I expected a sliding doors romance and got a perfect suspense!
I read the melancholic title of this book and the allusion to a sliding doors romance in the description, and I made up my mind about what this book journey would be—a little sad but full of romance and feel-good do-overs. But instead, The Things We Lost by Maggie Giles was full of twists, suspenseful, insightful, and a little dark.

The Things We Lost explores the ripple effect of loss
After doubting her commitment to her husband and a short but emotional affair with her college boyfriend, Maddie is trying to pick up the pieces of her life. She wants to fight for her marriage. However, after a few too many glasses of wine, she wakes up to find that life is no longer there. Instead, she’s back in her mid-twenties and the husband and daughters she resolved to fight for have disappeared.


As Maddie tries to understand this life, she uncovers how her decisions in this timeline led her to her current circumstances. Regrets that have haunted her for years have been undone but have had unforeseen ripple effects on the rest of her life. Maddie hates this new version of her life and who she has become. Can she find a way back to her old self and the ones she loves? Maddie’s turbulent journey through her “now” and the “then” that brought her here will have you gripping your book.

It was hard to put it down

Maggie Giles didn’t waste a single word writing this story. Every single thought and action leads to its beautiful unraveling. And, even though she uses an old trope, the story feels fresh and creative.

If you ever thought about life’s “what ifs,” I recommend reading The Things We Lost. This debut novel by Canadian author Maggie Giles will give you a perspective on how regrets shape the current version of your life and why you can’t pick and choose the consequences of going back and making different choices.

What if you have a second chance to turn back time?

This story follows Maddie, a thriving novelist. She’s married to Nathan and has two beautiful girls. And yet, she feels unfulfilled and unhappy in her personal life. Nathan seemed to be going through a midlife crisis and leaves her to juggle with her work and her girls. Maddie wondered if she had made a mistake marrying Nathan when she bumped into her ex, Jayson at a conference. Meeting Jayson brought back a lot of buried memories she had of their time together and the incident that led to the death of her dear friend, Gina. She starts to wonder what life would be like if she had made a different choice back then. As we always say, be careful what you wish for…

The story started off quite slow but things started to speed up when Maddie had her dejavu moment. There is a sense of mystery as Maddie unravels the truth from all those years ago, as she discovered who she was and how she plans to change her life. The whole plot is definitely interesting as it shows how one decision can have a domino effect on everyone involved. It really gets you to pause and think before doing anything rashly.

I enjoyed reading this to some extent. I loved the plot and the what ifs but I did feel the story is dragged down with unnecessary details. Some of the characters are quite unlikeable and self-centered. That’s how I felt about Maddie at first but thankfully she managed to redeem herself in the end and I find myself rooting for her to find the happiness she deserves.

Thank you Netgalley and Rising Action Publishing Co for the arc.

Thank you to NetGalley and Rising Action Publishing Co. for an e-ARC of this novel in exchange for my review.

I received a complimentary copy of this book "The Things We Lost" and all opinions expressed are my own. Regrets? Did you make the right choice in life? What if you made the other choice? What would your life be like? I have read other books about this subject and I find it interesting because everyone has had the same thought at one time or another. I thought the book was okay.

I really enjoyed this book. I think most people wonder how their life might have turned out differently if they’d made different choices along the way. Maddie Is a wife and mother who’s dissatisfied with her life and runs into an old boyfriend leading her to start thinking about the past. Then one morning she wakes up and she’s twenty-six again. The choices she’s made in this version of her life have set her on the wrong path and ruined relationships with those she loves. But a close friend who died under suspicious circumstances is alive thanks to Maddie. Maddie must navigate this life in the hopes of keeping her friend alive while still finding her way back to her family. I liked how the plot wove together so you could see how the little things she did had a domino effect on those around her. Also, the author did a great job showing how Maddie changed based on what she learned.
2 likes

2.5 stars, rounded up

So I try to get out of thrillerville by choosing what I thought was a Sliding Doors/Maybe in Another Life style story. Yet what did I get? A quasi-suspense book that didn't even really come full circle in the end.

