An enjoyable read. I found the dialogue a bit stilted at times, and the ending was quite abrupt (which is why the writing is relatively low). However, I enjoyed other aspects of the listening experience (such as the narrator).

The plot did not pull me in and I did not connect to the characters, which is important for any audiobook, or any book in any format, for that matter. Thank you to NetGalley and Pro Voices Audio Inc. for an ALC of this novel in exchange for my review.

Thank you NetGalley and Pro Audio Voices, Inc., (Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Audiobooks) for accepting my request to audibly read and review The Left Turn .

Author: Becky Parker Geist
Published: 09/07/22
Narrators: Becky Parker and JS Arquin
Genre: General Fiction (Adult) -- Literary Fiction -- Women's Fiction

There isn't a lot for me to say. At 90% I stopped the audio trying to remember the point of the story. This is beyond being forgettable after reading. I had to stop and read the synopsis to finish the book.

The female narrator (the author) had a pleasant reading voice. I didn't care for the male narrator, his voice, tone, and style didn't match what I envisioned.

With not caring about any of the characters and not liking the distribution of female/male chapters, I'm not sure adding a little science into the whole parallel universe theme would have helped.

This clearly was not for me. I am giving two stars. The author did really well narrating, and that earns a star.

Twisty story line, grabbed my attention right away. Hannah's & James characters developed to worked well in both turns their lives may have gone. I enjoy audio books while walking & found "The Left Turn" engaging, initially it took time to get to know Becky Parker Geist characters when listening versus reading but when I became comfortable with voices & style, I enjoyed.

An intriguing tale built on the endlessly fascinating idea of alternative universes. It’s reminiscent of the theme of “Sliding Doors” the movie and the Robert Frost poem “The Road Not Taken”. I’m not sure what genre it falls into, perhaps magic realism. It certainly has some elements of science fiction or fantasy, but it’s quite a mélange with romance, self-help, new age wisdom, pop psychology, literature and cooking all brought into the mix. If this sounds like a lot, it is, but Parker Geist manages to interweave all the many themes into an engaging story with likeable characters.

In regard to the cooking, don’t read or listen to this book if you’re feeling peckish. Cookies are the culinary speciality of Hannah, the female protagonist, a best-selling cookbook author, whose mouth-watering creations feature in many scenes.

Some of the dialogue lacked credibility, for example Hannah’s various conversations with people she barely knew which sounded more like her inner thoughts than something someone would actually say.

The book is written from two different points of view – Hannah’s and James’s. The audiobook adaptation (which I listened to) follows that structure by having alternating male and female narrators. Because the chapters are short, it was relatively easy to follow each storyline however the narration felt a little overly “folksy” for some of the characters (Hannah's mentors) and the male narrator overdid the “hey buddy” back-slapping-type persona of James’s work colleague which became annoying.

This book is Part 1 of Parker Geist’s Split Universe series. I didn’t find the story sufficiently engaging to want to read the sequel, however readers who do enjoy it can look forward to reading more.

Thanks to NetGalley and Pro Audio Voices Inc. for making an advance review copy available to me.

I definitely enjoyed this book although I felt like the ending was kind of abrupt and didn't really explain what had happened with Hannah and Jim. I would have liked to see them figure out what happened and even see Jim and Allie reconnect.

I appreciate the author's effort and the narrator's time, but this novel fell short for me. Perhaps it was just over my head with its high-brow prose. Whatever the reason, I couldn't relate to the narrator or the characters. This might be one of those story series that requires grasping its point in the first story. As it was presented as a stand-alone audiobook, I failed to grasp its importance or meaning.

The cover and the synopsis sounded incredible however felt flat and didnt enjoy it very much. I wish there was a bit more...

Hannah and James are a couple who are each struggling with some personal demons. Hannah is a cookbook writer with growing anxiety issues. James is still dealing with the death of his brother and role that he feels he played in it. They have moved to the San Francisco Bay area and while Hannah is flipping out over the missing boxes that she carefully color coordinated and labeled, James suggest they take a bike ride to explore the area. During this fateful ride, Hannah makes a decision to turn left.. Upon doing so, they enter into an alternate timeline. Hannah does not recall who she is or her recent past. She moves through the city trying to piece together the answers to these questions and stumble upon just the right people to help (of course)).

