsequent solution were the least satisfying aspect of the story, but for this reader, that matters little. The characters are well-formed, believable people, caught in sadness, depression and regrets. Bernard hears the voices of both his dead wife and his dead mistress Vera, and while he understands that he made his wife unhappy (and didn’t deserve her kindness) he still has unresolved questions about Vera’s death. Amy spends hours looking at adoption websites:

She hovered over the photo of a three-year-old girl, and lingered for a bit, noting the girl’s tired eyes and crooked smile. Amy imagined making breakfast for her, and making up songs about tying shoes, teaching her how to paint, and walking her to school. She imagined a life in an instant, and, just as fast, it was gone.

A smattering of wry humour appears through Bernard’s friend, the impressible Danny, who doesn’t use his air conditioning because it’s a “waste of money” and who thinks sweating is “like exercise without the work.” Danny loves being a widower even though all the “lookers” are dead.

“But these are the best years, aren’t they? This is what we did all that other stuff for.”

Bernard was taken aback. These were hardly the best years. They were more like purgatory.

“Think about it,” Danny continued, a finger in the air, “our wives are gone, we can do whatever we want, with whomever we want. We can have whiskey sours for breakfast! We can look at internet porn! In-ter-net porn!”

In contrast, Bernard thinks that “impotence is the greatest gift of old age“ and now, in retrospect realises how much energy he wasted “thinking about sex.”

Three people: Bernard, Amy, and Maddie. Three people at different stages of their lives, all struggling with incidents flung at them: death, cancer, and abandonment. All three pried out of their lives by a murder investigation.

The rain was soft at first–tapping politely on the flat white roofs; dribbling down blades of grass; collecting in droplets on large, saucer-like leaves. Then, the rain began to drive, battering the large, bushy fronds of cabbage palms, disturbing delicate Bougainvillea blossoms, and hammering the ground, causing mud to rise among perfect blades of St. Augustine grass, creating puddles where the driveways met the streets of Seven Springs, Florida.

An aside, this novel was NOT told through multiple voices. I’m getting a bit tired of the device to be honest. Now I’m waiting for the next book from Lauren Doyle Owens. She’s shown how much can be done with crime.

Review copy

*I received this book from NetGally in exchange for an honest review.

Such a fun read! The narrative of this book follows three people from all different ages and walks of life who just so happen to live in the same neighborhood as the effects of a murder begin to take shape. Owens seamlessly weaves each character's narrative together to create a beautiful (and slightly terrifying) story. Owens also leaves the reader with no loose ends left as the book comes to a close. I couldn't guess if the main characters even had a deeper connection than living close, but in the last few pages discovered what Owens had been crafting from the very beginning.
*** Spoiler Alert*** There are a few severe emotional scenes where it describes one of the characters cutting themselves. This may be a trigger for some. ******
Overall though, I highly recommend this book!

Less a mystery (although there is one) than a novel about the impact of a murder on three diverse individuals in what they thought was a tight knit community. Bernard, Amy, and Maddie have almost nothing in common on the surface- he's a 79 year old widower, Amy's a cancer survivor, and Maddie's a teen. Still waters, however, run deep because they've all experienced a loss and even though those losses are different, they have each been deeply affected. At the start the three are linked only by their vague connections to the murder victim(s) but by the end, they've emerged from their shells to become more complex and intriguing characters. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

This book was a novel with a side of mystery. Through the course of the book the reader gets to know Bernard, retired 79 year-old who still thinks about the affair he had many years ago, Amy, a young artist who has survived cancer and is separated from her husband, and Maddie, a 15 year-old waitress who is trying to deal with the abandonment of her mother. The book flips between the 3 points of view to give an overall look at a community that seems to have a serial killer targeting elderly women. At no point in time does the book delve into the actual investigation so no need for magnifying glasses or a deerstalker. The characters are focused on protecting themselves and less on finding the murderer. I really enjoyed Ms. Owens' character development but would caution those who are more interested in a serious who-done-it that this might not be the book for them.

I received this book "The Other Side of Everything" from Netgalley for my honest review.
This story is told from the points of view of three different people, there is Bernard, Maddie and Amy. Although I found it hard to focus on the story at first it did pick up and was interesting. I wouldn't call this book a thriller so if that is what you are looking for this isn't it. I was really disappointed towards the end as the story seems rushed and I was left wanting more details. The end of the book kinda just ended and I said out loud - that's it? I found the characters likeable and interesting but the story was all over the place and some of the story lines seemed to disappear and you never find out why it was even in the book to begin with. It was an okay read.

3 1/2 Stars
While this book contained very little suspense, it did have heart. Brimming with life in the midst of death, these neighbors ban together and past hurts are healed and lives put back together again in ways they didn’t see coming. This book is much more than a crime drama, it’s a book about family, a book about relationships and in the end a book about what matters most.

Three points of view make up The Other Side of Everything, and the novel's main interest for me has to do more with the characters than the crimes. The first crime provides an inciting moment that begins changes in outlook.

Bernard, a widower, feels isolated and has little desire to do anything about it. Amy is an artist who won't paint and her marriage has been strained by Amy's cancer surgery, depression, and drinking. And fifteen-year-old Maddie,whose mother just left one day, leaving Maddie, her brother, and her father bewildered and bereft.

In the small Florida community, an elderly woman is brutally killed. The effect on each of our protagonists is different, but far-reaching. Then another elderly woman is murdered, the police are making no headway, and the entire community feels besieged.

I really liked the insight into the three main characters, each one presenting emotional and social problems: the difficulties of an aging population, the intense trauma of cancer, the feeling of being deserted by someone you love. And more.

Just an aside-- as Bernard frequently drops into memories of the small community, he remembers an exceptionally cold winter when iguanas froze and fell from trees. An unusual cold for Florida. Now, in January, I just read an article about that happening during our current deep freeze!

Read in January.

NetGalley/Touchstone

Crime/Mystery. Jan. 23, 2018. Print length: 272 pages.