Maddie is married to Nathan and they have two little girls. She's unfulfilled even though she has a great career as a novelist. When she reconnects with her university boyfriend Jayson, she wonders if she had made a mistake following her current path. She goes to sleep and wakes up in a different reality--it's ten years earlier, she and Jayson are together, and nothing in her life is how she remembers. Can she figure out what is going on?

The central theme of this story is that in one timeline, a close friend of hers died while they were at university. In the new timeline, that woman is still alive. There are some circumstances surrounding what happened involving another previous boyfriend that were never really clear to me, even when I got to the end. The story devolved into a weird suspense tale, but it's pretty clear from the start who the culprit is, but the motivations aren't defined until the end and even at that point, they didn't make much sense to me.

Even with how convoluted everything was, there was still something readable and compelling about the book that kept me turning pages. It has definitely appealed to many others, so give it a try if it sounds interesting.

Thank you to NetGalley & Rising Action for the opportunity to read and review this book before it's publication date! This in no way affected my review, opinions are my own.

DNF @ 5%

Sometimes infidelity can move a story along and is necessary for the progression of characters/plot, but I was already not really feeling it when we got to that point, so this one is a DNF.

Maggie Giles, a Canadian writer, has made her debut with 'The Things We Lost'. I got an opportunity to read an ARC (Advanved Reader Copy) of this book though the book is only getting out on April 19th.

In this book, author Maggie has attempted a spin on a very common question we all have subjected ourselves to atleast once - what if I had done this instead of that? What if I had done things things differently? The principal character of this book Maddie is overcome by this question when her current life isn't what it used to be. She feels neglected by her husband and craves for some attention and love from him. She is also cheating on him and is struggling to come to terms with her conflicting emotions regarding her infraction. Becoming upset with her husband's perceived neglect, she wishes that she had chosen her ex-boyfriend Jayson, with whom she had been cheating her husband, rather than her husband all those years ago.

Astonishingly, she wakes up the next day to a different life, which is many years previous to the life she was living. While getting accustomed to this different life, she finds out that her choice hasn't led her to be the better person she was in her previous life making her to set out to right as many wrongs as she could in the life she now seems to live.

She is also caught up in a strange situation, which is connected to one of her mistake, and she tries her best to get out of it unscathed. The story takes us through her new journey and her growth as a person because of it. Actually, the narrative is in an interesting non-linear pattern alternating between her previous life and the new one she is living now.

In essence, the story's premise is an interesting one. The author has employed this concept of choice to explore how a single choice/decision taken by a person could affect so many people around them. She makes the reader wonder about all the seemingly inconsequential choices they might be making and gets them to pause a second.

But to me, the story felt long and winding. There were too many details about things which i didn't care to know about. The pacing also could have been crisper and shorter. There are indeed some intrigue and thrill elements to the story; but they don't manage to keep the reader completely interested. And I can't say I loved where the story went and how it ended. I would have liked a different ending with Maddie learning some more lessons.

I, however, enjoyed the story to some extent. If you like to read an intriguing story with this unique premise, you should definitely try this book. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for this ARC in return for my honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Rising Action Publishing Co for the ARC
I expected something totally different. While it was a good read I could not get into it as I was expecting something totally different based on the preview. I ended up with more questions than answers. I did finish reading the book though.

The Things We Lost provides a dizzying view into a troubled woman’s past and present. Unfortunately, both lives are messy.

After embarking on an affair with a former boyfriend, Maddie wakes up and discovers she’s somehow living several years earlier, but in an altered existence. Her marriage and daughters don’t exist and she’s back with the ex. As she struggles to recall / discover all the ugly details in her memories, she realizes her current relationships are all tarnished, hinging on secrets and deceit.

