Dead To You product reviews

I was really looking forward to reading this book, it sounded like a good read and it delivered a good read. I was able to predict the ending from about half way through the book, about when Blake started saying that Ethan was a fake. Still I didn't like the ending and would like to know more about the "missing years", that would be a great second book.

How do you reconnect with people who are strangers to you, who keep wanting desperately for you to remember? The fear and anxiety was easy to see and all the stress related problems. A lot of it was easy to understand why the character was feeling that way. There were some funny parts to the story but there were a lot of things to think about, how would it feel to have a child abducted, the stress of not knowing what happened and always hoping for a good outcome and then when the child is found having to adjust especially after all that time.

The characters were well written from the parents who had to deal with the guilty feelings of what could have been done differently to the siblings, the brother who saw it all happen and who would never forget to the sister who was born after the abduction. The friends who grew up with Ethan and the new friends as Ethan was suddenly "famous" and everyone wanted to know what it was like and the story of how he came back.

I really hope there is another book as there was a lot that could have been dealt with better or in more detail but for a short story it was a good book, easy to read and well written.

"Maybe I'm just not meant to be here, not wired to fit in anymore, after all these years away."

In Lisa McMann's 'Dead to You', the DeWilde family's world is altered forever when seven year old Ethan is kidnapped from right outside their home. Nine years later he has been found and returned home, but can a broken family torn apart for so long really be healed? Memories, anxieties, and pain swirl through these pages with such simple, honest language and emotion.

Through the story each member of the family attempts to reconnect with Ethan in their own way, but six year old Gracie, who wasn't even born when Ethan went missing, was the one who made me smile the most. The openness and honesty of a child will never cease to amaze me.

Blake (Ethan's brother) can remember the day his family was altered forever and so holds a lot of mistrust and suspicion towards Ethan (which is balanced out by Gracie). Once again Ethan is getting all the attention and he tension, uncertainty and jealousy threatens to bring new pain, not only to Blake, but to the entire family.

There are some humorous parts in this book, which fits in well and is needed for such a realistic story. For such a quick read, Ms. McMann addresses some big issues, but does so in a clear, heartfelt way. However, I didn't really like the ending and feel that it could have done better with just a few more pages to round off the story a bit better.

How does a mother let her kids go out the door just hoping they will come back after going through such an awful experience of one child going out the door and never coming back in it. How does a mother let her child go? This book is filled with hard hitting pain, panic, fear, sadness and hope.

I don't know where to start this book got me on so many levels and turned out to be the complete opposite of what I had expected. I found myself having to keep reading to find out what was going on, and whether things would get better for Ethan when he returned to his family home. The ending got me by surprise and left the story quite unfinished so I am wondering if there is perhaps a sequel that will come later.

The story is of Ethan who returns to live with the De Wilde's whose son Ethan had been abducted when he was just 7 years old. It gets you thinking of child abduction and what the children must go through and if any ever do make it back to their family. I wanted it to go more into what happened with the lady Ellen who Ethan had lived with during the 9 years in question,and how and why he came to be homeless and find his way to the De Wilde's, but the way it ended I think a lot of that would be explained in the next book.

You get to feel quite sorry for the character of Ethan he has had a tough life and you want family life to be normal for him. He has problems with his younger brother Blake who doesn't believe that Ethan is the real Ethan and there are lots of arguments in the family. Ethan has some stress and anxiety related problems which make you feel sorry for him and wonder what he must of gone through to turn out the way he did. You get to see the character Ethan just wants a family, just wants a normal life, and to be wanted which is probably the reason he has ended up in the De Wilde's house.

It's hard to write this review without giving the story away as I just want to go into how it ended and how it just threw me by surprise so much but I don't want go give any spoilers. All I can say is expect the unexpected.