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 … 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.
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50 First Dates meets Awakenings in this emotional love story by international and best-selling author, Emma Scott.
A Five-Minute life contains subject matter that might be sensitive to some readers.
#standalone #newadultromance
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One of the best books I’ve EVER read!
Thea Hughes lives life five minutes at a time.
Diagnosed as the second-worst amnesia case in the world after a serious accident that steals not only her parents, but her memory, Thea is trapped in an endless loop of confusion and barely contained fear. Her drawings are cries of help that no one, least of all her, understands.
Until Jim Whelan arrives.
Jim is fascinated by the young woman with a smile that lights up the room, even as outside forces, and her prognosis, drives them apart. She’s the one good thing in his craptastic life and he vows to keep her safe- no matter what.
When a seemingly miraculous drug comes onto the market, Thea is accepted as a test subject, allowing her memories to return. She vows to live life to the fullest while she can-and that includes falling in love with the handsome Jimmy.
Except time is their enemy.
This book is a tumultuous story filled with pain and promise, hope and faith. I prayed with Jimmy and cursed a God who didn’t seem to care with Thea. It is a story of courage, of a love that can forge an unbreakable link so strong it transcends time.
Favorite lines:
We stood in the heat of the afternoon, face-to-face. She was lost in the music and I was lost in her. I’d never seen anything so beautiful in my life. She swayed like a willow tree, slender and delicate, while I was the oak rooted in front of her. Between her and the world, protecting her as best as I could.
A FIVE-MINUTE LIFE BY EMMA SCOTT
Funny how that works. The stronger the love, the more helpless the person feels in the wake of its loss.”
A FIVE-MINUTE LIFE BY EMMA SCOTT
I held his arms and tried to capture the feel of him, his breath on my cheek and his strong body shielding me. Embedding his molecules into me. Indelible and unforgettable. The sunset’s last rays spilled between New York’s buildings and the sky became bruised and beautiful. I turned in Jimmy’s arms and let my eyes fall closed. Inhale. Exhale. “I’m ready.”
A FIVE-MINUTE LIFE BY EMMA SCOTT
I give A Five-Minute Life 5+ lovely kisses- One of the best of 2019!
ALL THE STARS!
“Music is life.”
“I was a dying man in Thea’s Egyptian desert, and she was a mirage. An oasis that didn’t exist.”
“The stronger the love, the more helpless the person feels in the wake of its loss.”
“The alone-ness. It’s not the same as loneliness. Alone-ness is an abyss. It’s being alone even when you’re surrounded by people. It’s vast and empty and silent.”
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A Five-Minute Life was timeless. A master piece. More than a story. Its everything… Loss, pain, friendship, love. I was once again reminded that Emma Scott is a literary genius!
Never has a book emotionally broke me down like this one did. Its hard to form the words to adequately describe how much this book touched my heart and soul. I can’t do it justice.
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“As I crossed the room, more came back to me—sun and music and… paint. Yes. He brought me paint. A canvas. He brought me back to life…”
Y’all, it has been several days since I finished A Five Minute Life and I CAN’T STOP THINKING ABOUT IT!!! LIKE I REALLY FEEL I NEED TO DO A RE-READ CUZ IT WAS SO FREAKING GOOD!!!
It touched on sooo many feelings and I know I will have a huge book hangover for weeks on end!!!
Must read book of 2019 for sure!!!!!
Like really Y’all, STOP what you are doing and read this book!!! You will definitely need it in your life!! Anddd go in blind…don’t read any blurb, any review…it will make the experience sooo much better in my opinion!!!
5 Kagillion Stars from me!!!
OMG this book was AMAZING!!
Ohhh and I forgot to mention, this was my first read by Emma Scott and it will definitely not be my last, she definitely has a new stalker for life!! Freaking LOVE your writing style girlie!!!
xoxo
This was my first Emma Scott book, but definitely will not be my last. Thea and Jimmy are wonderful characters and the premise/plot is an original. Highly recommended!
Wow! Let Emma Scott take you away with this one!
Whenever I finish reading one of Emma’s books, I always feel so woefully inadequate at being able to put my thoughts into the correct words that will convey exactly how much I loved that book. How much that book affected me, and how much I enjoyed the journey that Emma took me on while reading. To say that she writes emotionally charged books would be an understatement, and Thea and Jim’s tale is one packed with emotion.
I marveled at how Emma created two characters who seemed at opposite ends of the spectrum in regards to their feelings. Thea is a beautiful young woman who is larger than life, who lives that life in five minute increments due to her traumatic brain injury. In those five minutes, she exudes more emotion and feels more feelings than Jim has experienced in his entire life. Shuffled through the foster system, Jim has never felt love before, bullied relentlessly for his stutter by both classmates and his foster mother. For the first time in his life, Thea looks at him like he hangs the moon and stars, accepting him for exactly who he is and loving him all the more for it.
