This book would lend itself very nicely to a screen adaptation!
It has a lot of those ' Oh my god, what is it?' moments as well as those that invoke fear.. noises in the night, shadows, things happening without rhyme or reason and a general creepy feeling.
Alison Taylor wakes up after a date she was reluctant to go on, feeling battered, a lump on her head, blood on her hands, injuries on her wrists, and with no memory of what happened the previous night.
Looking into the mirror, she cannot recognise herself. She is devastated when she is told that her injury has rendered her with face blindness.. she cannot remember even familiar faces, so how is she to recall who the man was who she met on the date and who appears bent on destroying her?

With no one trustworthy to turn to, and someone determined to terrorise her with hints of what happened and what will happen, she has to overcome the paranoia and suspicions surrounding her and identify him.

A fast paced read, quite a thriller.
4.5 *

Alison Taylor had been separated from her husband Matt for only a short while, and when her friend Chrissie pressured her into a blind date, she was reluctant. She still loved Matt and couldn’t bear the thought of another man. But when Ali woke the following morning, she had a violent headache; she ached all over and was covered in blood. And she had no memory of what had happened the night before.

But worse was to come when Ali glanced in the mirror in the bathroom – she had no idea who the person was looking back at her. What was going on? Ali was terrified – and when the messages, taunts and graffiti began to appear, Ali didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t go to the police – she had no memory, so they wouldn’t believe her. And then there was the past…

The Date is my second by author Louise Jensen and she does a psychological thriller very well! Gripping, fast paced suspense, littered with fear and guilt, and all buried in a myriad of secrets – what more could you want! Highly recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for my digital ARC to read and review.

Ali wakes up one morning with a throbbing in her head. What happened last night? Why can't she remember anything? Groggy and confused, she goes into the bathroom and looks at herself in the mirror, only to discover she is shocked by what she sees staring back at her - a reflection of herself that she clearly knows must be herself only there is one problem... the face she is seeing in the mirror is not her own!

This book takes you on a heck of a ride as you slowly uncover the events of the night before. I found myself reading this book and not wanting to put it down. It sucks you in from the beginning and holds your attention until the very end and that's the type of book that I love. 

There are several twists and turns in the book, that will keep you reading all night long. Shocking events happen throughout and revelations that will have you gasping as you read. There are even shocking twists near the end. Just when you think you have it figured out. Guess what... You just may be wrong. :)

This was my first book I have read by Louise Jensen and it definitely won't be my last. I loved her style of writing and the way you hooked in from the very beginning. Very well written I just loved this book.

What happened on the night before? Why can't Ali remember anything? And why did she wake up with blood on her hands? You'll have to read this amazing thriller of a book to find out! :)

If you are a fan of psychological thriller books then this book is a must add to your to-be-read collection.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher Bookouture for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Recently separated, Alison Taylor, at the insistence of her friends, reluctantly goes out on a date. Something dreadful has happened, and, at the bare minimum, she has developed a serious injury and has bleeding on the brain, in an area that controls the ability to recognize face, with the diagnosis prosopagnosia. "You actually can't recognise yourself? You honestly wouldn't know me if I came back in five minutes?" Has she fallen or has something more nefarious happened to her?

I was drawn in immediately to The Date. "I must be asleep. Can't tear my eyes away from the image in the mirror watching tears pour down cheeks that are not mine. The Ben I do not recognise speaks again...Blackness hurtles towards me and I welcome it with open arms....the man who sounded like my brother, who acted like my brother, and yet somehow, with the exception of his glasses, didn't look like him at all."

More than no longer having a memory of faces, Alison cannot remember what happened the night she went on the date. Upon her arrival home from the hospital, where she went the morning after the incident, she finds a bouquet of roses with a note attached that says, "Enjoy the date, bitch?" Her nightmare has just begun. She is being stalked in a terrifying game of cat and mouse.

I have been seeing the phrase unputdownable in book descriptions for some time now, and thought I'd never use it myself. Well, it certainly applies here. Wow! What incredible twists and turns! Then there is the shocking conclusion! I would never have guessed who it was that was stalking Alison. Yes, from an incredible beginning, with such an interesting concept, this book is indeed fabulous. Louise Jensen is now an automatic autobuy for me and I have put her backlist in my TBR pile.

