At the beginning of SIX WEEKS TO LIVE the readers learns that Jennifer Barnes has terminal brain cancer. The forty-eight year old mother of three grown daughters has been given six weeks to live. During her doctors appointment Jennifer learns that she had tested for a high level of lead in her system the previous year . Wondering why the doctor’s office didn’t follow up she was told that they did but she declined to pursue the matter further with the doctor. Jennifer has no recollection of the conversation and her suspicions start to grow. Jennifer believes she was being poisoned and suspects her soon to be ex husband Jake. The separation has been rocky with Jake pushing hard for a divorce.
The three daughters were always referred to as triplets although Aline and Miranda are twins and Emily is a single child conceived at the same time.
Like her mother Emily is a young mother of twin boys and a part time medical student. Emily shares a close bond with her mother. Aline is a research scientist who keeps her distance and doesn’t get along with her mother. Miranda, a Daddy’s girl, is striving to find a suitable career path. She has taken on a few ventures that have failed to work out.
Jennifer calls her daughters together to share her sad news. Jennifer also shares her suspicions about being poisoned and her plans to investigate.
The story is told from the Jennifer’s and daughters points of view. Jennifer enlists her daughters help to find out if she was poisoned and if their father is the guilty party.
I liked SIX WEEKS TO LIVE. I enjoy stories told from multiple points of view. The story was well paced. The “twist” at the end did not come as a big surprise which was a little disappointing. I am a fan of Catherine McKenzie’s books. I liked some of her previous novels more than SIX WEEKS TO LIVE. It is a good summer read for fans of suspense novels.
Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada and NetGalley for allowing access to an advanced e-edition of SIX WEEKS TO LIVE.

3.25 stars
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TW; Cancer, Mental Illness, Addiction, Terminal Illness, Child Abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Abortion.
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What would you do if you've found you have six weeks to live? This is the case for Jennifer Barnes who receives some shocking news at a routine doctor's appointment - she has a terminal brain tumor. She decides to throw whatever time she has left with her triplet daughters and her grandsons by her side. During this time, she starts to realize that she might have been poisoned - she turns her attention to her ex who has the motive to want her dead.

I had some high hopes going into this one - I tried so hard to like it but in the ned, it fell a little flat. I was really interested in the 'whodunnit' aspect, trying to piece together all the clues to see if Jennifer was really poisoned or if it was just paranoia in her head. I felt bad for Jennifer during multiple moments in the book, it wasn't as if everyone was on her side when she would claim to have been poisoned, I also couldn't grasp that someone would potentially poison a loved one. I had a hard time connecting with any of the characters, but could see how some would like them!

Overall, this proved to be a good mystery that you can binge read. It just didn't do what I was hoping it would do for me, I also had an issue with the whole countdown to death - because realistically no one dies on the day the doctor tells them!
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I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, all thoughts and opinions are my own!

Six Weeks to Live is thriller meets women’s fiction. It is just as much twists as it is the layers of relationships-mothers/daughters and sisters. It was deeper than expected and held my attention to the end. Super fast paced and the reader never knows who to trust.

Thank you Netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

This one fell really flat for me. While I was frantically flipping pages and engaged, I felt like the author continuously threw it trope after trope for no obvious purpose, and then in the last chapter it was all explained and wrapped in a bow.

I read this one on a weekend of back to back psych-thrillers. I guess it was a weekend for family dramas and psych-thrillers. This book is compulsively readable. Mother of grown triplets Jennifer Barnes gets the news she's dying of brain tumor caused by lead poisoning. But who could have been poisoning her? You'll have to read the book to find out who's guilty and the story won't take you down a straight path to get to the answer.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫Six Weeks to Live - Catherine McKenzie (3.5 stars)

Thank you so much @simonschusterca & @netgalley for the gifted copy in exchange of an honest review!

I absolutely love McKenzies writing style, her writing is fast paced and easy to read and the perfect style for a thriller!

