Real Life and Other Fictions

Brilliantly, brilliantly written.

Cassie Klein is 50 and life has never run smooth. Orphaned in mysterious circumstances, a failed journalist and now a teacher, hoping her novel will come to fruition, all while her husband has been cheating. Great.

It's time to do something, anything.

A moth in the back of the car, Luna (her rambunctious puppy) jumps out and Cassie chases after her only to slip on the ice.... she comes to, to a police officer shining a light in her eyes. Officer Keel...

This name engaged a switch in my brain which was long forgotten but certainly had a small glint of inspiration to this fantasically written book. The name Keel, relates back to John Keel who wrote "The Mothman Prophecies" in 1975, which were in turn inspired by West Virginian folklore and such newspaper headlines as "Couples See Man-Sized Bird ... Creature ... Something". There was also a film with Richard Gere in 2002, but a. I have never seen it and b. I am realy geting off course!

The link is an elegant nod to the inspiration for this exceptional book, but the narrative styles and stories could not be further apart. To be absolutely frank, I prefer this tale as it is more relatable in its plausibility. Woven back and forth through Cassies reality, fiction and other planes of consciousness and reflection, allowing yourself to be carried along with lifes challenges and events or directing where it takes you

This book is enchanting and a unique, immersive read. Susan Coll has an affable, engaging writing style that I find utterly captivating and had me turning page after page, never quite sure where the story was going but desperate to find out if the clues would stack up. A brilliant experience

Thank you to Netgalley, Harper Muse and the author Susan Coll for this outstanding ARC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own

I loved this book. I loved how original and quirky it was. The characters are so well developed and easy to relate to. They are also a little quirky. At first I was like what is this book but it quickly became endearing. I loved it so much I didn’t want it to end.

Cassie is in her 50s. Her only daughter has gone off to college and her marriage is in shambles. Suddenly two days before Christmas she has had enough. In a moment of sure madness she grabs her puppy and drives to her aunt and uncles house. She was orphaned at the age of two in a mysterious accident. She doesn’t know the details of her parents passing because her family refuses to talk about it. Cassie takes off on a trip to figure out what happened.

I was glued to this book. There were so many themes in this story that really spoke to me. It’s about dealing with generational trauma and healing. It will resonate with people raised by a generation that did not talk about their traumas and just pushed it under the rug. The mysterious way that her parents died will send you down the internet rabbit hole of googling everything you can find on the subject. It’s that crazy. Go get this book!


Thank you to netgalley for the opportunity to read this advanced readers copy.

Absolutely wonderful book! I could not put the book down once I began reading it. Cannot wait for it to be released. I will recommend it to everyone I know!

I kind of expected the idea of this book to be flipped. Instead, MC is determined to uncover information about her past that everyone has kept from her. In her travels, it seems like everything she encounters changes the story of her life in a way that she has to decide if she is going to embrace the story she's been told or the story she is living.
The book is fascinating and was really hard to put down. Even though the book ended in a great place, these were the kind of characters I want to keep coming back to visit and check in on.

#arc
#netgalley
#reallifeandotherfictions

Loved this one! Great and fun read. Highly recommend.
Many thanks to the publisher, Netgalley, and the author for my ARC.

Cassie Klein is a fascinating enigma. Her marriage has fallen apart, her child has left for college, and she wonders what she will do for the rest of her life. To say the book centers around a "road trip" doesn't do it justice. Cassie is on a search for meaning in her life and she goes down some confusing pathways in search of enlightenment. The complex, layered character of Cassie keeps the story on track and the reader is swept away on a search that is sometime surreal, sometimes pragmatic, but always fascinating.