I read this book in one day. I usually reserve books that I read in one day to thrillers and almost due library books (you’ve all been there with that one), but this family drama with a side dose of medical fiction was too good to put down.

This book deals with a lot of hot topics such as addiction to prescription drugs, sexual orientation, family dynamics, and teenage peer pressure.

Each character made individual small decisions that became big impacts on a lot of lives. I think for me that aspect of the book was what made this one such an engrossing read.

This book is told in three points of view: Allison, Grant, and Sadie and is told over the course of a year (2019). The time does go back and forth so some of the drama is happening in real time while other parts are what happened prior in the year.

Allison is an active elementary school teacher. She passes out at school and it’s discovered she has a serious issue with her brain that eventually could be fatal. And side note..Allison has feelings for a female colleague.

Grant is Allison’s brother-in-law and is one of the area’s top neurosurgeons. He also has an addiction to prescription drugs.

Sadie is Grant’s teenage daughter. She gets mixed up with a new friend at school, Piper, that is trouble.

Allison, her husband Michael, and Allison’s sister, Cynthia want Grant to perform Allison’s surgery which is ethically a pretty gray area for Grant.

I’ll let you read the book to see how the drama unfolds.

I think this would make a great book club read as the characters and plot details lend itself to some lively discussions and there is some guided questions in the back to prompt discussion.

This book took.a lot for me to finish.
I just didn't feel the connection and made it hard to pull through. The ending was just...Nothing more.
Time lines are easy to follow.
Not all books are for everyone.. though it didn't work for my reading pleasure doesn't mean you shouldn't read it.

Thanks to the author, the publisher NetGalley for an early release of this book.

Allison is struggling to trust her sisters husband to perform brain surgery on her as he is the best neurosurgeon in this type of tumor, he is struggling with a pill addiction. Affairs, secrets and darkness follow this group. Will Allison be able to survive her surgery and live the life she wants.

What a dramatic premise for a novel! The moral dilemmas come thick and fast for almost every character, and none of them have simple answers, so I kept turning the pages late into the night to find out how things would work out. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that things resolved themselves in satisfying, though not always predictable ways. This would make an excellent book club book, with plenty of scope for discussion. And those who like well-developed characters with plenty of growth potential will find it compelling too.

Better To Trust, by Heather Frimmer, tackles some immensely tough topics: drug abuse, family angst, medical drama, love, and most of all trust. And she does it flawlessly.

I raced through this book. Would it be tied up with a pretty bow? Would it be as honest and heartwarming and perfect as the beginning and middle? I was not disappointed!

If you're looking for a remarkable medical fiction read, keep an eye out for this book that releases in September.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley. This is my honest review.

I enjoyed this read, thank you for sending! Glad we got multiple POVs as it was such a layered story.

This book was good. Not great, but good. I normally don't mind a dual timeline but for this story, I wasn't sold on it. It was very close together timeline wise and I wasn't 100% sure why Heather Frimmer incorporated it into the story line. I did like the secondary characters and their growth throughout the book- essentially showing that everyone has crazy moments in their life sometimes and those moments tend to pile up at the worst time. I like Alison's decisions through the book and felt that was necessary for her growth as well. Again, good book and I flew through it. No real arc or climatic event but not every book needs that.

Better to Trust follows the lives of three characters, and their respective struggles, told in alternating timelines, two (Grant and his daughter, Sadie) leading up to and during the primary source of tension in this novel and one (Grant’s sister in law, Alison) during and towards the end until all three of them converge.

I personally enjoyed the style in which this story is written and having the opportunity to see it unfold from three differing perspectives as well as the alternating timelines.
The ending wasn't that satisfying and I wanted to go deeper into the relationships that changed over the course of the book in the end. The experience of re-negotiating your sexuality is something that I wanted the book to go a little bit deeper on, but even just including the experience of the character is wonderful representation.

I enjoyed Heather Frimmer's first book Bedside Manners and was anxious to read her sophomore novel. I wasn't disappointed and enjoyed it more than her first. Her two novels revolve around hospitals and health issues and are emotional stories that give her readers a lot to think about. It's told by three characters and various time periods and I didn't think the switches between characters and time periods were difficult to follow. In fact using three characters to tell the story gives the readers a chance to truly understand the issues.

Alison is a teacher who passed out at school and is rushed to the hospital where they find a growth in her brain. She needs surgery and begs her brother - in - law Grant to do the surgery. Even before this event, Alison and her husband are dealing with problems in their marriage as she is having an affair with a female teacher. We see Alison as a healthy woman who takes care of herself become a person unable to talk or walk.