Many thanks for Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC to review in exchange for my honest opinion.

If you like your books full of fear and mystery, this is the one for you.
While you read this, try to put yourself in the lead characters shoes, it brings a whole new level to life! And I think that alone is what makes this book so good.
I could not put this book down, from start to finish and I will absolutely be recommending it to everyone I know

I loved the previous three books by this author, and The Date is no different. This is yet again a brilliant psychological thriller that I loved.

Intriguing and sometimes tense, especially the ending which had me completely gripped. This book had me guessing until the very end.

The idea of not being able to recognise faces really messed with my mind throughout this story. By the end of the story I'd imagined all the faces I wouldn't be able to recognise, and had an imaginary suitcase full of photos with names and explanations scribbled on them all. What a nightmare!

I highly recommend The Date to fans of psychological thrillers. Now I’m really looking forward to seeing what Louise Jensen comes up with next.

Alison Taylor has seen the bad side of love, and is slowly finding her way back out of it, and is finally ready for a round two with it...or at least start with a date. She is nervous to embrace this new path in her life, but the only way to fully move on from her broken marriage, is to put herself out there and meet someone new. Her Saturday night starts off just as she hoped, but by the next morning everything in her new world is completely upended and she realizes something is really wrong... she's hurt, lost all memory of the night before, and things just continue to take a turn for the worse!

The Date is suspenseful page-turner that kept me burning through the pages until the wee hours of the morning, I just could not put it down!! This first time read came riddled with action, thrilling suspense, and twists and turns that I never saw coming, just when I thought I had a grip on the story line I would find myself being hit with another unexpected surprise, and left second guessing myself all over again. I have to give this one my highest praise of five AMAZING stars; it thrilled me, gave my mind a good work-out, and left me thoroughly satisfied!! Highly recommend!!!

I requested an advanced copy of this title from NetGalley, and I am voluntarily leaving my honest opinion.

The Date was a rollercoaster of a book - a whodunit with enough shady characters that kept me guessing the entire book! Just when I thought I had it figured out, Jensen twisted the plot a bit more. Look forward to reading more of Jensen's books!

Thank you to Net Galley and Bookouture for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
#TheDate #NetGalley

WHOA! What a book! This one was full of twists, turns, ups, downs, secrets, lies, betrayals, paranoia, murder. Nothing is as it seems and the entire book had me anxious to find out the secrets that were spoken of.
I LOVED it! I loved the double meaning of "The Date".
The author is a creative genius and really knows how to make a reader gasp out loud!

Thankyou #NetGalley, the publisher and the author my free ARC in exchange for my honest review.
My honest review: ALL THE STARS!

What a book! This book deserves more than 5 stars. Ali is separated from her husband Matt and is living with another young woman who she met at the gym. Her friends, Chrissy and Jules, talk her into going joining an online dating site and she agrees to a date with a man names Ewan. After date night, she wakes up with a head injury, blood on her hands and ripped clothing with no memory of what happened. After spending a few days in the hospital, she starts getting threatening texts, notes, painted messages on her door, etc. There are plenty of twists, turns and surprises in this addicting thriller. If you are looking for a gripping thriller, I highly recommend this book because it will not disappoint.

The Date by Louise Jensen was just brilliant! I was lost for words when I finished reading it... what an ending! I have loved all of this authors books and this one was no exception.

Ali is separated from her husband and is convinced by a friend to go on a blind date. The next morning she wakes with no memory of what happened the night before. She also does not recognise her own face in the mirror, or that of any of her family or friends. You might think you have this one all figured out.. I assure you I thought the same...and I was wrong so many times.

A very big thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book to read and enjoy in exchange for my honest opinions

Before I’d read this book I had no idea what Prosopagnosia was. Ali Taylor wakes up confused, realising the night before she’d been on a blind date with someone called Ewan - a guy from a dating app. Her shoes are missing, blood is on her hands and she has a lump on the back of her head. When her brother Ben arrives she doesn’t recognise him. Not only that, her flat mate Chrissy, who she last remembers being in a club with, is missing.
After various tests at the hospital she is told the blow on the head has left her with prosopagnosia – the inability to recognise faces. And so the nightmare begins. She desperately wants to find out what happened the night before. And what has happened to Chrissy? Then the messages begin to arrive.
Wow! Right from the off this book had me gripped. How can poor Ali solve these issues when she can’t recognise anyone, not even her brother? It’s a really scary story that has the potential to bring the nail biter out in you and holds you right until the very last page.

