This was a very intriguing book that looked very innocent from the cover but contained a darkness inside that I could never have imagined. It's a past and present story whereby we learn of Tina and her Aunt Lucia's stories. Both as heartbreaking and painful as the other but for very different reasons.

Tina blames herself for the death of her twin sister, Meg. She cannot let go of her sister and hears her voice clearly when she regularly visits her grave. Tina is so engrossed at Meg's graveside that she doesn't notice the mysterious woman in the green coat who seems to be taking an interest in her. Who is this woman and why is she interested in Tina?

Lucia is Tina's bitter old Aunt and it is no surprise to learn that she was horrid as a child. She doesn't forgive her little brother William for being born on her darling brother Edward's birthday. Poor little William suffers at the sneaky hands of Lucia and when big brother Edward finds out what is going on, he takes a softly softly approach with Lucia when she really could have done with a clip around the earhole.

The stories intertwine nicely as Tina talks about Meg in therapy and flashbacks show us Lucia's life as she grows up. Lucia grows up a little too quickly and as she plays with fire she does indeed get burnt. I found some of these scenes hard to read but that just shows the depth of emotion that was present in the writing.

A very well-written and addictive book, A Life Between Us surprised me at every turn. I found myself engrossed equally in both stories, which is rather unusual for me as I usually prefer one timeline over another. It is shocking at times but compassionately so, ensuring that the reader is made aware of the butterfly effect of one badly made decision.

I chose to read to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion. ( )

Survivor’s guilt, revenge, memory tricks, childhood friendship and rivalry are at the centre of this family drama. In ‘A Life Between Us’ by Louise Walters, forty-something Tina visits the grave of twin sister Meg each week and holds conversations with her. Tina has buried a secret so deep even her husband doesn’t know it. Only one other person was there when Meg died, the twins’ Aunt Lucia. But this is a complicated family with so many stories of betrayal, flight, lies, secrets and denials that until the end I was waiting for someone else to appear as a witness.
The first half was a slow-burn and I longed to get to the first turning point of the story, which when it came was not a surprise. This slow-burn means this is not a psychological thriller but a study of the long-term effects on children violently bereaved, survivor guilt, misplaced memory and grief. We are told the story via multiple viewpoints: Tina, then and now; Tina’s childhood letters; Tina’s husband Keaton who loves his wife but struggles to cope with her depression and guilt; and Aunt Lucia, then and now. For me, this was too many viewpoints and too many characters, making it rather involved and at times repetitive. Walters’ story involves a large family and perhaps the story would be stronger with less siblings. Certainly the absent Robert and jailbird Ambrose added little to Tina’s story, and her parents are virtually invisible. The device of Tina’s childhood letters to cousin Elizabeth in California became repetitive and irritating, it is so difficult to write in the voice of a child. I also found myself sympathising with Aunt Lucia who is portrayed as something of a harridan in a dysfunctional family, though she too has experienced difficult times which she has kept secret.
An at times long-winded story which, at its heart, explores something deep, difficult and sensitive.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/ ( )

A Life Between Us is the story of how losing her twin has affected the whole of Tina's life and about how secrets within families can eat you up. We have two time frames: one is 2014 in which Tina and her husband, Keaton (by the way, what a fab name!) are going about their everyday life. Tina has never been able to come to terms with Meg's death at the age of eight. Keaton loves Tina dearly but temptation is coming his way and Tina's strange behaviour is pushing him closer towards it. And we also have the sections in the past: mean Lucia's story and then the long, hot summer of 1976, that summer when Tina and Meg are eight and we know disaster is coming.

Louise Walters has a really charming writing style. She deals with key issues of grief, loss and disappointment so well. In the interview at the back of the book she talks about trying to put a twist into her writing but finding that that is not something she excels at. And isn't that refreshing at the moment? A straight up and down story with no big reveals, just a really well put together narrative where events unfold as we read them.

There are characters to really care about in this book. I really took to Keaton and Edward in particular, and I did also like Tina and her friend, Kath. Lucia was the villain of the piece and her dissatisfaction with life and everything in it was palpable. She was a character I loved to hate!

I'd previously read Louise Walters' first book, Mrs Sinclair's Suitcase, which I enjoyed, but I enjoyed A Life Between Us more. It's a brave foray into self-publishing for the author which I believe will pay off. It's an excellent read. I love to read about families and how they interact with each other and deal with life's trials and tribulations and this is the perfect book to showcase that. The different time frames work well as a vehicle for revealing the story and it all came together beautifully at the end. I loved it! ( )