Grant is a world-renowned neurosurgeon and an expert in treating Alison's condition. He is married to Alison's sister and they have one daughter, Sadie. He is hiding a secret from his family and collogues -- his addiction to prescription pills. It is apparent that his addiction negatively affected Alison's brain surgery but is that enough for him to change?.

Sadie is angry at her parents and starts making some poor decisions and hanging out with a girl at school that's pushing her risky situations to another level. She manages to get herself into some tricky situations that end up affecting her entire family.

This novel about love and family and forgiveness is a real page turner. All of the main characters have major decisions to make that will greatly affect their lives in the future. Will they all make the right decisions and become a family again or will past mistakes keep them estranged? This family drama grabbed my attention from the first page when Alison is working to regain her strength in physical rehab. She was fighting hard to bring her life back to normal and has to make a big decision about her sexuality. Grant has to decide if he can make changes to bring his life back to normal without pills and Sadie needs to decide if she wants to stay on the same path of risky behavior or go back to the person she was before. Will these characters be able to forgive each other and more importantly themselves?

Thanks to netgallery for a copy of this book to read and review.

Thnak you Netgalley for providing me an ARC of this book

Better to Trust follows the lives of three characters, and their respective struggles, told in alternating timelines, two (Grant and his daughter, Sadie) leading up to and during the primary source of tension in this novel and one (Grant’s sister in law, Alison) during and towards the end until all three of them converge.

I personally enjoyed the style in which this story is written and having the opportunity to see it unfold from three differing perspectives as well as the alternating timelines.
The ending wasn't that satisfying and I wanted to go deeper into the relationships that changed over the course of the book in the end. The experience of re-negotiating your sexuality is something that I wanted the book to go a little bit deeper on, but even just including the experience of the character is wonderful representation.

This was an unusual story, written around three characters (Alison, her brother-in-law Grant, and his daughter Sadie) and two timelines leading up to and following Alison’s brain surgery. It is part mystery, part family drama, and all emotional.

I enjoyed this switch between past and present; a useful tool to amp up the tension, and written well enough that we are never confused, at any point, about who we are reading about or when in their life.

I also enjoyed reading these characters’ perspective on things - which is different from liking them; they’re not particularly likeable people. Especially Alison, whose struggle with her sexuality was really easy to relate to, making her a sympathetic character regardless of the obvious moral wrong-doing.

However, the novel does drag on - it could stand to cut out a lot to give us a tighter narrative. I nearly DNFed a third of the way through because of that, but continued in case it picked up along the way. Sadly, it did not for me. The ending, as other reviews have pointed out, also left much to be desired.

Nonetheless, thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this eARC.

I enjoyed this book because of the interesting plot line which felt very realistic. It did stress me out a little as to how probable the story was and I totally felt... (contd) https://fashionandfrappes.com/my-june-reads-everything-i-read-in-june-2021/

The question on many people's minds is how do you deal with loss. Not just loss of another person but loss of someone who is forever changed. We rely on family and trusted friends to help us make life changing decisions. But at what point must we be totally responsibly for our own decisions.

That's what this book is about a decision that maybe could have been made differently.
Yes, it does get a little confusing switching from the now to the past. But the more you read the more it makes sense. It sort of explains the right and the wrong decisions and the pressure we put on ourselves and others.

I can't even begin to imagine how difficult this was to write especially from three characters point of views. I found the story truly inspirational.

Rejection is a normal human emotion when we as a person feel less than ourselves. When you have to rebuild from scratch its normal to push those closest away. I admit I had a hard time reading this as it mirrored my own experience. I also need to praise the author for the accuracy of her narrative. Being on the receiving end does affect who you are but what is not apparent at the time is the others who are also affected by what's happened. And for that I must give the author even further praise. Sometimes truth levels the playing field despite truth usually hurts.

I have to ask? is there going to be a sequel. I feel that the Alison and Becca story has further mileage in them. There is still a story to be told.

Yes, I would recommend this book.

Enjoy!


*ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley*

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4081549666

This book had a slow start and I wasn't sure I was going to continue with it. In the end I am glad I did, although it is not my favorite novel it is still a story I am glad got to be told. The writing style is not my favorite but I will still recomend to readers who prefer these type of books. I love the elements that the story inquires and the way that Frimmer portrays them. Over all it is a good story.

