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This Is Not Over: A Novel
This Is Not Over: A Novel
This Is Not Over: A Novel
Audiobook11 hours

This Is Not Over: A Novel

Written by Holly Brown

Narrated by Madeleine Maby and Donna Postel

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

()

About this audiobook

You’ll have your deposit within seven business days, just like it says on Getaway.com. I’ve put through a refund to your credit card for the full amount, minus $200 to replace the stained sheets...

Miranda

When 30-year-old Dawn reads Miranda’s email, she sees red. People have always told Dawn she’s beautiful, and she just hopes they don’t see beneath—to how she grew up, to what she’s always tried to outrun. She revels in her getaways with her perfect (maybe too perfect) husband, the occasional long weekend in luxurious homes, temporarily inhabiting other people’s privileged lives. Miranda’s email strikes a nerve, with its lying intimation that Dawn is so dirty you need to throw out her sheets.

Beware of your “host”

I wouldn’t have left a review at all, if I didn’t feel it was my civic duty to warn others…

57-year-old Miranda thought she’d seen it all, but she can’t believe her eyes when she reads Dawn’s review. She’s a doctor’s wife but she needs that rental money, desperately. People might think her life is privileged, but they don’t know what’s really going on. They don’t know about her son. She won’t take this threat to her livelihood—to her very life—lying down.

Two very different women with this in common: Each harbors her own secret, her own reason why she can’t just let this go. Neither can yield, not before they’ve dredged up all that’s hidden, even if it has the power to shatter all they’ve built.

This is not over.

This is so not over.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperAudio
Release dateJan 17, 2017
ISBN9780062563507
Author

Holly Brown

Holly Brown lives with her husband and toddler daughter in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she's a practicing marriage and family therapist. She is the author of the novel Don't Try to Find Me, and her blog, "Bonding Time," is featured on the mental health website PsychCentral.com.

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Reviews for This Is Not Over

