Blog Tour ~ The Other Us by Fiona Harper

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to be on the The Other Us Blog Tour

Published by HQ
4 May 2017

What's it all about..

If you could turn back time, would you choose a different life?

Forty-something Maggie is facing some hard truths. Her only child has flown the nest for university and, without her daughter in the house, she’s realising her life, and her marriage to Dan, is more than a little stale.

When she spots an announcement on Facebook about a uni reunion, she can’t help wondering what happened to Jude Hanson. The same night Dan proposed, Jude asked Maggie to run away with him, and she starts to wonder how different her life might have been if she’d broken Dan’s heart and taken Jude up on his offer.

Wondering turns into fantasising, and then one morning fantasising turns into reality. Maggie wakes up and discovers she’s back in 1992 and twenty-one again. Is she brave enough to choose the future she really wants, and if she is, will the grass be any greener on the other side of the fence?

Two men. Two very different possible futures. But is there only once chance at happiness?

I am delighted to share the author's own What ifs moments...

When reading the book you can’t help thinking of the ‘Sliding Doors’ moments I’ve had in my life. Is there one that sticks out for you? What was the decision? And did you pick the right path?!

There are definitely some things I’d wondered ‘what if?’ – particularly when it comes to career choices. I was keen on art and English and performing arts when I was at school, and it was a bit of a toss-up between whether I went to do a degree in dance or graphic design. I ended up choosing dance, which I loved, but there weren’t many jobs around when I left university, just as the recession of the early 90s hit. I’m not sure if I’d have been happier going the other path, but I definitely would have made more money! But then, if I’d chosen design, would I have ended up as a writer? Maybe not. And that would have been awful, because I love my job so much.

Even knowing this is the right career choice for me, there are other ‘what if’s’: I didn’t start writing novels until I was 35. Should I have tried when I was younger? If I had, maybe I’d have a very different career by now but, then again, I have a feeling I wasn’t ready to write a book in my twenties, so maybe I’d have crashed and burned, got disheartened and never given it another go.

We all have hundreds of these moments every day, probably without being aware of it. However, second-guessing every decision and pining for the path not travelled will probably not only send you quietly insane but is ultimately useless. No one can go back and undo the past; all we can do is use what we’ve learned along the journey we’ve already taken and step boldly into the future.

What did I think about The Other Us..

I am sure that we all have those 'what if'' moments where we wonder just what would have happened if we had turned the other corner or made a very different life choice. And that's just what happens to Maggie who wakes to find herself in a very different place. Instead of a being a forty something mum, married to Dan, on the eve of her University reunion, Maggie wakes to find that she is back at University, but as a twenty-one year old, with her best friend Becca, and with all her life ahead of her.

What then follows is a cleverly put together time travel/alternative life story which looks at all the opportunities of going in a different direction, and unlikely as the sliding door theory of life is, there is nothing more fascinating than wondering just what would happen if, in a parallel past life, things could change in a heartbeat.

The story flows well and the author does a really good job of threading together all the different strands. I had to concentrate at times, because sometimes Maggie’s life changes quickly, but I found each individual story interesting and I hoped that Maggie would make the right choices. What those choices are, I’m not going to reveal as I’m sure you would like to find out for yourself.

Warm and witty, wise and serious, The Other Us would make an ideal holiday read.

Best Read With...A glass of lukewarm Lambrusco and some cheesey nibbles..



More about Fiona...

Coming from two generations of journalists, writing was in Fiona Harper’s genes. As a child she was constantly teased for having her nose in a book and living in a dream world. Things haven't changed much since then, but at least in writing she's found a use for her runaway imagination! She loves dancing, cooking, reading and watching a good romance. Fiona lives in London with her family.

Visit her website

Twitter @FiHarper_Author

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My thanks to the author for her guest post today and also to Rebekah at Midas for the invitation to be part of this Blog Tour.

Do visit the other stops on the tour for more fun content.

 Follow the Book #TheOtherUs

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