This one missed the mark for me a little bit, first of all I think just dying from poisoning would have been better than the cancer diagnosis. You’d be hard pressed to find someone who hasn’t known someone touched by this awful disease and I felt the diagnosis was handled with very little care (and symptoms basically forgotten for most of the book). We also don’t have any real length of time where she doesn’t think she’s being poisoned, so it would not have ruined the “twists”. However if it had instead been just a poisoning diagnosis and death I think this would have been a win for me. It gave me Darling Rose Good Vibes (a story which I loved) and had an excellent twist at the ending!

Thank you Netgalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for the chance to read Six weeks to live by Catherine McKenzie. Jennifer Barnes receives shocking news at a routine doctor’s appointment: she has a terminal brain tumor—and only six weeks left to live...but there's more....she may have been poisoned a year earlier. Now she is trying to figure out who is trying to kill her in her last weeks...while spending what little time she has left with her family—her adult triplets and twin grandsons—and a husband who is desperate for a divorce...enough to kill?
I will admit I had problems getting into this book and I really hate saying it because I love all of Catherine's books. There have been a few books that I have had problems getting into so it may be this time I am living in...I did keep reading and feel that it finished strong. I definitely recommend the author's books though!

In this domestic suspense novel, a mother is given heartbreaking news when diagnosed with terminal cancer. However, as she pours over the test results, she discovers something that makes her believe she might be suffering from being poisoned (not the accidental kind). The doctor reveals that her time is short and she needs to enjoy the six weeks that are left.

As the time ticks down, she starts to get her things in order, but the hunt for her killer remains forefront in her mind. She is convinced her conniving estranged husband might be to blame, but wants to prove it before she dies. The reader is taken on an interesting journey. Secrets are revealed slowly, and red herrings are sprinkled throughout, but it is the revenge taken at a moment’s notice that brings this suspenseful thriller to life.

I loved that this book hooked me from the first chapter and kept pulling me along with just the right amount of suspense and intrigue to keep me pushing through to the climatic ending. Bravo to Catherine McKenzie. This was a clever and unique story that kept me well entertained on a warm summer day.

My Rating is 5 out of 5 stars because... I love reading books about people caught in a psychological mind game, books with mysterious links to family secrets, sisterhood, brave women, determined women, strong women, motherhood, and books that remind me to question medical advice.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Publishing/Atria Books for allowing me to read a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. I could easily see this novel being developed for the big screen. Loved it.

I was surprisingly excited for this book as thrillers are totally not in my normal wheelhouse, but this sounded extremely interesting and intriguing plus, having a fellow Canadian as the author was an added bonus!

The book itself is broken down into weeks, as you can tell by the title the main character has six weeks to live. I have to admit when an author takes a different route than simply chapters, sometimes it can work, for me I was not a fan. It made the book seem so much longer than it was.

The premise was intriguing, Jennifer is diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and has 6 weeks to live. While asking the doctor how she could have possibly gotten this, they view some blood work and notice some levels had been elevated a year prior.
After looking at the files, Jennifer starts to spiral and becomes obsessed with proving that someone attempted to poison her, and now she has a small time frame to figure out who that is.

Personally I found it difficult to follow. Especially when it come to her children, triplets, grown women, but trying to follow them is quite hard. They each had, in my opinion a storyline that was delved into too deeply for a shorter book.

The book itself kept me on my toes wondering if Jennifer was really poisoned and if so, who?

As for the end, I obviously won't give it away but it was very different and deeply disturbing, also was very abrupt.

I realize reading other reviews on Goodreads done people loved it, others felt like myself. It's definitely a different book. I would suggest reading a few reviews from a few sites before making a decision to read this one.

I would like to thank Simon & Schuster Canada, Netgalley and the author Catherine Mackenzie for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review of this book.


