An Amazon Charts bestseller.
A deeply moving story of carrying on even when it seems impossible.
Life is over in an instant for sixteen-year-old Finn Miller when a devastating car accident tumbles her and ten others over the side of a mountain. Suspended between worlds, she watches helplessly as those she loves struggle to survive.
Impossible choices are made, decisions that leave the … made, decisions that leave the survivors tormented with grief and regret. Unable to let go, Finn keeps vigil as they struggle to reclaim their shattered lives. Jack, her father, who seeks vengeance against the one person he can blame other than himself; her best friend, Mo, who bravely searches for the truth as the story of their survival is rewritten; her sister Chloe, who knows Finn lingers and yearns to join her; and her mother, Ann, who saved them all but is haunted by her decisions. Finn needs to move on, but how can she with her family still in pieces?
Heartrending yet ultimately redemptive, In an Instant is a story about the power of love, the meaning of family, and carrying on…even when it seems impossible.
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I gobbled up this book, couldn’t turn the pages (actually scroll through because I read it on kindle) fast enough. Fascinating story concept, great voice, really made me think about the dilemmas and how everyone can be different when it’s a life/death, you/me situation. Loved it and will look for more by this author.
Gripping page turner told by teen both before and after her death in a tragic auto accident.
A fully absorbing page-turner. The totally reliable teen-age narrator starts as an average 16-year-old, but in Chapter 6 her status suddenly changes after a terrible car accident. The first lines of that chapter tell it all: “I am dead.” From this point on, Finn sees (almost) all and her “fly on the wall” narrative of the subsequent events is gripping and insightful. The author’s brave use of a dead narrator is genius as she follows her loved ones through their efforts to survive and then cope with the aftermath of the disaster. I read this book during the Covid-19 shut-down and in many ways it was strangely relevant. Kuddos to Suzanne Redfearn for her excellent book.
Wow what an amazing book. I couldn’t put it down & read more than half with my mouth wide open in shock! As a parent it really makes he think about how your kids are treated when they’re with others & how they’d be treated if a situation arose compared to the others own kids. I wanted more from the ending. Although I get why it ended the way it did & it doesn’t take away from the story- I just wanted more closure with a few characters.
•Rating•
5/5 stars
I highly recommend this book!
•Thoughts•
This was 100% a #bookstagrammademedoit read and I am so glad that I listened! I really think that flawed characters are needed to make a story interesting and believable. In an Instant is filled with perfectly imperfect characters and it is one of the best things about this book. Right away you want to understand what is going on inside their heads. What are they thinking? What would I do in that situation?
The story itself was perfectly paced. I couldn’t stop reading. The author put me right in the story. Right beside them each step of the way and I wanted to always know what was going to happen next. It was the right amount of intrigue and emotion.
I just don’t know where to start. Not long into reading this book, I was literally sitting on the edge of my seat. I could feel my body tensing with every word. I was not expecting what happened. My jaw dropped, my eyes were wide open with shock and all I could think about was no way did that just happened.
I am still thinking about the characters and how it all played out.
This is one of those books you read and will always remember. How it shocked you, how your trying to tell a character “don’t do it” shaking your head and saying out loud “ no way did that just happen “
Loved this so much!
This is one of those books that you could sit and read straight through! Not that it’s an easy read – it is quite heavy. It is done in such a unique, yet, sometimes heart-wrenching way. Author, Suzanne Redfern, does an incredible job of letting us, the reader, along with Finn, the main character, see things we shouldn’t have been able to see, or should we? She takes us somewhere that maybe we have imagined we could be, but, would we want to? In the end it brought Finn closure, and us an incredible story!!
A friend recommended this book to me and told me to go into it blind; don’t read the synopsis or reviews. I had zero idea what I was walking into. I think if you have an opportunity to do that you should stop reading here!
At first this seemed like a pretty banal family story. Then the accident happens and the story becomes a whole different family story. The story is told from one side, the youngest daughter of the family.
The grueling heroic situations the family and others are put through will keep you turning pages all night long (I read it in one day).
Prepare to shed tears. For sadness and happiness. By the end of the book I was ugly crying.
