Quinn, a local florist, was attacked after work drinks one night and as a result, has a traumatic brain injury and doesn't retain memories anymore. She carries a notebook with her everywhere she goes and writes everything down so she can remember it. One night at work, while putting the trash outside, she witnesses a murder but once her memories fade, how does she know what's real and what's not?

I wanted to love this premise because it's really interesting but it's definitely a slow burn and I found myself distracted a bit. I did like the audio narrator so that helped a lot.

I think the author really does a great job of making Quinn and her condition believable and the concept of TBI is treated really well. She's never portrayed as 'crazy' and she was likeable overall. I did find that the balance of her condition vs the murder itself was a bit out of whack and I didn't expect the book to be so focused on TBI.

This is an easy listen and great if you're looking for something that shows how TBI can affect people's lives and how to manage with the idea of memory.

With thanks to NetGalley for an audio ARC.

“She knew her life had once been joyful, and so, so easy. Nothing required advanced strategy or excessive note-taking. She just…was.”

“Two people can have nearly identical injuries and the effects can be significantly different. Every TBI is unique, as is the person suffering from it.”
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The survivor of a vicious assault, Quinn Flemming has a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and can’t retain new memories. Trying to get through each day is tough enough, but then she witnesses a murder! She quickly records every detail before she forgets. With no body and no evidence of any crime, the police don’t believe her. However, a Detective who sees the report of the incident, does. Quinn begins to experience flashbacks in her sleep and does sketches of what she remembers. But...is it really memories or is it what she THINKS happened? How can she trust her own mind?

Not only is this a murder mystery, it’s an exploration of many facets of memory and the effects of trauma and brain injury. With encouragement from the Detective, a few understanding friends, and her artistic outlet, Quinn is able to provide more pieces to the puzzle. As a person who has suffered a mild TBI, ECHOES OF MEMORY made me feel SEEN. Brain injury is scary at best, and feels like you’re losing your sense of self at worst. Sara Driscoll deftly weaves a suspenseful mystery filled with increasing unease, into the struggle of living with the largely invisible consequences of a TBI.

Cynthia Farrell’s performance for the audiobook was emotive in the best way and I’m so glad I did dual formats. I could FEEL Quinn’s self doubt and fear, yet also her determination and strength. A heroine who relies on her wits and intuition while pursuing justice despite personal danger, is someone I can root for! I loved everything about ECHOES OF MEMORY and it resonated with me so much, I had difficulty writing my review. I was completely immersed in Quinn’s world and on the edge of my seat more than once!
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Thank you Kensington Books for the gifted notepad, flower & physical copy & Recorded Books & NetGalley for the ALC. All opinions are mine.

Content warnings by me below.

































⚠️Content warnings by me: traumatic brain injury, fatal hit & run, home invasion, Mention of assault

I was really excited for this one because I heard great things. But it was not it for me. I honestly think if I would have read the book on my kindle instead of doing to the audiobook, I would have liked it more. The narrator was great for the main character, Quinn’s voice, but all other voices were the exact same. They all sounded like “frat bros”, even the female characters. The dialogue was awkward and it felt like there was tons of explaining that was unnecessary. Again, the dialogue could have to do with how it was done via audio and I would have liked it more with physically reading it.

Quinn is moving through life robotic and deliberate after experiencing an violent attack that left her with a traumatic brain injury. She is able to maintain her job at the florist, where she was working before the attack, and function enough to get by. That doesn't mean it is easy for her however. Sara Driscoll, author, shows what a careful balance Quinn's existence is. From notes all over her house, to a support group for TBI victims, to a notebook Quinn carries with her to act as her memory, Driscoll delicately leads the reader through the days of someone with memory loss. Quinn's notebook and lack of memory make her seem suspicious after she witnesses a possible murder. Until Detective Reyes comes along and has done her research on Quinn. Det. Reyes works with Quinn to see what she might remember, and what her brain is trying to show her through her dreams and drawings.
I listened to this audiobook, narrated by Cynthia Farrell, courtesy of Net Galley and the publishers. I loved the way Detective Reyes gave Quinn the support she needed to figure out what was happening, but I felt her voice and actions were a bit robotic. Will, the leader of Quinn's TBI support group, seemed suspicious after giving Quinn a ride home after learning of her as a witness and his inquisitiveness at the coffeehouse (but those doughnuts sounded mouth-watering!). The narration and storyline were both good and I would recommend this audiobook to friends!