Maggie Giles’ debut offers a cast of deeply-flawed characters, centering around Maddie. Insightfully, she starts the story with her family life, so readers establish empathy in the very real love for her two small girls. She mourns their loss, even as she tries to work her way through the mire of her earlier life. But can she overcome her own selfish tendencies and bad decisions to enable a convergence to a better version of herself?

Giles drives the tale forward – and backward – with unexpected twists that keep you flipping pages. As a redemption story, despite her shortcomings, you respect Maddie’s attempts to change her ways, which ultimately will determine whether or not she can recapture a life with her daughters and her husband. Readers who like darker-edged mysteries and characters definitely will enjoy the ride.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for the ARC.

Maddie has made some poor choices in her adult life, and while she loves her children and her husband, she has been unfulfilled for a long time. Her and Nathan have grown apart, and when Maddie meets up with her ex-boyfriend at a conference, her life begins to spiral out of control. She also cannot seem to get past the guilt of her actions that may have contributed to her friend Gina's death years prior. It continues to haunt her, and Maddie wonders what she could have done differently in her life to change this outcome?

I think we often wonder what could have been, and this debut thriller delivers! It dives deep into the darkest secrets of Maddie's past. Will Maddie realize her mistakes, right her wrongs and make things right to alter her course now that she knows what is in store for her future? Will she meet Nathan again and be reunited with her children?

At first, I really didn't like Maddie at all or any of the characters really. They are all self-centered and flawed. As the story progresses, you see immense growth within Maddie and I ended up really loving her character, and I really wanted her to find happiness.

This novel is extremely far-fetched, and I'm sure the author realizes this, but I could see that being a turn-off for some readers. The first few chapters drew me in, then it got slow, but I really enjoyed the ending and I think the author did a perfect job wrapping things up. I hope to see more novels from this author in the future.

Special thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I am a sucker for any story involving time travel within one’s own life. Maddie is a mother in an unhappy marriage, weighed down with guilt over the death of one of her friends in her early twenties. She runs into an ex-boyfriend, and the next day she wakes up back in her mid-twenties, with a different romantic partner and with her friend still alive. Will she make better choices this time, or was her unhappiness based on internal factors? Does she want to go back to her future life? A thought-provoking read.

A cross between “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “The Butterfly Effect,” “The Things We Lost” was nothing like I expected! While the summary reads like a love story/what if tale, this book is so much more! With a hint of mystery & a little bit of a thrill ride, it was a fun, quick read centered around author Madison Butler.

Alternating between the present day & a past that may or may not be real life, we learn about Madison’s unhappiness & her wish to see if different choices would lead to a better life, much like Jimmy Stewart’s character in the famed Christmas movie. But Madison soon learns this wish could have consequences with life-altering implications, like never being able to meet her beloved daughters in her new life (hello Butterfly Effect!).

As “It’s a Wonderful Life” is one of my favorite movies, I really took to this book. I enjoyed Maddie, though at times her past was a bit shocking & leaned towards the annoying with her antics. I felt the ending was a bit abrupt & left some unanswered questions. Who was really following Madison in the black SUV? Where did Brian end up? Does Maddie still become a bestselling author? I felt like those were some questions that should have been addressed prior to the end, but overall a solid debut from Maggie Giles.

This book is not what I believed it would be. I was attracted to the plot of turning back time and playing the what if game, but this book turned into a lot more than I bargained.
I didn’t like Maddie at the beginning and I really grew to dislike her intensely throughout the book. In fact, I thought all of the characters, except for the two little girls were reprehensible and loathsome.
This book was not for me.

Haven’t we all wondered about the choices we made in our younger years? Maddie Butler has struggled with the death of a close friend and decisions she made in her twenties. Now, in her thirties in a lifeless marriage with two daughters, she wonders how her life could have been different. A story to reflect on the question of whether or not you would trade the life you imagine for the one you have. Recommended for those who enjoy “What if” stories. #NetGalley #TheThingsWeLost

The Things We Lost by Maggie Giles was outstanding! If you're the type to get lost in “what ifs” from this story is for you. Then to learn this is debut for the author, well she did not disappoint. This book is a thoughtful look at the choices we make and how one decision can change things and have them go in a completely different direction. I loved this book and how we went present day and looked back. I see great things for this author and can't wait to read more from her!