James is less represented in the book, he seemed to be only a catalyst for Hannah's story, He did not seem as lost in the world as Hannah, he was just struggling with the past. Occasionally, something would provoke a memory for him, but nothing that seemed to make him realizer that he was in a separate timeline, nothing more than any of use would see and object and think, "wow, I forgot about that".

One thing I did find disturbing was the characterization of minorities. She makes up an imaginary child laborer in China who would have made the slippers she bought, naming him Lee. Why is this necessary? She also writes of a black woman in a way that felt a little "Mammy - like" to me.

Attempts to explain meta physics are ok, but I am not sure that every reader would agree.. Overall, the book was ok, just a little on the surface of the points that the author may have been trying to make, but to be honest, I am not sure what those points were,

My thanks to NetGalley for the advance audio recording of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Hannah and James recently moved to the bay area and on individual bike rides they both slip into an alternate universe with their prior life right on the tip of the tongue like the wisp of a remembrance that you almost remember but not quite. They have their basic info down but it’s a small details of their life that just keep alludeing them and although from time to time they are both reminded of something… But what? This book totally reminded me of sliding doors with Gwyneth Paltrow when I read the summary for this book I couldn’t wait to read it and I am so glad I did I listen to it on audio and am now in love with both these nail raiders. I thought they brought so much to the book with a great voices. It is always so risky when you have two narrators because one could be good and the other not so much to start over with no preconceive notions was a great idea for the book and I thought the ending was a great one I didn’t know how it was going to end but I loved it! I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

I hate writing bad reviews of books, especially when they feel like they had so much potential. The Left Turn was a mixed bag where the good was good, but the awful was too infuriating to compensate. I almost stopped reading at a couple different points and decided to power through for the sake of a fair review. I do not recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Pro Audio Voices Inc. for this audiobook. I received a review copy for free in exchange for an honest review.

The good:

1. I picked this up because any Sliding Doors-esque premise generally appeals to me, and I liked the way the plot was framed. Though I almost DNFed (i.e. abandoned the book forever) after chapter 1, once I decided to stick with it I’d say the author followed through here. The alternate universe thing is subtle and good, and the way that the main character, Hannah, tries to tease apart her past is interesting too. I also enjoyed the dual-narrator perspectives, though it seemed like the male character, James, was mainly there to further Hannah's plot.

2. I listened to this on audio, and the audiobook is well produced and enjoyable to listen to. One of the two narrators is read by the author herself and she does a great job. It’s a high quality production and easy listening.

The not great:

I love a good split universe quantum physics moment, so I was ready to dive in to that, but parts of this book feel overly pedantic. It felt like the author wanted to explain this concept and life view using these characters, rather than telling the characters’ story using this concept and life view. Even as someone who enjoys this type of thought experiment, I struggled with the way it was presented at times.

The bad:

The Left Turn feels like it was written by a white author who has some major white guilt to work through and is, to give her as much benefit of the doubt as I can here, probably trying to be inclusive? But doing it very badly if so, because peppered throughout the book are moments of sometimes subtle, sometimes not at all subtle racism, white guilt, and in one particularly egregious moment, those two plus a white savior complex.

One of the reasons I wanted to DNF in Chapter 1 was this sentence (punctuation is mine because I was listening to the audio): “I don’t really get asian art, which makes me feel culturally inadequate.” Which…. sweeping statement, completely unnecessary and unrelated to anything except that they’re in a museum, Asia is an entire continent with many, many different styles of art spanning centuries, and the “makes me feel culturally inadequate” thing… whew.

After deciding to stick with the book, it went along mostly okay until chapter 9, when there’s a whole aside where the narrator compares her own situation to that of a child that she imagines working in a Chinese sweatshop to make her new slippers. She names the imaginary child Lee, thanks him for the “gift” of the slippers, asks for his forgiveness, and… "mentally adopt[s] Lee—simpler and cheaper than physical adoption" ??!! (*punctuation mine here too since I was transcribing from the audio.) This then becomes a recurring reference in the rest of the book, where she occasionally mentions him as if he were another child of hers.

I had to stop listening for a while at that point, because wow yikes!!