I wondered all the way through exactly how Emma was going to craft a love story between these two characters. Let me tell you, the tale she lays before her readers is complex and intricate and fragile and beautiful and every other word to describe an all encompassing love that stretched my heart almost to breaking, but not quite.
I don’t think I was adequately prepared for the amount of emotion I felt throughout this book. Emma has this innate ability to draw me straight into the story. I was right there with Jimmy as he had to endure every one of Thea’s “resets” and I felt everything that Thea was experiencing as she tried to fight her way out of the darkness of her amnesia.
Remember us…when I can’t.
Truly one of the best books I have read this year. It will definitely be a book I read over and over again. I absolutely loved a scene towards the end where Emma pays tribute to the very first book I read of hers and the character that started my love for her stories. That was brilliant.
There’s not much else I can say except that everyone NEEDS to read this book. If it’s your first book by Emma, hang on tight for the rollercoaster of emotions. I guarantee you’ll never forget the ride!
The lives that people live, the memories that they create, and the people they surround themselves with define them…help them to learn…keep them in the present even after they’re gone.
And, through the years…the months…the days…the hours…the minutes…the seconds that make up their existence…that mold who they are…that allow them to be the best versions of themselves, this is where the quality of life is established and where people choose to either truly live or only exist based on how the moments of their lives pan out.
But what if due to uncontrollable circumstances, a life is merely defined by 5 minutes…a mere 300 seconds of time, resulting in old memories lost and new memories forgotten. How does one circumvent that kind of existence? How do people find a way to connect, even if it’s only for 5 minutes, even if it’s a continual cycle of new but old information?
That’s the kind of life that Thea Hughes, the heroine of Emma Scott’s newest release, A Five Minute Life, experiences when she wakes up after a tragic accident takes away Thea’s parents as well as her bright artistic future.
Jim Whelan may experience life more than five minutes at a time, remembering every detail of his past, where he came from, and what he want through, but that doesn’t mean that he wouldn’t prefer to sometimes forget…to have a period of time where he doesn’t work on autopilot so that he can stop remembering the years he was in the foster care system and everything he went through as a product of that environment.
But here’s what’s so interesting about Jimmy; despite everything that he has been through, despite the bullying, the mistreatment, and the neglect, he remains a compassionate, caring, and just plain amazing man, proving that people can overcome their past and be as present as they can in the here and now and perhaps even offer an amazing young woman a chance to make each round of five minutes, the best they can be.
Thea and Jimmy are both broken characters, and they’re both making strides to heal, but for one, it’s a process that restarts every five minutes and for the other, it’s a constant struggle to keep moving forward without the past threatening to always pull him back. But through it all…through the devastating moments…the ones that offer hope even in its smallest amount…the ones that make readers plead for a miracle…for more than five minutes to make an impact…for more time to connect and to establish something significant…something that will last even when Thea’s five minutes are up and even if she never experiences anymore than that small amount of time.
I’m always in awe of the amount of emotions that Emma Scott manages to draw out of her characters, her story line, and her readers. Each part of the story is seamlessly layered with overwhelming emotions – ones that provide moments of bliss and ones of heartbreaking devastation. I appreciate the fact that most of the story is told through Jimmy’s perspective. It’s necessary due to Thea’s amnesia and her inability to stay in the present, remember the past, and predict her future.
A Five Minute Life has a clear message – one that wants readers to take chances…to live life like every moment is their last…to revel in all of life’s pleasures and to learn from their mistakes. Because in the end, it’s the relationships that are formed and the memories that are created, whether it be five minutes or two decades of living.
4.5 Poison Apples
Best book of the year
Hands down my top book of the year. Forever will be on my favorites list. Will tell everyone to read this emotional, heartfelt, amazing story. Five stars isn’t enough. I’m not sure how I’ll read a book after this.
What a truly beautiful, amazing book. Definitely one of my favorites of 2019. This story was such an intriguing, epic one. It grabbed my heart strings from the first sentence. I was torn, as I was reading it. I couldn’t put the book down. I also wanted to savor the beautiful words, that Emma used to write this story about two broken souls: Thea & Jim. Thea Hughes is a shell of her former self, due to a horrible accident, leaving her with a severe form of amnesia. She only lives in increments of 5 minutes throughout her daily life, when she meets Jim Whelan.
