Congrats Andrea
on the release today of
Versions of Her!
Versions of Her by Andrea Lochen
Print & e-book, 310 pages
Published July 23rd 2019 by Red Adept Publishing, LLC
On the surface, Melanie Kingstad-Keyes’s life is the picture of success. She’s a tenure track professor at a prestigious university and has a perfect husband. But a recent miscarriage has left her reeling and her marriage tenuous. Selling her family’s Lake Indigo summer home, which she hasn’t visited in fifteen years, feels like the perfect distraction from her problems. Now, she only needs to persuade her younger sister, Kelsey, to go along with her plan.
Stuck in a dead-end job, Kelsey Kingstad bounces from one doomed relationship to the next as she struggles to jumpstart her adult life. Carrying the guilt of her mother’s untimely death, Kelsey is reluctant to let go of the Victorian house filled with memories of her mom and their childhood.
When the sisters find a mysterious hidden door, Melanie and Kelsey discover that they can directly view their mother’s younger years and learn all the secrets she never shared with them. Delving into her memories is fun at first, but Melanie and Kelsey quickly uncover difficult truths, throwing their own life choices into question and making them wonder if they ever truly knew their mother. Visiting the past may help them find closure, but the cost could be steeper than they realize.
My thoughts about Versions of Her ~~
(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first line.)
First line—"Kelsey was running late, of course."
I read Andrea's previous book, Imaginary Things, and loved it. I was so excited when she contacted me about reading Versions of Her, her new book which just came out. I loved this one just as much!
Melanie and Kelsey find themselves at their family cabin on the lake, getting it ready to sell so they can move on with their lives. They soon discover a hidden door that takes them into past moments of their mother's life. What they find there has them reeling and questioning everything they thought they knew about the woman they called "Mom".
I love the thought of the possibility of a little bit of time traveling. I love that Andrea was able to weave a story combining past events with the present. And I love that, because of that mysterious door, Melanie and Kelsey are better able to understand the past—and their mother—and are able to move forward. I was just as fascinated by the secret door as the two sisters were and couldn't wait to take another look into the past. The magical element of time travel has always intrigued me and it's one of the things I loved the most about this book. Oh, the possibilities!
Andrea has written another beautiful story with characters I came to care about. This is definitely a book that you should put on your TBR list this summer. I'm sure you'll be swept away by this story as much as I was.
I received a copy of Versions of Her via the author and this is my honest opinion of the book.
Excerpt
Kelsey dropped her overnight bag on the four-post bed. Who says I have to stay in my old tiny bedroom when this one’s available? It didn’t make sense for her to sweat and toss and turn when she could be sprawled out coolly and peacefully. She doubted her mom would have minded, and her dad wasn’t there and probably wouldn’t ever be there again before the sale of the house. Only Melanie would care, but her sister could deal with it. She hung up the dress in her parents’ closet then used the bathroom.
Melanie was leaning in the master bedroom’s doorway when Kelsey came out. “You’re going to stay in here?” she asked casually, but Kelsey could see her hands were clenched in tight balls.
“Yeah. Why not?” Kelsey responded equally as casually. “No one else is using it, and I’ll be much more comfortable. Besides, I don’t think Mom and Dad would mind, do you?”
Melanie shook her head stiffly. Maybe she was kicking herself for not staking a claim on the room first. It probably hadn’t occurred to her because her room was so much nicer than Kelsey’s. If she had, Kelsey would’ve been happy to stay in the bedroom with the tapestry. “I’ll have to take one of the queen-size quilts to the Laundromat,” she said.
“I could do it,” Kelsey offered. “Or I could sleep with the twin-size quilt tonight. I really don’t care.” She bent down to scratch behind Sprocket’s ears and saw his tongue was hanging out in a doggy grin. She would need to set out a bowl of water for him soon. “So what is this thing of Mom’s you wanted to show me?” She tried to sound appropriately enthusiastic.
But Melanie’s eagerness seemed to have lessened somewhat. She was still staring into their parents’ bedroom as if Kelsey had desecrated it somehow. “Right.” Melanie slowly returned her attention to her sister, and Kelsey got the distinct impression she was being appraised. “It’s in my room,” she finally said and ducked into the doorway of the middle bedroom. “But we should probably sit down first.”
About the author
Though Andrea Lochen had dreamed of being an author since the third grade, she didn’t realize creative writing was “an actual thing” until she stumbled upon the program at the University of Wisconsin as a college freshman. After graduating from college, she earned her Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from the University of Michigan and later achieved her dream of becoming a published author.
Andrea is now the author of three novels: The Repeat Year, Imaginary Things, and Versions of Her. She teaches creative writing at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee at Waukesha, encouraging young writers to learn the craft and pursue their own writing dreams. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband, two small children, and their adorably fluffy dog, Maddy. In her free time, she likes to bake cupcakes and cakes, see musicals and plays, and read as much as humanly possible.
Andrea is now the author of three novels: The Repeat Year, Imaginary Things, and Versions of Her. She teaches creative writing at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee at Waukesha, encouraging young writers to learn the craft and pursue their own writing dreams. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband, two small children, and their adorably fluffy dog, Maddy. In her free time, she likes to bake cupcakes and cakes, see musicals and plays, and read as much as humanly possible.
Connect with Andrea
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