If you're a mystery buff who appreciates homage to the greats or someone who is interested in writing as a process as well as reading as a pastime, this one is for you. In "After She Wrote Him" Sulari Gentill juxtaposes the lives of a writer and a character... and the reader is left to determine which is which. Is Madeleine a writer creating Edward, whose life is full of the intrigues you might expect from James Bond? Or is Madeleine Edward's creation? I confess that it took me a few chapters to get accustomed to the shifts between the two characters, but I really enjoyed the meta aspect and the discussions about what it takes to bring a mystery story to life. You will will really feel involved in solving this one!

2 stars

Pros:

Plot - extremely clever and quite unique.

Fluidity - the author did a amazing job and interweaving the coming and goings of the main character and Edward.

Cons:

Language - I HATED it. The tone was pompous. A little to refined for me.

Characters - I didn't find ANY of them remotely interesting. To me, they were flat and uninteresting.

I can't say much more than that. I had high hopes for this book due to the originality of the plot. It just wasn't for me.

*ARC recieved from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

It is not often that I come across something in a book that is new and unique. Many times we fall into the same tropes and characters that are similar- This book isn’t that.
After she wrote him is an amazing book that melds 2 characters stories into each other so brilliantly that there were times I had to stop and figure out which prospective I was reading from. I wish the text maybe differentiated the prospectives just a bit as it would be a bit easier to follow.
If you love who did it crime novels and unique prospectives, I think you will love this book.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced readers copy I exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and #netgalley for the advanced copy for my honest review. This book comes out April 7, 2020!

Tiny Synopsis: Madeleine d’Leon is a lawyer and a writer - her new character Edward just suddenly appears in her head and she finds herself obsessed with finishing out the crime fiction story poised to be her next book.

Edward McGinnity, on the other hand, is also busy with his own story. Also a writer, he is writing about Madeleine, who is an author, writing about him. They become obsessed with each other that takes them through some twists and solving a mysterious murder. Which leads to this question: Who is the author and who is the real protagonist in the story?

My Review:⭐️⭐⭐/ 5 stars

This story took me by surprise. I did not know what to expect from this but the plot is so original. I did not realize this took place in Australia, until the incident with kangaroos occurred midway through the book. The idea is very entertaining, and you are on your toes trying to figure out who really is the author and go back and forth trying to figure out. However, I felt Madeleine and Edward’s relationship went a bit too far. Trying to not give away spoilers, but you will know what I am talking about when you read it… I could not get over the really strange relationship their journey leads to and it took away from the actual story. The story was entertaining, but I definitely did not love it.

Very clever way to tell a story, unlike anything I’ve read before.

Thanks to Netgalley for the free read in exchange for an honest review.

This book had so much potential just by the premise. It was a little sad for me to admit that although I loved the writing here it was really engrossing but also VERY confusing. At times you just couldn't tell who's who, it might've been the writer's aim but it just didn't work that way for me!!

“It’s an exploration of an author’s relationship with her protagonist, an examination of the tenous line between belief and reality, imagination and self, and what happens when that line is crossed.”

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the chance to read the Advance Reader’s Copy. This does not, in any way, affect my review of the book.

I was blown away by how engrossing and complex After She Wrote Him is! It explores this meticulously crafted meta fiction world of two characters, Maddie and Edward, whose lives are completely entangled by their written creations.

Imagine: a story about an author, Maddie, writing a book that centers around this character, Edward, who is also an author and decided to write a crime story about a character a.k.a. Maddie. They are aware of the existence of each other and it had this Sense8* thing going on where they “see” and “feel” each other. Don’t get me wrong, it does sound interesting and confusing when you think about it based on that premise alone. But wow, the concept of this psychological thriller is so SO fascinating! The execution? Unflinching!

Sulari Gentill did a fantastic job of writing the different narratives and perspectives that it made me question the difference between imagination and delusion and figure out who really is the author and the creation.

It didn’t just make me question the things that these two did, it also made me doubt the people around them. Are Maddie and Edward telling and seeing the truth or are they simple such unreliable and untrustworthy narrators?

After She Wrote Him comes out this coming April 7! Please check it out, friends!

“Her art was to torture this man, her instinct to protect him.”