A few years ago, I read and enjoyed Bedside Manners, so I was excited to see that Heather Frimmer had a new book coming out this year. And even more so to get my hands on an advanced copy, which I added to my five-book pile right away! Heather's sophomore novel is really interesting and thought-provoking, as well as hard to put down.

The novel starts off a few months after Alison's brain surgery and shows how much she is struggling to speak and move. Then it goes back and forth in time, showing everything leading up to and following the surgery, as well as moving along in the present to see how Alison is progressing and what is happening in her life. The story is told from Alison, Grant, and Grant's daughter Sadie's perspectives. I like that there was a teenager's point-of-view and Heather told it well enough to branch out as a young adult author if she wanted to.

There were a lot of complex emotions running throughout the novel. Alison's situation is scary and unimaginable and it could have been prevented. Even though we know the outcome of the surgery, there's still that hope that everything will go off without a hitch while we're reading about it in the past.

This was a really well-told story that I definitely recommend when it publishes this fall.

Movie casting suggestions:
Alison: Gillian Jacobs (she even has the same last name!)
Cynthia: Judy Greer
Grant: Eion Bailey
Sadie: Jordyn Negri
Michael: Allen Leech
Becca: Christa B. Allen
Rhea: Amanda Brugel
Piper: Peyton List

It was okay. I felt unsatisfied like something was left unsaid? I don’t know exactly how to explain it. Is if more could be … just be.

It was fine overall. I would try again.

First of all, I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with the eARC of this book, Better to Trust by Heather Frimmer.

Better to Trust follows the lives of three characters, and their respective struggles, told in alternating timelines, two (Grant and his daughter, Sadie) leading up to and during the primary source of tension in this novel and one (Grant’s sister in law, Alison) during and towards the end until all three of them converge.

I personally enjoyed the style in which this story is written and having the opportunity to see it unfold from three differing perspectives as well as the alternating timelines.

Unfortunately though, this book just was not for me. I heavily disliked all of the main and side characters and not even in a “love to hate them” kind of way, I just outright didn’t like them and that tainted my enjoyment of the story. I condidered DNFing the book but I felt that I should reserve judgement in the hope that I would begin to become more immersed but regrettably that failed to happen.

Whilst I do believe that others may appreciate this book more, I personally would not recommend it but I do think that if it was adapted into a tv show or movie it could be a lot more enjoyable experience!

This novel didn't quite keep my attention, and it took me a while to read. The premise felt real, and Frimmer's writing is intelligent and introspective, but ultimately, I did not find myself attached to the characters. I do think many people will love this book, but perhaps I (as a 20 year old) was not the intended audience for this tale of familial turmoil.
I give this 3 stars because, despite not finding myself super wrapped up in the plot, Frimmer is talented, her writing is evocative, and she portrayed Alison's conflict with sexuality in a very honest way.

Better to Trust is a book about trust in all of its forms, as the title suggests. It is told from the perspectives of Alison, Grant, and Sadie - all members of a family effected by brain surgery that ends in complications. There is an added layer of struggle with addiction, sexuality, and independence.

I thought this book was a good read - interesting, fast paced, and very honest around family dynamics. I finished this book quickly and was heartened by some of the characters growth and saddened by others choices. I found the characters easy to get to know and like. despite the obvious challenges they were facing.

As other reviewers have mentioned, the ending wasn't that satisfying and I wanted to go deeper into the relationships that changed over the course of the book in the end. The experience of re-negotiating your sexuality is something that I wanted the book to go a little bit deeper on, but even just including the experience of the character is wonderful representation. I would recommend this read as it made me think and challenged me to think from a different perspective. This would be great for those who enjoy a family drama. It made me think of the show Parenthood quite a bit, so if you liked that show, you will like this book!

Heather Frimmer's second novel, Better to Trust, plunges readers into the lives of three connected characters: Alison, a woman dealing with a debilitating brain condition and questioning her sexuality, Grant, Alison's neurosurgeon, who is secretly addicted to prescription pills, and Sadie, Grant's troubled teenage daughter. I was immediately drawn in by Alison as she navigates her road to recovery after brain surgery. Each step in her struggle felt earned and real--I couldn't help but root for her. At the same time, she must face her crumbling marriage and grapple with her evolving sexual identity. Her story is further complicated by Grant's and Sadie's narratives, and the ways they intersect. Frimmer has written an emotional page-turner that fans of women's fiction will not be able to put down.