He also is a shell of a man. He is a graduate of the foster care system. To say he had a hard childhood, is an understatement. My heart broke for him as I learned more about his upbringing. My heart also broke for Thea, as I discovered more about her current state & also her past.
It was beautiful to witness them slowly become so important to each other. To see their love story blossom before my eyes. It was also heartbreaking to see all that they had to endure, to get their happily ever after.
Emma Scott writes with such beautiful emotion. As a reader, I feel them radiate off the page. “A Five-Minute Life” is no exception. This story is truly a masterpiece. She is such an amazing storyteller. It feels like a gift, being able to read her stories. I highly recommend her books. I also suggest that you have tissues handy. I don’t feel like I can put into the proper words, the sheer beauty & magnitude of her stories. She is a truly gifted writer. She is an Absolute Must Read author.
I eagerly await her next book. In the mean time, I still have a few of them to read. I already know deep in my heart, that I’m going to love those stories too.
Bravo, Emma, on another beautifully epic book. Bravo!
4.5 “music is life” stars!
Can you imagine if your life reset every five minutes? Like you were waking up to life going on around you but you couldn’t remember being in it? For Thea Hughes, this is her reality. Thea is in a traumatic brain injury center when she meets Jim. Jim can’t believe the vibrant woman he meets in the foyer after his interview is a resident, until he witnesses her reset. There is something about her, despite her circumstances, that pulls Jim towards her. Like a plant grows towards the sun, Thea is the sun and Jim can’t stay away from her. Jim connects with Thea on a level no one else seems to have reached and for the first time hope is born, hope that Thea is in there and that her subconscious is trying to hold on to pieces of consciousness!
You can’t help but love these characters the author has created. Flirty, charismatic, vibrant Thea who the reader is rooting for so hard. Jim, with his stutter, who has never known love or friendship or even much kindness who seems to see what Thea needs when no one else can. Their love story is huge! There is so much love here I swear my heart grew two sizes while reading. It’s a fascinating story and I don’t know enough about the subject matter to know how plausible it is but I don’t even care, it’s addictive and intriguing the whole way through. Once again, Emma Scott has taken us on this truly emotional journey full of heart and hope and love. Really enjoyed the story and characters.
Absolutely adored this book. Thea’s story sucked me in, took me on the most raw emotional rollercoaster and then spit me out. Jimmy, oh Jimmy. Hands down one of the best book heroes in this genre! Jimmy with the kind eyes sealed this 5 star rating for me. There is and never will be another man like him in romance. The patience, empathy, understanding and strength of that man is immeasurable! I swooned so darn hard over and over.
This book had some seriously gut-wrenching content. It had me tearing up but smiling from ear to ear. I loved the uncertainty of every chapter. The journey the author takes you on is like no other. If you only ever read one Emma Scott book, let this be the one.
Five Minute Life is the BEST book I have read so for this year! I was emotional involved with this story almost from the beginning and just could not put it down till I finished. Then I had to re-read it immediately in case I missed anything. Jimmy is an adult survivor of the foster care system just going through the motions of living. Thea is vibrant artist who survived a horrific car accident to become the 2nd worst amnesia case known to medicine. It was breath-taking to read these two survivors stories as they “found the escape door in their own personal hall of mirrors”. This is the first time I read any of Emma Scott’s work, but it must definitely won’t be the last. This story was simply incredible! A must read!
A love that conquers the impossible situations. An orderly with a speech impairment works with Thea, a resident at the Blue Ridge Sanitarium. For two years Thea’s reality has been on an endless loop of five minute intervals of memory loss, yet Jim is the first to recognize potential.
Characters:
Thea Hughes the resident
Jim Whelan the orderly
Delia Hughes Thea’s sister
Overall:
This book fell short on my expectations. I expected something grandeur. I wanted the story to progress a little quicker with less redundancy. I get Thea’s character was stuck in an endless loop of memory loss every five minutes, but the story felt stagnant. I got tired of reading virtually the same scenes. The process for resetting was questionable. Nothing was mentioned as to how long it took for her to reset. Nothing was mentioned about the words used each time to calm her down from her confused state of mind. It seemed odd that the same question popped into her head asking, “how long has it been?”
Part one was not an easy read. It was slow paced with some questionable situations. Part two was better with a steady pace. But something was still lacking I think it was an emotional connection. Part three wasn’t what I was expecting. Especially the trip to New York. The day to day itinerary read like a trip advisory. The ending was rushed in order to provide that typical predictable HEA.
Liberties were taken to allow Thea’s character to explore the possibility of a better life. Emma used her imagination to fabricate creative ways of bending the process of amnesia by creating a five minute window of memories. The procedures in this story are not to be taken as medical truths. It’s a fabricated concept contorted to fit her storyline.