*Sense8 is my ultimate favorite show on Earth and I highly recommend you watch it. It’s about 8 people from different parts of the world who can see, hear, feel, each other without being physically together.

I wasn’t quite sure how Gentill would pull this thriller off: writing about an author named Madeleine who writes a crime story about Edward, an author himself and whose next book is about an author, Madeleine. It was crazy but Gentill did great. From the very beginning, it was a smooth transition between Madeleine’s and Edward’s part of the story. It was so good, I didn’t even notice it anymore. I’m not sure if it was Gentill’s intend, but the lines between the stories started to really blur after a while. They seemed to become one and it was difficult to decipher if I was now reading Edward’s part of the story or Madeleine’s.

The revolving stories about Madeleine and Edward were interesting but not as exciting as the concept of After She Wrote Him. I was frustrated after the halfway point about the whole story. It felt like the stories weren’t progressing anymore or rather they didn’t progress towards anything. There were also zero plot twists or other twists and turns – to me at least. I may have missed them, though, because the more I read, there more bored I became and let my mind wander and think about other things. The ending left me with so many questions. The story seemed unfinished and I still don’t know what the point of the story was.

The concept was amazing and so refreshing. The outcome, however, was rather unsatisfying. I had hoped for something different.

I have read many entries in Sulari Gentill's Rowland Sinclair series and very much enjoyed them.  Ms. Gentill created a very full, interesting world in those novels, peopled by characters with whom I wanted to spend time.


After She Wrote Him was something new for the author and for me as well.  This book is a standalone.  A story about Madeleine and Edward, it is idiosyncratic and unique.  While I admire the risks that the author took in this title, I prefer the Rowly series.  Still, I will always take a look at anything this author writes.


Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title in exchange for an honest review.

❝𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢’𝚛𝚎 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜. 𝙽𝚘 𝚘𝚗𝚎’𝚜 𝚐𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚘𝚛 𝚍𝚒𝚎.❞
— 𝙰𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚂𝚑𝚎 𝚆𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚎 𝙷𝚒𝚖

𝐇 𝐎 𝐍 𝐄 𝐒 𝐓 𝐓 𝐇 𝐎 𝐔 𝐆 𝐇 𝐓 𝐒:
Okay.. wow! I feel like I just got thrown into a psychological thriller movie. I’m still trying to wrap my head around what I just read! But—I loved it! It had romance, murder mystery, betrayal.. lust! Is she crazy? Did he do it? I just honestly did not want to put this book down. It was a little slow at first, but it picked up the pace and I just couldn’t stop myself until it was over! Honestly, the ending still has me gasping! I did NOT see that coming! Thank you for blowing my mind!

𝐅 𝐀 𝐕 𝐎 𝐑 𝐈 𝐓 𝐄 𝐐 𝐔 𝐎 𝐓 𝐄 𝐒:
❝𝚈𝚘𝚞’𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚜𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚐𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚜, 𝚘𝚏 𝚐𝚞𝚒𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚒𝚖𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎. 𝙸𝚝’𝚜 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚛𝚎.❞

❝𝙽𝚘𝚝 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚖𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚍. 𝚂𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚜 𝚒𝚝’𝚜 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊 𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚙 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔. 𝚃𝚛𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚎𝚕𝚜𝚎.❞

I received a copy of After She Wrote Him from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

It took me a few days upon finishing Sulari Gentill’s After She Wrote Him to even begin writing this review. Before I go into why let me tell you a little bit about this unique book.

Madeline d’Leon is a crime writer with a burgeoning career who pens a series that is gaining in popularity when suddenly she has an idea for a stand alone novel, possibly her best one to date. Enter her protagonist Edward McGinnity a young, handsome and wealthy literary fiction writer who has found a bit of success. Now Edward is setting out to write his most ambitious novel yet, a novel about a crime writer named Madeline d’Leon.

After She Wrote Him began brilliantly. The way Sulari Gentill seamlessly wove together the stories of Madeline and Edward was pure genius, it gave me chills and I couldn’t get enough. I wanted to scream to everyone I knew “READ THIS BOOK!!!” but this is also the kind of book where you cannot easily predict the outcome and I knew that I needed to finish before I began singing its praises, because it could go either way.