Rating: 3.4468085106382977 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

47 ratings11 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I poor house rental review results in a dispute between the renter and the rentee who's lives become entangled. Who is the enemy goes from one main player to another in this psychological drama. Very contemporary with the use of social media and home sharing apps and reviews. It did hold my attention.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This was a great book. It was like being a fly on the wall of a crazy situation. I’ve binged it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I loved this story line. Great writing! A must read!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    What an intriguing storyline!! Reallly enjoyed this book as I have never read anything quite like this.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I'm going to be honest here, I really didn't like this novel. I will admit, I wasn't expecting any kind of crazy thriller. But this was just a little more preposterous than I could handle. The story is told from alternating points of view and each woman gets her chance to tell her side. I didn't like either woman. They've got so many issues and they really just never think things through. Their self-centered attitudes and belief in their own righteousness drove me crazy. By the first 70 pages, I could see myself getting bored as the story started to pull away from this dispute and start to focus on other areas of their separate lives. And again, I didn't really care about what else they were going through, or what their past was like. Both of these women were married but I couldn't take either of their marriages seriously. Dawn's marriage seemed very juvenile and lacked any substance. Miranda's marriage was like something out of the 1950's, where the husband is always right and it is the wife's job to look pretty and cook nice dinners. This really bothered me because I like females to have a stronger role than that in the novels I read. I had figured out the ending by the halfway point; it was not as thrilling as one might expect. At the end, I was just wondering why this novel was even a good idea. It really didn't have that much to do with the renting idea that it started with and it just got more and more ridiculous the further you read it. Also, the ending, while technically making sense, didn't actually work. Overall, this novel failed for me because it's story lacked the thrills I was seeking and the characters were very unlikable. For those reasons, I'm giving this a 1/5 stars.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A psychological story about two women, enemies in their minds due to a very small issue -- isn't that always the way? Each feels wronged and can't let things be. The book is well written and slightly suspenseful. I love reading new books and this one is different and well done because the author is a marriage and family therapist and writes from experience. I'll be interested in the author's other books. The older woman is married with a wayward son and often-absent husband. The younger woman is married, finishing a college degree, and has a dark past. They have more in common than they realize, both with somewhat troubled pasts and marriages. The story reveals how they became enemies and all that transpires after the initial incident. Some good twists near the end. Well worth your time if you enjoy this kind of book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    So, have you ever stayed in a Bed and Breakfast or booked a few nights in an Airbnb? Ever have any problems? Well, a problem with a rented stay is the the starting point for Holly Brown's new novel, This is Not Over.Dawn looks forward to her 'getaways' with her husband Rob. A weekend rental in a luxurious home is a chance to imagine what life might be like for them. It's also a large financial outlay for them. So, when their latest 'host' Miranda deducts $200.00 from their deposit to 'replace the stained sheets', Dawn sees red. She knows that they did not ruin the sheets. And the rental was not perfect......And so begins a war of sorts. Escalating nasty emails and texts, online stalking and more that threatens to consume each woman and their lives. Neither can let it go. They are each adamant that they are right and neither will back down. This is not over....Each woman has a voice and as readers, we become privy to the details of their lives. We're observers, along for the ride, as the misconceptions compound and the resentment grows. I use observer as that was what I felt like as I read. I didn't become invested with either character as they are not likeable in any way, shape or form. I felt a bit like a rubbernecker, driving by an accident, unable to turn away but wanting to know what happened. I was curious as to where Brown was going to take things from that initial set of emails.I had my suspicions about the ending as things progressed and I wasn't far off. I do feel the back and forth between the two women went on a bit too long in my opinion and could have tightened up a bit. And some of the plot devices need to be taken with a grain of salt. But that being said, I can absolutely see how this would happen. Social media has become the public ring for battles of all sorts. Brown is a practicing therapist and her descriptions of Dawn and Miranda's thinking and 'logic' benefits from her expertise. In the acknowledgments, Brown writes: "Thanks are also due to my 'host', who shall remain nameless. Sometimes inspiration comes from the most unlikely of places, and I am so grateful for that."
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    It all starts with an email message about a refund and goes downhill from there. Dawn and Rob Thiebold enjoy spending weekends away from their Oakland apartment and routinely use VRBO homes. Dawn is in charge of finding the homes they stay in and she takes her research into these homes quite seriously. The beach rental should have made for a perfect weekend getaway, but it is anything but perfect and then she receives an email stating they left a mysterious "stain" on the sheets and wouldn't be receiving a full refund. Dawn tries hard to channel Rob's more laidback attitude and let this go, but she refuses to accept Miranda's version of accounts and fights back the only way she can. Dawn's text message and email responses to Miranda quickly turns into an internet campaign to right a wrong. If dealing with Miranda isn't enough, Rob wants to start a family, and Dawn's father dies and she finds out her parents were never legally married. Everything seems to be crashing down around her and she finds refuge with an unlikely ally.Miranda isn't sure how a simple text message could have evolved into a campaign to besmirch her character as a VRBO host. She tries her best to remain civil with Dawn and work out a reasonable arrangement. She even offers to refund Dawn if she'll only take down the somewhat negative review posted on the VRBO host website. Miranda is also dealing with an aging parent suffering from dementia, a distant husband that never seems to agree with her opinion