WOW! This was a somewhat different premise! Instead of just regular ol' amnesia Lucy gets to have false memories. She remembers a completely different life than the one she actually lived over the past 4 years. Fascinating how our minds and memories work (and don't work) and how little is actually known about it. Very well written story with really good characters. This was my first Karma Brown book but it won't be my last. ( )

The Life Lucy Knew by Karma Brown is an engaging novel with unusual but fascinating storyline.

Waking up from a coma, Lucy Sparks is confused by the presence of her "work husband" Matt Newman and the absence of her real life husband, Daniel London. Needless to say, she is shocked to discover that her marriage to Daniel never happened and her memories of their wedding are an unexpected side effect from the concussion that put her in a coma. Lucy is experiencing confabulated memory disorder and gaps in her memory from the injury to her brain. Some of her memories, like her marriage to Daniel, are false, but to her, they are very real. Other memories, including her break up with Daniel and her current relationship with Matt, are frustratingly missing, maybe forever. After she leaves the hospital, Lucy moves back in with Matt. But will her love for Daniel prevent her from trying to trying to resume the life she shared with Matt?

Before her head injury, Lucy has a pretty charmed life. She has a successful career that she truly enjoys. She and Matt are blissfully happy. She has a wonderful friendship with Jenny and Lucy is close to her parents and sister, Alex. But after the accident, she is missing about four years of her life and she cannot comprehend why she ended her engagement to Daniel or how her friendship with Matt turned into a romance. Despite learning Daniel has moved on with someone else, she is consumed with thoughts of him. A chance encounter takes her down a dangerous path that she knows is wrong, but Lucy is so helplessly unmoored from her life in the present, she clings to the love she feels for Daniel. She is also quite aware that she is hurting Matt but will Lucy continue making the wrong choices as she tries to figure out what her "new" future holds?

Matt is an incredibly loyal, caring and compassionate man and he never hesitates to make whatever sacrifice he needs in order to be there for Lucy. He is reluctant to push her to remember what they shared but he finally attempts to jog her memory. Matt's efforts to re-create the pivotal moments in their relationship are bittersweet and poignant especially once Lucy realizes just how confused her memories are. Matt is deeply in love with Lucy, but will his patience run out once he learns the truth about what she has been doing behind his back?

The Life Lucy Knew is an emotional novel with a clever storyline and interesting characters. Some of Lucy's decisions are exasperating but understandable as she tries to make peace with everything that has happened to her. Karma Brown brings the novel to a heartfelt and somewhat unexpected conclusion that will absolutely delight readers. ( )

You know I couldn't resist reading this one early.
Read this and other reviews at Carlene Inspired

Lucy Sparks is happily married, has a fantastic job, and has the best memories of her life...only her memories aren't her own. A nasty fall leaves her confused, having forgotten her relationship with her boyfriend and co-worker Matt, her family's big life events, and who she really is. What her doctor calls honest lying is really her brain filling in the blanks and when Lucy tries to live normally she finds that what her head knows and what her head remembers are very different.

I love a good memory loss novel, movie, or TV show, so of course I was all over The Life Lucy Knew by Karma Brown. Lucy is written in a way that makes you really care for her and believe her predicament. She's sweet, naive in this new position, and very kind hearted. It is very obvious that she cares for her family, her friends, and her spouse, even if she has the wrong one in her memories. The fictitious memories seem very real, with Lucy able to describe them down to the exact details, but as she tries to recover her memories she begins to understand that though the memories are real, some may not even be her own. It was fairly realistic in the sense that I had never heard of false memories, but I could believe in it for the story. Lucy's emotions are all over the place, her family and friends try everything, and some of the events that follow her waking up are hard, but necessary. I appreciated that it wasn't all easy and that it wasn't truly a romance, but rather a story of a woman dealing with a difficult event and overcoming it despite the speed bumps along the way.

The Life Lucy Knew was a nice break from my usual reads and was just the sort of pacing I was looking for. I do wish the epilogue had more to it, but ultimately I enjoyed the story. It's the kind of novel you read while relaxing by the pool or cozied into a blanket, the story not over dramatic or filled with angst.

ARC provided. ( )

Enjoyable read about a woman who, after a slip on some ice, wakes up from a coma remembering a completely different life. Lucy has to then figure out the mysteries of the past in order to better understand her present. ( )

A special thank you to Edelweiss and Park Row Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Karma Brown is one of my new favourite authors. I had the pleasure of attending an author event featuring Karma last May and she is delightful! BookClubbish hosted a high tea and book signing at the King Eddy in Toronto. Lainey, as in gossip maven, etalk correspondent, co-host of The Social, and founder of laineygossip.com Lainey, joined Karma for a Q&A session. The women chatted about the writing process—Lainey has also has written a book Listen to the Squawking Chicken: When Mother Knows Best, What's A Daughter To Do? A Memoir (Sort Of)—what it's like being a woman in the publishing industry, and where Karma gets her inspiration from. Both ladies were incredibly well-spoken and just so interesting! If you have an opportunity to attend an event with Karma, I highly recommend you do so, you won't be disappointed.

Lucy Sparks hits her head after suffering a winter weather related fall. When she wakes up in the hospital with her parents and co-worker, Matt, by her side, she wonders where her husband, Daniel, is. She believes that Daniel is her husband, but he's actually her ex-boyfriend that she hasn't spoken to in four years.

She is suffering from what are fictitious memory recollections and her life as she knows it is completely different from her actual life. Essentially, it's like honest lying—Lucy's memories are false, but because she can even recall such vivid detail, the memories seem incredibly real to her. Given that Lucy's memory can't be trusted and that this may be a permanent condition, it is a devastating experience for her friends, family, and especially for Matt. You see Matt is Lucy's doting boyfriend, not just her coworker which is how Lucy remembers him.

Despite Matt's best efforts, Lucy continues to have feelings for Daniel. Lucy must make a difficult choice about which life she wants to lead, who she wants to lead it with, and who she really is.

For fans of Karma's books, The Life Lucy Knew is a bit of a detour in style, but one that I liked! Without giving anything away, the ending of this novel is further developed than her other stories and in this case it really worked. Also unique to this book was all of the Canadian references and I enjoyed Toronto's presence in the story.

Karma is such a gifted writer. There were a few decisions that could have gone either way, and she's that good in that any of the scenarios would have worked. Congratulations, Karma. Another fantastic read and I can't wait for your next book! ( )