I really loved the premise of this book! I'm a huge fan of "What If" stories that explore how life would've turned out if we'd made different choices. I liked how Maddie is dropped into this parallel universe and needs to figure out what different choices she made and try to course-correct. I appreciated that Maddie's wish results in a worse life than the one she left, turning this into a story about "Be careful what you wish for" and "The grass is not always greener on the other side" which makes the character yearn for her old life and wish she would've appreciated it more, similar to It's a Wonderful Life. By the end of her journey, Maddie learns from her mistakes and applies the lesson to "Never regret what happens in life because the universe has a way of righting itself," a sentiment that I love.

Having said that, this book didn't meet my expectations. To start with, this is a thriller, more in line with "The Girl on the Train" than "Maybe in Another Life," which is the book being used as comparison in the description. And while I love thrillers, it was hard for me to keep track of the college backstory in both timelines and the players involved. I also had a hard time figuring out characters' motivations for their actions, especially Arabella and Jack. Because of this, I was left more confused than intrigued, which dampened my enjoyment of the book.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the free e-copy and the opportunity to read and review this book.

I didn’t especially enjoy this book. The basic premise is that a woman is stuck in an unfulfilled marriage and wonders if life could’ve been different had she not married her husband.

She then wakes up and has gone back in time, and is seeing what her life would be like had she chosen a different path.

As a premise it’s not too bad, but I found the whole thing a bit ridiculous. Not enough is made of a traumatic accident that is supposed to have shaped her whole life, so it just seems that she’s fed up as her husband works a lot. Her issues aren’t really set up fully at the start.

Her different lives have some interesting and well drawn characters, and it did keep me reading to the end, so not completely bad. The writing isn’t bad either. But overall I did think this could’ve been done better, and too much of it was either implausible or dull.

Maggie is a woman in her thirties, an author and a mother whose marriage seems to be falling apart. She goes to bed one night consumed with guilt over the betrayal she has committed. However, she wakes up the next day ten years younger, with a man in her bed who is not her husband and her two little girls never born. She has to learn to adapt to this new reality and bear the consequences of it.

The version I read of this book is an uncorrected proof, so my opinion may be based on elements that will not be present in the final version.

This is Maggie Giles’ first novel, and it really is very promising. I was quickly drawn into the story and couldn’t put the book down all day. I am one of those people who often ask, ‘what if?’ and this book is a representation of that question that is often on our minds.

‘What if I had done things differently? What if I had made different choices? Where would I be today? Would I have a better life?’ All of this is set against a background of mystery that we try to unravel along with Maddie, the main character. However, I was a bit frustrated not to know more about why Maddie woke up in this new reality, I admit I would have liked to know more about that. The ending wasn’t necessarily to my taste either, I’m left with far too many unanswered questions.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and I recommend it.

Thanks to NetGalley, Rising Action Publishing Co and Maggie Giles for an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Cue the tears on this one! Ugh, major heart strings were pulled in this tug and war of emotions and "what ifs" .

I have always been drawn to dark thrillers but when I read the synopsis for The Things We Lost, I was instantly drawn to this novel and I am so happy I decided to request this book! Big thank you to netgalley, for allowing me to read and review The Things We Lost, prior to the April 19, 2022 release date.

I caught all the feels on this book and I was instantly captivated with the writing style early on.

This is a story of family, friendship, second chances, and asking yourself, if you could go back and make just ONE change that could alter your own future..... would you do it ?

Does everything happen for a reason or should we all be able to hit a reset button?

Pick up your copy of The Things We Lost on April 19, 2022 to find out!