**Trigger warning for the book itself: infertility, poisoning, infidelity, abuse ( physical)**

This was my first time reading a Catherine Mckenzie book. I enjoyed it but didn't love it. I liked the plot and that I was constantly questioning who done it.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55990757-six-weeks-to-live" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Six Weeks to Live" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1620059118l/55990757._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55990757-six-weeks-to-live">Six Weeks to Live</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3111153.Catherine_McKenzie">Catherine McKenzie</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3855726447">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
RATING: 3.5 STARS<br />2021; Atria/Simon & Schuster Canada (Simon Audio)<br />Narrated by Alex Allwine, Eileen Stevens, Julia Whalen and Caitlin Davies<br /><br />I like that this book is written by a Canadian, but also takes place in Vancouver (BC)! From the moment we find out that Jennifer has six weeks to live, it is a crazy ride of paranoia. It felt like an episode of Survivor where you don't know the alliances and who hates you. I could not stop listening to the novel as I was invested in seeing how it ends. This is a perfect beach read. <br /><br /><i>***I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from the publisher through NetGalley and Edelweiss. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.***</i>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/6275022-kris---my-novelesque-life">View all my reviews</a>

Jennifer is at her doctors to get an update on her health condition when she receives the worst news someone can get, she has cancer. Even worse is that she only has six weeks to live.

Shocked by the news she reacts as anyone would and starts questioning everything. The hardest part might have been having to tell her three daughters about the diagnosis. Jennifer goes into detective mode to try and find out what might have caused her cancer. She immediately suspects her ex-husband but the actual cause is a complete surprise.

I had read some great reviews on this one and was looking forward to reading it. This was definitely a slow build that ends with a bang. I’m honestly not sure how I feel about the book and I felt it could have gone in another direction. The ending definitely redeems the whole book. As always I think everyone has their own taste and many of you will love it but I just found it okay.

I really couldn't finish this one. I was so bored that I decided to quit it at about 30%.

I know some will like this book but it seriously not for me.

Catherine McKenzie's Six Weeks to Live is an explosive family drama that explores the relationships between triplets—twins, plus one—and the dynamics they each have with their dying mother.

With short, punchy chapters, McKenzie's latest is a gripping psychological novel. Opening with a gut-wrenching diagnosis, her heroine has a mere six weeks to live and to find her killer. In the time that she has left, Jennifer naturally wants her daughters close and her husband's support. Interestingly as time goes on, the girls become unfazed and oddly unsympathetic—they think that their mother is up to her usual theatrics.

Told from multiple points of view, McKenzie deftly weaves them together with skill and suspense. Jennifer's quest to prove she was poisoned is the perfect vehicle to unearth the old wounds, grudges, and memories.

Six Weeks to Live has guilt, secrets, blame and revenge blemishing every page.

Reading a good thriller is like an interrogation in your imagination. Was it this person? Did they do that? And was it because of this?
Six Weeks To Live was all that and more.
Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for my eARC for review!
Jennifer Gagnon is dying of a brain tumour and has been given six weeks to live. Lab results from a year prior note an acutely high level of lead in her blood, of unexplained etiology.
Are these findings related, and how did the lead get in her system?
This is such an interesting concept for a thriller, backed by a unique family dynamic. The Gagnon family is made up of adult triplet daughters and an estranged cheating husband - lots of personalities to get to know, and secrets hidden from the past.
This is my second book by Canadian author Catherine McKenzie and she certainly knows how to spin the suspense - the tension literally starts on the first page and doesn't let up.
Do check this one out! Recommended!
Released on April 20.

I knew it! Then I didn’t, but then I knew it again! This novel was such a ride!

Six weeks to live started off with quite a bang and had me hooked the entire time. Within the first chapter we find out that Jennifer Barnes, a mother of triplets, has an inoperable brain tumor and has about six weeks to live. Pretty sad, but then things get a little intense, Jennifer learns that she had lead poisoning a year ago and thinks it’s her (ex)husbands doing. She recruits her daughters; a scientist, a medical student, and daddies favorite to help her figure it all out. As the story progresses it becomes clear that there is major family dysfunction, but the fact that the daughters come together seems like a good sign, at first.

Catherine McKenzie did an amazing job; the plot was well thought of and the book itself was very quick but thrilling. The alternating from the POV of Jennifer and the triplets added to the read. Additionally, she spoke about tough topics like Cancer, post-partum depression, mental health very well.