I was so engrossed in the magic that is Sulari Gentill’s writing that it took me until the 73% mark to realize that she really needed to pick up the pace because there wasn’t a whole lot happening beyond her magical writing. I wasn’t too worried about that though because things were just beginning to gain steam and at that point, After She Wrote Him was still hands down a 5 star read for me. However, I knew I still needed to finish before coming to any final conclusions seeing as I still hadn’t a clue how this novel was going to end.

And then it ended...and I couldn’t figure out if this was now a 3 star read for me or still 5. Was the ending genius or a let down? I couldn’t and still haven’t decided. I do feel as though, whether genius or let down, the end was a bit rushed. I rarely call for a book to be longer but if this one had just had about 50 pages more to flesh it out, to not make me feel as if everything in the climax happened at a breakneck pace I would probably have leaned more toward genius.

I realize that this book isn’t going to be for everyone but I do still highly recommend it for the beautifully crafted story and even for the ending which, love it or hate it, will absolutely have your wheels turning long after you’ve read the final page.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I did enjoy this book, I want to state that first and foremost. But I did find parts of it rather confusing. I know the point of this book was to blur the lines between fact and fiction, but parts of it just didn't make sense. I felt some of the confusing parts kind of stopped the flow of the story and became very distracting.

Thank you kindly to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this review copy.

When I first heard about this book, I was immediately drawn to its premise - a murder mystery that blurs the lines between reality and fiction. Author Madeleine d'Leon is working on her latest novel, which features a handsome, tortured author by the name of Edward McGinty. While Edward finds himself swept up in a murder investigation, he is also working on a new novel... featuring Madeleine d'Leon.

While I enjoyed this book, there were a handful of moments where I struggled to figure out who was who, particularly in Maddie's case. This may have been intentional on Sulari Gentill's part to further instill the sense of mystery, but I do have to take away a star because I found myself being taken out of the story at times.

All that being said, it was a gratifying journey, and I sincerely thank Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read a digital ARC of this book!

I really enjoyed this book and am quite fascinated with how the author (Sulari Gentill) was able to not only put the idea together, but also write it onto pages in a way that wasn't confusing or weighted down. It's like two stories in one!

As a writer, I found the character of Madeleine d'Leon fascinating. I guess it's ok to classify her as the main character, without spoiling the story. She lives a pretty hum-drum life working as a contract corporate lawyer and living in a quaint village with her doctor husband. The most exciting thing about her life is that she's a writer and has created moderate success for herself through a popular crime writing series. But, one day, instead of focusing on the next read in her book series, she comes up with the character of Edward McGinnity - a single well-to-do guy living the bachelor life. Edward is also a writer and while Madeleine is writing about him, he is writing about her.

It is the duality of this novel that I loved the most. Who is real? Who is imaginary? Is Madeleine descending into madness or is Edward? Or perhaps they both are? These are just some of the questions I had after finishing the book. I didn't really care for the ending because it seemed to me like there should have been more to the story. Overall, I highly recommend it - especially if you're a writer.

While I did like this book I found it a little hard to follow and at times a little confusing...otherwise it was pretty good

After She Wrote Him is an original thriller that I found intriguing from the first chapter. It's well written and really cleverly done. The main character Madeline is a writer... and so is Edward, the character in her story. They write each other. It does take a bit of concentration to stay with it but the two worlds segue in a seamless way, The plot is intertwined in such a way that it becomes hard to tell which point of view is real which is central to the novel. I found it interesting the extent that living in an imaginary world is part of what a writer does, yet what happens when this world becomes inseparable from reality?

I really enjoyed this book and recommend it to fans of crime fiction looking for a different take on the genre.

I received this copy from netgalley.
I have never read from this author before.
I really loved this story.
I will have to look up other books from this author. I am looking forward to more.
I really didn't know what I was getting in to when I got in to this book and was hard fo put down and didn't want to stop reading it..

This is just the type of psychological thriller that keeps you wanting more.
Try and get into the mind of a author when writing the characters in a novel with loads of twists and turns you never know where you will end up.

After She Wrote Him is a clever page-turner that is a solid first purchase for collections where thrillers are popular.

I'm a huge fan of Sulari Gentill and love her style of writing and her storytelling.
This was the first story I read out of the Rowland series and I'm more than happy I read it because it's fascinating and engrossing.
It's a sort of metabook based on a great idea and populated by great characters.
I loved it and I strongly recommend it.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.