about anything, and a drug-addicted son that seeks to keep her off balance while constantly seeking financial assistance. The only thing Miranda can focus on is maintaining a little bit of sanity in her increasingly insane existence, her status as a good VRBO host. When that is taken away from by Dawn's reporting the short-stay vacation rentals to the authorities, Miranda decides to take a stand. She stands up to her mother and is kicked out her mother's assisted living facility. She stands up to her husband and he takes off for a medical conference. But what can she do to stand up to a renter that lives hours away?I found This Is Not Over to be a rather fast-paced read. It is a psychological thriller that kept me guessing until the very end. It is easy to see how a seemingly innocent text message or email could be taken out of context when it isn't possible to hear the sender's voice or see their nonverbal cues. The reader sees and hears what they want to see and hear. Dawn sees one thing and mounts what might be seen as cyberstalking and cyberbullying behavior. Miranda is all too focused on her reputation to see that she's living a lie. She wants to be perceived as the perfect host when her marriage and family life are crumbling down around her. Both Dawn and Miranda make assumptions about one another and their actions are based on those preconceived notions. This Is Not Over is not a she said/she said story, it is about misconceptions and an unwillingness to see the other side of the equation. This story contains lots of family angst and drama, cyberstalking, cyberbullying, hopelessness, despair, and an inability to see circumstances clearly while enraged. I could tell you where the psychological thriller component comes into play, but then you wouldn't need to read the story. The story was slow moving at first, but then it picked up and kept my attention to the very last page (I had to know what happened next). If you enjoy reading psychological thrillers filled with family drama, then you'll definitely want to read This Is Not Over.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This Is Not Over by Holly Brown is a recommended novel (highly for the right reader) of domestic suspense.Dawn Thiebold, 30, is incensed when she reads Miranda Feldt's email informing her that her security deposit, minus $200 for the stained sheets which had to be replaced, will be refunded to her within seven business days. Dawn and Rob, her husband, rented the Santa Monica beach house as a mini-vacation for Dawn to escape from her real life and pretend to be something better, something more than her reality. Dawn is always trying to outrun her past - as well as her complexion. Although she's married to a perfect man, they live in a tiny run-down apartment in Oakland. Dawn isn't working while she finishes her degree in communications, so essentially Miranda is stealing from her husband. She decides to write a negative review about renting Miranda's house because it did not live up to her fantasies.Miranda rents out the Santa Monica beach house that she inherited from her parents (for $600 a day) because she needs the money. Sure her husband is a doctor and it appears that her life is one of privilege and ease, but appearances aren't everything. She needs that income for her son, Thad. She can't allow one bad review out about her property since it could threaten future income. The rental income is her only source of funds that she can siphon money from to send her son. She cannot allow Dawn's negative review to stay posted.The chapters alternate between the two characters. Each chapter opens with some form of contact by one, and then the interpretation or misinterpretation of the communication by the other as she goes about her daily life. The chapters then provide insight into each woman. Slowly backgrounds and personal information is revealed which offers some explanation for their reactions. I really liked the concept of this book and could totally see how a partial return of a security deposit and a negative rating could send two people into battle mode. If you've ever worked closely with other people (on a job, sat on a board or a committee, in any service-industry, etc.) you've seen people get angry over various minor perceived injustices or opinions that differ from their own and have the discussions escalate into the absurd, ridiculous, and petty. The ability today to take these opinions and disagreements online and not in person (email, social forums, Facebook, twitter, texting, etc.) is a situation almost guaranteed to have some people go to extremes. I'm sure almost everyone has some stories to tell along this line; I know I have some great ones.The problem I had with This Is Not Over lies neither with the writing, which is good, nor the initial hook. I started it and was eager to finish it. I had two problems with it. The first is that the characters are not likeable, and, in fact, were both a bit whinny and narcissistic. It became increasingly difficult to care what happened to either of them - or their husbands. The second problem ties into the first. The novel started to feel repetitive and overly long. In the end, the promised suspense was pretty mild considering how minor disagreements can explode into huge battles anymore (see the local news).Disclosure: My advanced reading copy was courtesy of HarperCollins.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    This is the second book I have attempted to read by this author. I say this because the first book I found uninteresting and unforgettable. Yet, this time I was super hyped to check this book out. I forgot about the past. This book was a let down to me. There was nothing appealing about either Miranda or Dawn. Both women came off as childish. In fact, I don't think that either one was coming out on top as the winner. The author tried to make me the reader feel for each woman by providing me details about their lives. This may have worked if most of the alternating chapters were not focused on the mud slinging. The obsession was getting out of hand. For example when Dawn was being pleasured by her husband and she is talking about Miranda. Dawn finally realizes in that situation that she was focusing too much on Miranda that she decides that her and her husband are going to have sex and so she jumps on top of him to ride him like a stag. I thought this book would get better for me, thus I kept reading. I could only get to chapter 20 before I could no longer stand Miranda and Dawn.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I received a copy of this book in return for a review. I read some other reviews before I started reading this book and was a little nervous it wasn't going to be a good read. After the first few chapters I had to keep my husband up to date with all the hilarious drama as it unfolded. There were times I laughed out loud and other times I was so irritated with the two women I wanted to shake them and tell them they were ridiculous. I'm not going to summarize the story, that's been done. What I will do is thank the author for an entertaining book full of catty drama and personality flaws just about anyone can relate to.