Just loved listening to this full of suspense and well narrated. I know that there are a lot of amnesia books floating around right now but this worked really well.
The story got me going from the start.

Eerie, exposed, and ENTICING… ECHOES of MEMORY…

Sara Driscoll imagined a well-developed, purposeful cast in this whodunit mystery with thrilling, yet still terrifying psychological roots.

Despite Quinn’s retrograde amnesia, she is ardently committed to helping find the assailant who she witnessed committing murder in a dark alley. Not only does she want to help aid in the investigation, but she is trying to relearn some basic things… namely how to manage her memory and NOT allow it to manipulate her.

For me, the SCARIEST PART of Quinn’s ordeal was understanding that our brains retain this capacity to turn on us… In a nutshell, if we fail to keep our minds safe, our brains have the unique superpower to make us (as beings) strangers to our very own lives!

There is some fantastically enchanting information about how memories are formed, what to expect after TIA, and human responses to trauma in this book. My interest in this book grew exponentially as a result of my experience with Imposter by Bradeigh Godfrey. Godfrey’s standalone book remains one of my favorite books. Much like Imposter, I can imagine reading Echoes again as I am sure there is plenty I didn’t let soak in as my haste to find out they ending took over! I became so invested by end! It got so I just needed the resolution—short story: This is DEFINITELY WORTH READING!!!!

#EchoesOfMemory #Imposter #NetGalley #Audiobooks #whodunit #mysteries #psychologicalthriller @cynthia_farrell @kensingtonbooks @saradriscoll @bradeighgodfrey @bookshell_F

By looking at the cover, i couldn't tell if it was horror, suspense or romance, lol. What it is was a psychological thriller about a woman who witnesses a crime, but whose memory is unable to recall the events.

This has been done before, many many times. The dialog was fantastic, but i didn't feel like this book brought much to the table. It was very hard for me to get into in the beginning. I prefer my thrillers to be a little more fast paced. All in all, I'd still for sure recommend it (it's getting AMAZING reviews, but it's not one that i'll remember forever.

This is very much a case where I wanted to like a book but I just couldn't get into the narration style that felt quite flat. I might try to get this one as a physical copy because the story had potential but the format was not working for me.

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.

A woman with significant memory loss due to a traumatic brain injury witnesses a murder, and uses her artistic talents in order to help her remember what she saw and assist in the investigation. She also has to outrun the killer before she becomes the next target.

This book had an interesting premise, but too many long-winded passages had me tuning out often. Great happy ending as the main character continues to heal from her injury and recover her memory. I enjoyed the audiobook narration.

Doesn't hurt to skip this one unless you don't mind the slow burn.

This is a brilliant written story of Quinn Fleming as she struggles to remember the past, experiences seeing a horrible crime and she tries to bring justice to the victim in the present and hopes for a brighter tomorrow, by hopefully remembering the crime. The first two police officers didn't believe her, but luckily the detective that later came on the case did. Quinn was attacked on her way home about 3 months earlier where she was brutally beaten and left for dead with no evidence of the suspect except some skin particles under her finger nails. The attack left her with no short term memory, she learned to keep a journal with every detail of her day to day living. This book is very interesting, I enjoyed it and would recommend it to others.

Echoes Of Memory is a slow burning thriller that unfortunately failed to keep my attention entirely. The beginning started off strong and intriguing, but it slowly started going downhill around halfway. It started to get very repetitive, very technical and felt like a textbook sometimes instead of entertaining, the writing didn't grasp my attention either so it was hard for me to truly focus.

There were a lot of plot holes in this one also, some things were highly unbelievable and I had a hard time getting past those. The dialogues were also lengthy and the story developed a bit too slowly for me. I think prior fans of this author will enjoy but maybe she is just not for me.

🎧 The narration by Cynthia Farrell was just Okay for me. She didn't grasp my attention enough to keep me fully invested. So both with the slow pace of the story and the narration it was hard for me to love it.