After reading the blurb it seemed obvious to me what had happend to Ali that Saturday night. But the actual story behind that night is far crazier than initially anticpiated. In the beginning I actually thought I was reading some kind of science-fiction thriller because everything about Ali and her situation made no sense. It was really intriguing and exciting. And I couldn't wait to find out more.

Every single one of the characters in this story behaved suspiciously which made everyone a possible suspect. Everyone could have harmed her that night and everyone could have been out there tormenting and threatening her after that. My thoughts were all over the place and I was trying to puzzle the pieces together but it was impossible to grasp the depths of the whole story and situation.

The story was told from Ali's POV but every few chapters her tormentor would rise to speak with the most chilling messages there were. It was obvious that this person was close to her and watched her every move. She was always so close to him/her but then so far away. The fact that Ali didn't recognize her friends and family anymore added to the chilling atmosphere of the story.

Since I have read so many thrillers by now, nothing is impossible anymore when it comes to such stories. Everything is possible, even the most far-fetched scenarios. And that's what I did for The Date. I came up with the most obvious but also with the most ridiculous scenarios I could think of to solve the puzzle. Surely one of them must be true. And I was right, I figured out one of the many plot twists of this book - until I came to the very end and part of the already solved puzzle would break apart again because I was wrong after all.
I'm really impressed with Louise Jensens plotting because this is why I love thrillers: thinking you've solved the mystery but then after reading a few more chapters you're shown otherwise.

Even though the plot twists didn't shock me too much in the end, The Date is an amazing plotted and chilling psychological thriller which deserves 4 stars.

Welcome to my new site, dedicated to NOTHING BUT BOOKS! I hope you enjoy reading this site as much as I enjoy writing about books. Running this site will enable me to keep reviewing books and letting you know what’s coming up. Let’s start with page turners that will keep you up all night!

First up is The Date by Louis Jensen.

Here’s the premise:

One night can change everything.

‘I know it as soon as I wake up and open my eyes… Something is wrong.’

Her Saturday night started normally. Recently separated from her husband, Ali has been persuaded by her friends to go on a date with a new man. She is ready, she is nervous, she is excited. She is about to take a step into her new future. By Sunday morning, Ali’s life is unrecognizable. She wakes, and she knows that something is wrong. She is home, she is alone, she is hurt and she has no memory of what happened to her.

Worse still, when she looks in the mirror, Ali doesn’t recognize the face staring back at her. She can’t recognize her friends and family. And she can’t recognise the person who is trying to destroy her…

This is the kind of book I love to read. Described as “brilliant” and “addictive” its going to be the next book I read!

Thank you to netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, Thank you to netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, this book lured me in immediately, we meet Alison who is newly single and builds up the courage to go on a date, she awakes the morning after her date to frightenly injuries she can't remember substaining, even more frightening she struggles to recognise family and friends, I really sympathised with Alison what a horrific thing to go through, determined to find out what happened the tension builds throughout the book as she tries to discover what happened to her and why? A thrilling enjoyable read!

OMG OMG OMG! I looooved The Date, absolutely fabulous.

Okay, so were there lots of twists that were unbelievable, YESSS, but for once I just did not care. I suspended reality and just dove right on in and ate it all up in just three sittings....I read the over 60% staying up till nearly 5am to finish. I hope this gives credence to just how INTO this book I was, totally and completely willing to be a zombie the following day just to see how everything was resolved.

“Dark things happen on dark nights.”

Ali Taylor is separated from her husband and living with a new friend, Chrissy. Ali’s two friends don’t see a rekindling of Ali’s marriage and push her to join a dating site and go on a date, you don’t have to marry the guy, just have FUN! Ali finally agrees after some back and forth with a nice guy to meet up with him with her roommate, Chrissy, as her wingman. The following day, Ali wakes up of NO recollection of the night past getting ready to go out. She is covered in blood and she’s in pain- what happened?

