Liz and Lisa hit it out of the park again! The Two Lila Bennetts pulls the reader in from the first page. Told alternating between two scenarios, we follow Lila Bennett as her life, one bad decision after another, unravels.

Like the skill of a Sushi Chef Artisan, this one is sliced to perfection with dueling scenarios.

The Two Lila Bennetts has been crafted by the talented writing duo of Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke. Once again, it's a literary collaboration with just the right amount of twists and turns. The authors themselves refer to a sliding door concept. Do you get on the train just before the doors slam shut? Or do you stand on the platform and decide to take a cab instead? The outcome of your life can be changed forever.

We meet Lila Bennett, a successfully ambitious criminal attorney in Los Angeles. Our gal LIla is certainly not the poster child for compassionate behavior. She's got a selfish streak a mile long. Her initials should have been M.E.. Lila is married to Ethan, a once successful novelist, who has had nothing but writer's block and depression since his one and only hit several years ago. Lila isn't one to hold hands. Lila builds relationships where there shouldn't be brick and mortar.

Back to those sliding doors..........

Fenton and Steinke have us turning a page to find Lila on the stone floor of a dark and damp room. Her hands and feet are tied tightly. No one hears her cries for help. But a masked stranger enters and tells Lila that she is being kept for a reason. Miserable and terrified, Lila's legal negotiations don't seem to be working here. These chapters will be entitled "Captured".

The flip side to this will be chapters entitled "Free" where Lila is able to go about her usual routine in life. And these "sliding doors" will be the highlight of this storyline. Are there lessons to be learned here for a wayward life? Will there be a touch of a Charles Dickens Christmas Carol triumph in buying "the fatted goose in the shop window" on Christmas morning? Or will Lila be weighed down into oblivion by her constant lies and deceitfulness? Someone may not have a good outcome.

The Two Lila Bennetts is quite the read in the hands of these creative authors. Just the ticket for a perk for your summer reading.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Lake Union Publishing and to Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke for the opportunity.

Lila Bennett's bad choices have finally caught up with her and this time, she may not be able to get out of them alive. In "The Two Lila Bennetts," we see her life cleaved into two: in one, she is taken hostage by a mysterious kidnapper and forced to reckon with what she's done to those around her, and in another, she's evaded her captor but someone else is intent on destroying her life and what she's accomplished.

I sped through this book and not in a good way. I was more anxious to finish it. I could not sympathize with Lila or any of the characters. Toward the end, the plot felt like it was going off the rails and well, it was kind of messy.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book is scheduled to be released on 07/23/2019.

WOW! Kudos to Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke , Authors of "The Two Lila Bennetts", for writing such a captivating, enthralling, intense, riveting, suspenseful and chilling mystery.  I was just going to check "The Two Lila Bennetts" out for just a moment, and was so engrossed I finished this in one sitting. The Genres for this novel are Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, and Thriller.  This is quite a thought-provoking story and has the feel of the movie "Sliding Doors" with actress Gwyneth Paltrow , or a Twilight Zone episode on TV, or even Alfred Hitchcock.  This story can be interpreted in several ways. Is it two characters and two different universes, or one character split with mysterious purposes? In any event, I can promise you a shocking adventure while reading this book.

The author describes her dramatic cast of characters as complex and complicated. Lila Bennett is a Defense Attorney, who is aggressive and determined. Most of her clients could be guilty, but Lila has the reputation of being a winner. Lila has made poor choices in her life, and it looks like it is time for pay-back. There are a number of characters that want revenge on Lila.  It looks like in this parallel universe, Lila's life or lives will soon be over as she knows it. Who? What? How? Why? When?

I highly recommend this amazing novel for those readers who enjoy an intense, shocking and suspenseful story.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to.

3.5 stars, but rounding up to 4. It was a quick, fun read, but not quite as suspenseful or surprising at the end I was expecting. I do love these authors though and will continue to read everything they write!

This book has a very interesting concept. You get to see a pivotal moment in the protagonist's life and what the consequences are in two different choices made that affect her life drastically. I really enjoyed the concept and the mysteries of who is the one wrecking chaos in her life. Will she find redemption? Which choices are the "right" choices? Very edge of your seat type book I think many will enjoy!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ecopy for my Kindle.
Interesting plot and most of the characters will end up making better decisions, but the language could have been toned down.

