Cover: Were We Awake
by L. M. Brown
The author sent me an ARC of this book (mobi format) in exchange for an honest review (a member of Rosie’s Book Review Team).
My rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ (four stars)
Plot
(by Goodreads)
In each story of this collection, events make the characters understand that their world is not as it seemed.
In Hidden, the discovery of an affair between her father and aunt is only the start of finding hidden secrets for Hazel.
What it Means to Be Empty-Handed is narrated by a fourteen–year-old daughter of an alcoholic. Her denial and elaborate imagination starts to disintegrate when she lies to the wrong person.
In Crashing, a middle-aged woman lives a life of servitude until she hits a teenage boy with her car.
A thirty-year-old murder takes its toll on the victim’s family in Walking A Country Road.
The stories are set in Boston and Ireland.
| Genre(s): | > Short Stories (Books) > Single Authors Short Stories > Literary Short Stories |
| Series: | n.a. |
| File size: | 236 pages |
| Release date: | 2019-11-20 |
Teaser
Dermot was still in bed when she got back to the house. She dried the dog, and thought that she’d have to peel the whole bag of spuds because her son was a demon for potatoes. He liked the carrots too. He’d complain if he put a ladle into the saucepan and it didn’t come up full of vegetable and meat. He’d say he thought it was a stew and not soup.
Once, when Catherine had said that was exactly what it was before him he’d actually looked up the definition of stew and showed her that it was a dish of meat and vegetable cooked slowly in liquid.
“See,” he’d said, “Cooked in liquid, not swimming in it.”
My Opinion
This book offers you thirteen interwoven short stories.
With “Were We Awake”, L. M. Brown has created a collection of interwoven short stories with incredibly authentic characters. Each story kept me very close to the protagonists, taking me back to that time and region. L. M. Brown presents thirteen well-elaborated stories which are intriguing and offer food for thought at the same time; even if you do not know the Northwest of Ireland or Boston, Massachusetts, at that time you will get a good idea about it; the stories may be gloomy yet they provide hope. The protagonists are believable, complemented by the aptly written stories. There are some insights into the human behaviour that will make you wonder. It is a pretty absorbing read with authentic characters, interesting turns, and a good flow.
This is a book for you if you like intriguing contemporary fiction, believable characters, and food for thought.
Recommended.
In brief:
| Cover | ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ (four stars) |
| Writing | ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ (four stars) |
| Plot | ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ (four stars) |
| Characters | ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ (four stars) |
| Mood | Suspenseful |
| Pace | Steady |
| POV | Third person – past tense |
| Language |  (some mild swearwords spread sparsely) |
| Violence | (harmless enough) |
| Sexual content | – 😳 (several mentions) |
About the author
L.M Brown grew up in Ireland but now resides in Massachusetts with her husband and three daughters. She has a master’s in Creative Writing from Emerson College and is the author of the novel Debris. Her stories have been published in over a dozen literary magazines.
Connect with the author:
Please take a look at my statement on reading in My train of thoughts on …reading. Now I am asking you. 🙂
My questions for you bibliophiles:
What about you? What did you think about “Were We Awake”? Or – if you did not yet read “Were We Awake” – are you now interested in reading it yourself?
I am looking forward to reading your comments. 🙂
My train of thoughts on... 
Thank you Karen.
My pleasure, Rosie.
Excellent review, Karen. Thanks.
Thank you very much, John.
Sounds good!
Thanks!
😉
Karen, you have really given a great review. Clarity of layout and text makes me stay
and take in the book properly. The book sounds very tempting and I will check out
Amazon u.k..
miriam
Thank you very much for your kind feedback, Miriam. Hope all is well with you.
Best, Karen