“The fingertip-bruises on my arms, the still-throbbing lump on my head remind me that monsters are real. They walk among us, looking like us, talking like us. Unidentifiable.”

What did her date do to her? She can’t recognize herself or anyone else; she has facial blindness, prosopagnosia. She wouldn’t recognize the man who did this to her even if he was right in front of her! She soon begins to receive messages from him or is it her “Enjoy the date, bitch?”

“You will remember everything. I’ll make sure of it. It will all come back to you and when it does… You’ll really wish it hadn’t.”

This is my fourth book from Louise Jensen and she does not disappoint- The Date was my absolute favorite to date (heehee). My heart was racing waiting to see what the heck would happen next. This is going to be an author who I don’t have to read the back of the book to decide if I want to purchase it- I’m reading whatever Louise Jensen puts out!

I made the mistake of thinking I could read just one chapter before I started the day I was wrong. Never has a tagline of "An unputdownable psychological thriller with a breathtaking twist" been so appropriate. The Date captivated me from the first page until the last. Louise Jensen's use of language and pace threw me straight into the story as Ali wakes up from her date the night before. My heart raced along with hers as the tension deepened and the implications of her acquired prosopagnosia or “face blindness” became apparent. It causes everyday problems but when you are under threat anyone could be an attacker or the date.  The use of this condition adds more fear into this plot and works well.  The novel begins with the nonsensical and now eerie poem The Owl and The Pussycat by Edward Lear and it set the tone for the book. I did not know where this story was going and the twists took me to unimaginable places.

Louise Jensen is the queen of twists and tension. She does not let you go until the final word has been read but even then you are left reeling by revelations the book has revealed. She is on psychological thriller writer I can read again because the second time despite knowing the upcoming twists she manages to place you into the character's mind again who is oblivious to the trauma ahead.

First I want to thank Net Galley, Louise Jensen and Bookouture for the chance to read this before it hits shelves. This was my second book by Jensen and it won't be my last This book is about Ali who goes on a date and the next morning cant remember anything. It was a little strange and took me a little bit to get in to but once I did it was non stop reading. She ends up with a medical condition that makes her not be able to remember faces and this causes a problem for her since some one it out to get her. It had me guessing like three different people for the person behind everything and when the final twist got thrown in there I was open mouthed shocked! I can see why but it was still not what I had foreseen coming. This book was good. I liked the ending the best.

This was the first book by Louise Jensen I’ve read, and I was impressed. The Date is a tightly-woven thriller that cleverly entwines the actions of one woman’s past with her current life when she wakes after a vicious attack with no memory of the event. In many ways, it reminded me of SJ Watson’s Before I Go To Sleep (which I absolutely loved), but Louise Jensen’s latest book definitely holds its own and is a stunning read.

As a main character, Ali was likeable—but complex. Each chapter carefully revealed new layers to her that made her not only believable but relatable too. I struggled a little to relate to a couple of the secondary characters (particularly Jules and James), but this didn’t really affect my reading experience much.

I love books that include medical disorders and illnesses, and this one—where the main character suffers from prosopagnosia or “face blindness”—did not disappoint. While this condition is shown to only be one part of Ali it does provide a powerful premise and keep the tension up as Ali (and the reader) can’t recognise her attacker.

At times, I found the flashbacks to be a little long, but I can see what an important part of the story they were—in many ways this is almost a duel narrative of sorts between Ali and her younger self as we see how the events of her past shape her future.

I loved the ending. I’m a huge sucker for twists (and I knew one would be coming) but I did not foresee this exact twist.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC. I’ll definitely be picking up Louise Jensen’s other books.

Thanks to netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars. This was a very fast paced and suspenseful book. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was about Ali, a woman who wakes up and can't recognize herself or remember the events of the previous night and follows her as she tries to figure out what happened. While this is going on, we know there is someone following her and meaning to do harm to her. This book was filled with tension and I liked the fact that really any one of the supporting characters could have been guilty, so I was kept guessing throughout. My only issue was that the facial recognition issue Ali had was imperative to the story and her being unable to recognize people around her in photos and otherwise. That seemed a little to coincidental, as she would have figured out what was going on much more quickly without that issue and there really wouldn't have been a story. That was really all that kept me from giving this a 5 star. This was my 4th Louise Jensen book and I look forward to reading her next.