How to Save a Life: A novel

by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke

The bestselling authors of The Good Widow deliver a modern, suspenseful twist on Groundhog Day that asks the question: How far are you willing to go to save the life of someone you love?

Dom is having a very bad day—one he literally can’t escape.

When Dom bumps into Mia, his ex-fiancée whom he hasn’t seen in almost a decade, he believes they’ve been given a second chance and asks her out. When Mia dies tragically on their date, Dom makes a desperate wish: to be given the chance to save her life. And when he wakes the next morning to the shock that she’s alive, he thinks his wish may have been granted. But day after day, no matter what he changes about their time together, she still meets a terrible fate.

Dom frantically searches for answers to save his beloved Mia and rekindle their former love. But the further he digs, the more obsessed he becomes, making him realize that slowing down time may be the only way to see things clearly. As he’s forced to confront the truth about himself and those he’s closest to, Dom vows that he’ll watch Mia die a thousand times if it means he can save her once.

• ISBN10: 1542005094
• ISBN13: 9781542005098
• Publish Date: 14 July 2020
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Amazon Publishing
• Imprint: Lake Union Publishing
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 303
• Language: English

Reviews

[Jeff Sexton]

Groundhog Day Meets Final Destination. This was an interesting take on the time loop/ premonition concept of those two franchises in that as more of a women's fiction take (and book form to boot), we get a more drama-based view of the idea rather than comedic or thriller based. The first time Mia dies is gut-wrenching, and the final pages of the book get back to that in their own way, but in between we get a view of her dying so many times it has an effect akin to the multiple-death montage of Tom Cruise in Edge of Tomorrow/ Live Die Repeat. So obviously with so many pop culture references here (maybe I could even throw in another one in that I kept thinking early on that this would be a Family Man-esque "glimpse" scenario), I thoroughly enjoy this particular trope, and Fenton and Steinkle did it true justice in this book. One of the better executed takes on it I've ever seen, perhaps because of the nature of the medium we're able to get inside the main character's head a bit more explicitly, Very much recommended.