This book was so good! It honestly kept me on my toes the entire time, and I didn’t figure it out until the end. This is the perfect summer page-turner, and it’s unlike any book I’ve read. I really enjoyed going through both of the lives, and it kept me very intrigued.

Thank you for the copy. I’ll be posting a review on my bookstagram
@fellinabookandcantgetup

4.5 stars, rounded up

Have you ever thought about how drastically your life could change if you had just made a few different decisions?

Lila Bennett is a successful defense attorney in LA who finds herself forced to face the decisions of her past. One evening her life splits after one particular decision and the reader sees both stories played out in alternating chapters.

This was unlike anything else I’ve read in terms of the concept. It was well-executes and was quite the page turner! There were a few areas that felt could have been developed better, but overall I definitely recommend this book and I’m planning to go back and read some of their past novels.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me
a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I was a huge fan of other Fenton/Steinke books but for some reason I could not get into this book. After trying several times, I have unfortunately given up. Our library will still purchase the title as may partons liked the previous books. Thank you for the advanced copy.

This was a great beach/pool read but it’s best to have a glass of wine with you while reading as it’s pretty intense. I was worried that I had figured out the ending way too early but am pleased to report that I never saw it coming. I have been a long time fan of these two authors and will read anything they write. That being said, I miss their “lighter” books. The ones that made me laugh and smile. This is the second or third book in a row that’s been pretty dark. I’m hoping to go back to the light.
I received an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Thank You Net Galley/ Lake Union Publishing and the authors Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke for a chance to review this book.

I understand from the author's comments in Goodreads that there's a movie with a similar concept as the book. But as I have not watched the movie, I had no idea what it was about but The Two Lila Bennetts made me think about Life After Life by Kate Atkinson. It is one of the literary classics but sadly never felt right for my small brain. Don't get me wrong, the Two Lila Bennetts is a real winner, a story of choices and regrets and retribution, there's something deliciously dark about making a choice and knowing that there is possibly an extremely different outcome that may occur due to those decisions. Lila Bennett is not totally good or totally bad but the grey shades of her character makes us feel for her. Each and every fork in the road transforms her and it was easy to see the changes that can happen otherwise. Both halves of Lila Bennett were rich in detail and the suspense takes the story to a totally different level. Even though the tormentor could be guessed at, the pages kept flying for me to know how it all wraps up in the end.

Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke have done it again - this pair of writers has teamed up for another book that you simple cannot put down.

Lila Bennett is not a good person - and her bad choices are about to catch up to her. Lila is a criminal defense attorney who has just gotten her client acquitted of murder, even though she is internally questioning his innocence. She's also engaged in an affair with her best friend's husband, who also happens to be her boss. When Lila makes a simple choice - go to dinner with her married boyfriend or go home to her husband - her life diverges on two separate courses following the consequences of each decision.

In one timeline, Lila is kidnapped and held by a captor who knows all about her destructive choices and internal doubts - and makes her relive them one by one, calling into question everyone she trusts and has confided in - because Lila's bad choices have given plenty of people the motive to destroy her. In the alternate timeline, Lila narrowly avoids a kidnapping but has someone pulling at the threads of her life, trying to dismantle it all however they can. In both timelines, Lila is left to wonder who is behind the destruction of her life and how she can turn it all around to be a different person that she can be proud of.

Will Lila survive either timeline? Will her marriage or friendships make it through? Is it possible to redeem yourself after years of selfish mistakes?

This book is a perfect lazy day beach read with a flawed main character that you still manage to root for and a look at the compelling question of how much small decisions can impact our lives.

Loved this book. Loved this author. Parallel story about a flawed woman, Lila Bennett, and what happens once she begins to see the errors she has made and how she tries to redeem herself.

I was excited to read this book and was unfortunately disappointed. I found it hard to follow. I gave up a third of the way through.

Thank you Net Galley for giving me the opportunity.

This was a twist turny edge of your seat book! It kept me guessing to the end. Another great book by these two authors! Just might be their best book yet!! Thank you for the early copy!!

I really enjoyed this book: my favorite of these authors so far! I wasn’t sure how it was going to end until, well, the end. (That’s not always the case for me when I am reading!) Unexpected twists, excellent development of Lila’s characters, a struggle between good and evil...what more can you ask for?

What a great story. Told with such complexity and compassion. So insightful to the everyday choices we make and consequences that follow. Such a fresh and interesting perspective into the human heart and soul.
Highly recommend!!
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book for an honest review.

I received an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review


This was just ok. Passed the time but not much in the way of craft.