✨️Thank you to @netgalley, @rbmedia & Sara Driscoll for my gifted ALC in exchange for an honest review.

Took a while to get into the audio. The narrator was perfect. The build up and anticipation. I enjoyed listening to this Audio book💕

This book was incredible. Quinn is a resilient character who has had terrible bad luck, but has found a way to function in a world she doesn't quite remember. The twists were really unexpected.

I found the story good, thriller aspect excellent. Really enjoyed the narrator and audiobook was well done.
Only complaint would be that the scenes talking about her memory loss were incredibly over dialogued. Story could have focused more on the thriller aspect and less on over explaining the memory loss. Over all a decent audio book,

I really enjoyed the plot but the pace was really off for me. It was super sonic slow and I felt like the story wasn't moving fast enough for me.

I thought the characters were decent but I needed something more.

If you like slow burn thrillers, this is a top contender but I need a better pace to truly love a book.

3.5 stars

Unfortunately this started strong for me and just dragged on through the second half. I will, however, recommend it to library patrons because I can think of many that would enjoy it more than me.

3.5, rounded up to 4. This was a slowwwww burn in every sense. I enjoyed the concept of the book and loved the strong female leads. It just needed a bit more for me to have been completely captivated.

It felt as though the author used way too much detail for filler purposes. Some portions dragged and seemed like a bit too much. I did feel invested in sticking it out to the end. It just wasn’t a pace I typically read.

The narrator was super slow at 1.0, 1.25 seemed perfect.

Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for the advanced copy.

Quinn has ongoing brain drama from a violent assault that occurred months prior to the start of the story. She is unable to form new permanent memories that are not part of her daily routine. One evening she witnesses what she believes is a murder. When the police investigate, she finds herself in an incredibly unique position. I found this story to be compelling and the narration of the audiobook was well done.

Echoes of Memories follows Quinn, a post traumatic TBI survivor who witnesses a murder but cannot trust her memory. The TBI comes from an unrelated assault, but explains why Quinn doesn’t have the ability to recall her short term memory. As a result, she leaves herself notes and post-its to get her through daily life. While in the back alley of the floral shop she works at, Quinn witnesses a murder- but did she? Can she remember anything? Can she trust what she remembers?

Every day she wakes up is a new day- filled with zero memories of anything from yesterday, the day before, or any day before her assault. So when Quinn witnesses what looks like the murder of a stranger, she immediately writes everything she can in her notebook to relay to the police. Unfortunately, they don’t take her serious and she’s left feeling helpless. It’s not until the next day when she’s confronted by a different detective who remembers Quinn’s assault case, that she can even share her thoughts. Together, they work as a team to overcome Quinn’s disability to solve a murder without a body from a witness without a memory.

Overall, the story was enjoyable. I felt like there was a lot of over explaining of things, like the author couldn’t find a more natural way to introduce an idea or topic (ie the silver pain). This could’ve been left until the end when she was explaining it back to the other characters. It felt a little far fetched, but the story was still suspenseful. I also did not like the audio narrator- it felt forced and a little aggressive.

Thank you NetGalley and RbMedia for this advanced listening copy in return for my honest review.

Thank you to Sara Driscoll for sending me a copy of this book earlier in the year and thank you to Netgalley/RB Media for the audio! “Echoes of Memory” may honestly be the most unique book I have read this year! While the mystery Quinn stumbles into definitely plays a big role in the story, she is also working through a lot of her own things too. The attack she suffered at the hands of an unknown assailant has left her without her short term memory, and the way she is coping is nothing short of remarkable. I loved her “tricks” to ensure she was able to live as normally as possible and although it was difficult, she never gave up. She was an amazing person, and nothing beats a strong female main character! I was rooting for her all along and I had several suspicions of who the “bad” guy was, and I was hoping I was wrong - LOL! But I didn't predict how the story was going to end or the twists it was going to take. With a well-developed plot, a very likable main character and a lot of heart, “Echoes of Memory” is a book that I wish I read sooner! Cynthia Farrell brought the story to life on audio.

”Echoes of Memory” is out now! This review will be shared to my instagram blog (@books_by_the_bottle) shortly :)