Make sure to read the author’s note at the end of the book and I’m sure you’ll join me in solidarity saying, “No one needs an Uncle Bob in their life.”
Go forth prepared for a rollercoaster of emotions.
The story is about Finn who dies in a horrific car accident. She watches over her family as they try to move on in their life. Tear jerker story. Excellent narration.
I can watch a corny commercial and cry like a baby, but books? It takes A LOT for me to shed a tear. The story has to move me. This one did because there’s one scene in this book that got to me. I had to push the book away, take a breath, and grab the Kleenex. I won’t say what scene. Just read the book. It’s fast-paced, unputdownable, and I tore through it. So glad I read.
The moral dilemmas will have you questioning how well you know your loved ones, and yourself. Completely immersive and compelling, and perfect for book clubs.
Wow! I am impressed with this book! I thought it would be a while bunch of cheesing lines but it wasn’t.
I could have done without all the hashtags at the end of most of the chapters, though. #itannoyedme
I truly read this book in one sitting, it was that good. The story pulled me in right from the beginning and kept me hooked as I wondered how each of the characters was going to come through their part of this tragedy. Told from the vantage point of Finn, it truly was like being “a fly on the wall”, seeing all and knowing all. The catch is that, while Finn knows what’s going on, no one else has the full picture. A truly amazing study in human nature!
I found this book to be very powerful. I wanted to cry when you get a view inside each character and their own demons. It will make you more perceptive on how each person deals with trauma in their own way.
Song/s the book brought to mind: Dreams by The Cranberries
In An Instant by Suzanne Redfearn is a very special book, and unlike anything I have read before. I didn’t cry as much as I thought I would, but it would be a good idea to keep tissues handy because it definitely pulls at your heartstrings. It had been awhile since I read the synopsis so I actually forgot I would be reading from the viewpoint of a “ghost”, and it ended up being a bit of a shock. It was nice having that third person omniscient viewpoint, so you knew what all the characters were doing at any given time, while it was still a character that matters to the story. Finn’s POV did frustrate me at times, but overall I really liked it.
In An Instant will also make you think about what you would do in a situation like this. It was a little gruesome and disturbing at times, but it was also inspirational and heartwarming. It’s such a heartbreaking story, so I was glad there were also moments of happiness and strength. I had so many emotions while reading it and was definitely appalled by some of the characters choices, but it was so incredibly realistic. I could see this story happening in real life, which might be the scariest thing of all.
I really appreciated the author’s note at the end of In An Instant, and it made the book hit me even harder after reading it. It did take me a little bit to get into it, but once I got to around the page 36 mark, I was hooked and didn’t want to put the book down until the end. This was such a powerful and poignant read, and also my first by Redfearn, but it clearly won’t be my last. I would recommend this to anyone who takes an interest in the grieving process after a tragic accident, and books that will make you think really hard about the choices we make.
Thank you to the author for providing me with an advance review copy of this book! All opinions and thoughts are my own.
I enjoyed the perspective of this novel. It was a book I read in a very short period of time as I wanted to see what happened next.
In An Instant was told in a unique way one I’ve never read before. The main characters perspective was a great way to tell this story. I can’t say more as I do not want to give it away. But I really enjoyed the read
This book will have you staying up all night to finish reading. It Is a tear jerker in a good way. “Every Journey begins with a single step. Clear your mind of can’t. Fear is what stops you; courage is what keeps you going” -In An Instant
This book is about how the choices a person makes affects so many people. This book shows how tragedies can bring out the good in some people and the worst in others. This is a must read!
Once I started this journey, that’s truly what it was, I could not stop reading it. The depth of each character made me connect to the emotions, difficult decisions, and painful scars they carried as the result of a tragic accident. Presenting it in the point of view of Finn Miller allowed me to see a broader perspective. Well done!
Brilliant! The incredibly difficult life-or-death choices made by the characters in this story are revealed in both heart-wrenching and heart-warming detail. This was one of the most moving and engrossing books I’ve read in ages (and I read around 100 books per year). Outstanding and extremely memorable.