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jenbsbooks 's review for:

Second Lives by P.D. Cacek
5.0

4.5 stars. I liked this a lot. The blurb was intriguing, but I'll admit it was a rocky start. Having read the blurb, and knowing what to expect, it was a bit confusing when it started off with Henry/Hank as I was thinking "are we into this other person in the body already, right at the start? But no, he has Alzheimers and what appears to be a personality disorder ... that was unnecessary and confusing to me.

It's VERY choppy to start. Finishing the book and looking back, I can see how it is ordered and tied together, but just reading it for the first time ... a little bit of "what?"

Part 1 (8 chapters) introduces us to eight people. Chapter 1 to Nora/Henry, Chapter 2 to Timmy. Chapter 3 to Sara, Chapter 4 to Elizabeth. Chapter 5 to Jamie, Chapter 6 to Aryeh. Chapter 7 to Helen, Chapter 8 to Chrissy. The odd #s are in the present, and all have some health issue (and I don't know that it's really a spoiler to say they all "die" but not in these intro chapters). The even #s ... they DO die at the end of this intro chapter, and they are spaced at different places and times.

Part 2 is just the "present" people ... so four chapters. We get to learn more about them.
Part 3 is just the "present" people again, four chapters ... each ending with the death.

Part 4 is the combination - the reawakening. The physical bodies of the people who had been in the current timeline, the "souls" of the people who had passed away in Part 1. Part 5 and Part 6 again focus on these souls in the bodies of others. One chapter dedicated to each character.

Part 7 is a wrap-up, epilogue.

Anyway, very unique and interesting idea (although I've read several stories with the basic premise of one soul/spirit being in a different body - nothing quite like this). I really liked it. I have more "ear" time than "eye" time, so my "reading" of books has generally taken me a bit, but I breezed through this!

I purchased the Kindle copy when it was on sale for $.99 (It looked interesting enough to nudge the purchase and bump it to the top of my reading list). Audio whispersync was available for $7.49 but I stuck with the kindle copy.