I know who the culprit was, but I did appreciate the reasoning that was revealed at the end. This book had me hooked and I am defiantly going to get my hands on as many of Catherine McKenzie’s books as possible. I highly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys mystery thrillers with a little extra.

Thank You to Catherine McKenzie and Simon & Schuster Canada, for the digital ARC provided through NetGalley in exchange for a candid review!

Catherine McKenzie has been an auto-read author for me for many, many years. Her latest, Six Weeks to Live, might be her darkest yet with an ending I'm sure you won't see coming.

Here's the book's description:
Jennifer Barnes never expected the shocking news she received at a routine doctor’s appointment: she has a terminal brain tumor—and only six weeks left to live.
While stunned by the diagnosis, the forty-eight-year-old mother decides to spend what little time she has left with her family—her adult triplets and twin grandsons—close by her side. But when she realizes she was possibly poisoned a year earlier, she’s determined to discover who might have tried to get rid of her before she’s gone for good.
Separated from her husband and with a contentious divorce in progress, Jennifer focuses her suspicions on her soon-to-be ex. Meanwhile, her daughters are each processing the news differently. Calm medical student Emily is there for whatever Jennifer needs. Moody scientist Aline, who keeps her mother at arm’s length, nonetheless agrees to help with the investigation. Even imprudent Miranda, who has recently had to move back home, is being unusually solicitous.
But with her daughters doubting her campaign against their father, Jennifer can’t help but wonder if the poisoning is all in her head—or if there’s someone else who wanted her dead.
I had a thought that I knew who might be behind Jennifer's poisoning. I was wrong. Technically. (Man, is it hard to review thrillers.) That part of the story was what kept me the most intrigued: Who was behind the poisoning? And was there actually a poisoning? I really wasn't sure what was going to happen in the end!

I kind of feel like I didn't get a super satisfying ending. I did in one sense because you find out the true motivation and that was satisfying. But there were a lot of things hinted at that I didn't feel like were fully discussed on the page. I was often feeling like I missed some conversation but it just wasn't a conversation that was given to the reader and the links weren't there.

I had a big problem with mental health and this book. Unreliable narrators are all the rage and usually work pretty well for thrillers. But...I really don't like it when they're unreliable and then it turns out there's a medical diagnosis for why they're unreliable. It's like mental health is being used as some sort of plot device. I'd call myself a mental health ally, not having been diagnosed with anything myself, and the storyline in this book surrounding mental health sat pretty wrong with me. I'm not going to say what it was because it's kind of part of the twists but...I really wish it wasn't.

The story is told in alternating perspectives. Jennifer and all three of her daughters - Aline, Emily, and Miranda - each have chapters to tell their side of the story. I thought this was really well done and helped amp up the suspense a little bit more than if it had just been told from one or two perspectives.

Six Weeks to Live won't be my favourite Catherine McKenzie novel but fans of domestic suspense should still find this one to be a good read. It's so incredibly hard not to LOVE a book from a favourite author but not every book can personally be a winner.

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Simon & Schuster Canada, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

After Jennifer receives the devastating diagnosis she also learns that she has slowly been poisoned. Dark and dirty secrets are revealed as she tries to figure out who is behind it. Told from multiple POVs provides insight into the characters and the secrets each one is hiding.
A twisted family drama that shows how divorce affects a family and how spiteful and jealous siblings can be.

Imagine finding out you only have six weeks to live. What would you do? That’s the position Jennifer finds herself in but with a twist- she thinks her husband poisoned her and she’s using her final days to prove his guilt.

I’m a big fan of Cather McKenzie’s writing and this book is no exception. She gives each character a strong voice and identify, especially the triplets.

The story has a steady pace and I enjoyed the family dynamics and the multiple POVs. The sisters and Grandma Bea were especially interesting for me- I love drama ! While I was able to piece the story together, the conclusion is satisfying.

I recommend this one to readers who like a family drama with thrills and great character dynamics.

Thank you to @simonschusterca and @netgalley for the gifted ecopy

HOLYYY SHIT!!!
If you want a totally messed up family drama, grab a copy of Six Weeks to Live by Catherine McKenzie.
Hella good!!!
Much love to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for my DRC.