Kristie J’s review of The Five-Minute Life by Emma Scott
Contemporary Romance published by Amazon Digital Services 14 May 19
I subscribed a while ago Ms Scott’s newsletter, because she’s an auto-buy author, and as soon it was announced this book was released, I picked it up. She writes such rich, emotional, poignant stories and at times when I’m reading one of her books, I’m crying.
Thea Hughes is our heroine. She was in a terrible car crash where her parents were both killed and she suffered from traumatic brain injury. She has no short-term memory nor long-term memory. She only has five minutes’ memory at a time and then once more forgets all she knows. She is living at a care centre and, for the most part, they are very good and respectful to her.
But one orderly, in particular, is haunted by her tragic story. Jim Whelan has had a painful life. He was raised in foster care where he received no love and, in fact, one particular foster mother still haunts him with the abuse she dealt him daily. He was small when he was younger and bullied unmercifully. As a result he has at times a debilitating stutter, though he works to improve it. But, despite the horrors of his past, he has grown up to be a good and caring young man. He watches and interacts with Thea and slowly realizes she is trying to tell him something, that while it seems she doesn’t remember anything, deep down she does and is screaming out for help.
But no one wants to hear from Jim. He’s just an orderly and what would he know? He is frustrated in particular by Thea’s older sister, who has power of attorney over Thea and just wants her to live as calm a life as possible. But before the accident, Thea was vivacious and a bright star.
After a bad experience in which Jim comes to Thea’s rescue and with a new doctor on her case, those treating Thea begin to listen to Jim and think he may be onto something.
This book, as is with many of Emma Scott’s books, is, well, beautiful. The writing drew me completely into the story. Despite her severe memory issues, Thea is a simply wonderful character, full of life and light and laughter but trapped inside her injuries.
And Jim! Oh, my, what a hero he is. He’s completely devoted to Thea. He’s very attracted to her, but also fully realizes that she’s a patient and he’s an employee and that puts them on two different levels. But, instead, he is her very good friend. But do keep in mind this is a romance……. But no bridges are crossed into icky land. He’s been so lonely all his life, but now he has friends who become a family where he works.
There is one part toward the end where I had tears running down my face and for a book to make me actually physically cry, well, it’s a rare thing and it means the book is reaching into the very core of me. Another book that gets very high marks from me.
Grade: A
Summary:
Remember us…when I can’t.
Thea Hughes has five minutes to live.
A car accident stole her parents and left her with the second-worst documented case of amnesia in the world. She now has only minutes of experiences, of consciousness, of life…before her memory is wiped clean. The once effervescent artist with a promising future is reduced to scribbling with pens and paper, living an empty, quiet life, three hundred seconds at a time.
Jim Whelan is on autopilot.
A foster kid shuffled around the system since birth, he’s lived his entire life without knowing love…and it’s taken its toll—until he learned to fight back, carry his armor, and keep his head down.
Working as an orderly in the Blue Ridge Sanitarium, deep in Virginia countryside, Jim looked up…and found Thea.
When Thea has the chance to break free of her five-minute prison with a risky, experimental surgery, it could lead them both to an epic love they never thought possible… or one that could require the ultimate sacrifice.
No excerpt available.