The story kept coming at me from every side and her writing kept surprising me. I found myself rooting for the characters and their romance till the very end. It’s a read for everyone
I can never remember reading such an intriguing story. I would tell you to imagine living five minutes of life over and over again but I don’t have to. Emma Scott has created a dramatic, emotional, heart breaking story around a character whose life resets to five minutes of living. To know her you have to dissect her paintings. This is an amazing, dramatic journey of survival and a happily ever after.
A wonderful story about true love.
I absolutely can’t get enough of this authors writing right now; I could literally get emotional over her shopping list!!
Thea and Jim’s story is one that emotionaly grips you from the get go. The one with the perfect life that had it ripped away and the one with the troubled life who doesn’t feel like he belongs anywhere until he meets Thea who is trapped in a 5 minute groundhog hell hole of her own. You could feel her frustration, the feeling of being traped inside her head with no escape. The desperation both characters felt that that niggling feeling in the back of your own head that as soon as something comes good you know its all going to start slipping away from them.
Emma writes such simplistic stories full of emotion, angst and hope. Once again, her writing is on point, it wraps around you like a soft blanket. The world around just fades into the distance as you become immersed in the characters journey. I experienced all the feels with this one joy, anger, sorrow, helplessness and hopefulness. The characters are so real, with everday flaws .
Absolutely brilliant, well done Emma. I’m off to binge read another of your books.
Imagine your future staring you in the face with so much promise. Nothing could prepare you to encounter an event so life changing you might never recover. For Thea – life consisted of art and all of the beauty that was the inspiration behind the craft. With a loving family by her side, there wasn’t anything in the stars that wasn’t achievable. At least that was the premise before an unavoidable tragedy changed the trajectory of all those hopes and dreams.
When you feel the need to ‘find yourself’, life can lead you on unpredictable paths. With a new job at Blue Ridge, Jim finds that there is more to working that showing up from 9-5. As home to traumatic brain injury patients, Blue Ridge Sanitarium offers Jim a chance to cross paths with a patient that will forever change how he sees his job. In spite of first appearances, Thea seems to be completely normal. The five-minute loop of Thea’s life quickly draws Jim to the conclusion that there is more to this patient than meets the eye.
With years spent on a constant loop inside her head, Thea still finds a way to pull at Jim’s soul. The two seem to form a connection in spite of everyone’s insistence that Thea will never remember Jim. Little rays of light shine through the therapy that Jim tries to sneak into Thea’s routine. It is obvious that Thea can remember far more than the hospital realizes. When a unique set of circumstances present themselves, the door opens to offer Thea a chance to walk back into the land of the living. Will the hope for a different future result in more than Jim and Thea bargained for?
Holy Smokes!! First let me say that Emma Scott has once again tackled a unique storyline that was as different as the stars in the sky. Every page of this book pulls you in with the promise of ‘more’. Jim is defiantly the hero that will leave you desperate to learn more about his character. What can I tell you about Thea? Seeing the world through the lens of Thea’s life was a journey of ups and downs, highs and lows.
Now – there were a few things about the book that pulled my attention from the plot. The story takes place Charlottesville, VA. Then there is precise detail about Jim’s travels through Boones Mill (in Franklin County) to Roanoke, VA. The distance traveled, landmarks, and other places in the area are factual places. When Blue Ridge Sanitarium is presented, it is told to be in Roanoke. In fact – there is an ACTUAL Blue Ridge Sanitarium in CHARLOTTESVILLE which use to be a tuberculosis and mental facility. There are author notes that Blue Ridge is a fictional place, so it completely threw me. Why make such concise notes in the book about towns and distances (saying Boones Mill is 15 min from Roanoke) to fictionalize a REAL institution?? On one hand the inconstancies (Boones Mill is on the edge of Franklin Co and you enter Roanoke at the county line. ROANOKE CITY is 15 min from Boones Mill) could have been solved with a quick Google search if in doubt. Now – why does all this nag at me??? Well – this is where I live. When picturing the layout in my mind, it would drive me bonkers that ‘real’ places were moved to other towns. However – the story was written to sound like Charlottesville and Roanoke were just right down the road from one another. That is definitely not the case.
I found myself sidetracked from the battle of fact and fiction in the story. The tug of war pulled me from the story so much that I had to take a breather and come back to the story a couple of times to get into the groove of the intended mindset for the storyline. The unique ambiance of the novel far outweighs the little things that nagged me as a ‘local’ (and certainly wouldn’t be noticed by others). With that said – A Five Minute Life is definitely a book that everyone should have in their collection.
Excellent read. Well thought out plot and developed characters.