Ended up finishing the book largely because I wanted to be able to write this review; had I not intended to write a review I would probably have stopped reading there. It made me so viscerally angry; this is the kind of thing that should just never make it into a published book in 2022. And no, these moments don’t read like a flawed or unlikeable character trait, they read like we're not intended to see anything wrong with them at all, just to read thim as moments of exposition and (deeply problematic) detail. This isn’t a weird character development trope, nor is it treated critically at all within the book.

TW also for a couple vaguely fatphobic side comments, mentions of alcoholism, child abuse, and a shooting, and one moment of imagined rape & DV.

I sincerely hope that the author investigates these biases in her work going forward. While the concept and much of the writing is good, I cannot in good consciousness recommend this book.

I was unable to finish this audio book. I found the pace of the narrating too fast for the busy storyline and had to keep rewinding. This interrupted the flow of the book.

I thought this was a good book overall but it was confusing as to what genre it fits in. I do want to continue the series and I do like the audio aspect of this book but I was a little confused as to where this book is going to watch the character arc is in this book

Tried branching out from my normal genres of thrillers so I thought I'd give give this audiobook a try. Not for me. Maybe it's that I'm not into science. I felt the author tried to describe the quantum theory for people like me, but I just couldn't grasp it at times. It did make me think more about "coincidences."
Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to listen to the audiobook.

🍂The Left Turn by Becky Parker Geist
🍂Narrated by Becky Parker and JS Arquin

Two Lives, Worlds Apart(The Split Universe Series)

Really well written book. Had me gripped completely. Hannah & James story is for everyone who's a fan of Matt Haig's The Midnight Library.

Loved the Narrators narration.


Thank you so much Netgalley & Pro Audio Voices Inc. for providing me this book in exchange of an honest review.

Hannah and James lives are stuck in a cycle of anxiety and grief. One day they go on a bike ride and their lives are turned upside down. Suddenly, their version of lives they were living have changed. Will they embrace this change and live their lives to their fullest potential or will they search their memories of their former lives? This was an amazing story about second chances and wonderfully written characters. I listened to the audiobook version of this story and I enjoyed the narration.

Disclaimer: Thank you to NetGalley and Pro Audio Voices Inc for this Audiobook, I received review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The story was enjoyable and I believe I would have liked it better if I had read the physical book. As an audio book it was slightly hard to follow and a bit confusing at times.

This story is unique, with elements of romance, sci-fi and much more. Personally I’m not sure about the narrators, also I think this book might be better to read than to listen to. I found it hard to follow with everything just by listening to the audio book. I might get myself a copy of the book and guve it another go that way, i’ll probably enjoy it that way more.

If your past vanished, who might you become?
In ThenLeft Turn, we meet Hannah and James a married couple who are both struggling with their own issues. Can they find the answers and live happily together?
One sunny afternoon, shortly after moving to a new area, they go for a bike ride. What happens when Hannah
turns left?
Things seem to go fuzzy and suddenly nothing is as it seems both Hannah and James feel as if they’ve lost something but they don’t know what. Told in alternative chapters from both Hannah and James’ perspective they both begin to unravel their history and work towards their future.
I was lucky enough to be given an Audiobook of this title and I found it both interesting and confusing. There were times I had to replay bits as I felt like I had missed something somewhere but after finishing I am now thinking that was a clever author trick to make me feel like Hannah and James were feeling. Slightly disjointed and not all there. I ended up enjoying this book a lot more than I thought it certainly got me thinking about the what if’s.
I will be honest and say I didn’t particularly enjoy the narration and found James ever so slightly grating, an irritating accent and at the end when I listened to the interview with the narrators I wished he had used his own voice to voice James and not the put on one he did use (sorry )

All in all I enjoyed this and would recommend
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to listen to this title

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC. The narrators for this audiobook were clear, expressive and enjoyable to listen to.

The story is in dual point of view following Hannah and James as they find themselves in an alternate version of their lives.

I found some of it a little hard to follow. It wasn't always clear what was their current reality and what was their previous reality, although perhaps that was the intended effect.

Hannah's POV made m0re sense as she seemed more aware that something was off and questioned it. On the other hand, James seemed less aware of his altered reality and seemed more focused on the trauma of his past. Although things kept happening that he couldn't explain, he didn't read too much into it.

There was a lot of discussion on quantum physics, which sometimes was a bit much for me, though I could see how other readers may find it quite interesting. Good intellectual read if you like philosophy and question how life works and why we're all here.