Freefall audiobook

4 exciting stars!Freefall opens with Allison surviving a plane crash. She is the lone survivor, and she’s in the mountains with a smashed cell phone and few supplies. The pilot was her fiancé, and she has lost everything. And guess what? She actually doesn’t want to be found. On top of it all, someone is following her. Across the country, Maggie, Allison’s mom, has been told that her daughter likely died in the crash…but Maggie refuses to give up hope and sets out on a determined search for her daughter. She’s also seeking understanding because she and Allison have been estranged. Maggie and Allison are desperate to be reunited, and in their search and survival, that special, but complex, bond between mother and daughter is explored.Wow, Freefall is a page-turner! It shows why survival stories are among my favorites. Allison is strong and determined, and Maggie may be even more so. Maggie became the power player, and I could feel her thirst for answers. The pacing is exceptional, and the intensity continues to build. Jessica Barry has written a fab debut. I will be waiting in line for her next effort.Thanks to Harper Books for the complimentary ARC. All opinions are my own. My reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com

You guys! I just finished the most amazing book! Twilight! Just kidding. I just finished Freefall by Jessica Barry, my first favorite of 2019! Congrats, Jessica! Freefall is my kind of book. Most books take forever to actually start the story but unlike most books, Freefall hits the ground running (Literally 😉) The book opens with a plane crash with a sole survivor, Allison. The book then switches back and forth between Allison and her mother, Maggie. As Maggie tries to find her daughter and Allison tries to survive on her own, more and more gets slowly revealed. As the story goes on both Maggie and Allison have flashbacks and slowly reveal the story. By the end, I was wide eyed and stunned at what I had learned and was even more amazed by the way it had been slowly revealed. Almost like when your in the shower and it slowly starts to get cold but you don't notice it until your shivering. That's goes this book was.Many thanks to HarperCollins for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest reviewBottom Line:5/5 StarsCover: 4/5 (Pretty simple and yet very pretty)Plot: 5/5 (A slow burn thriller that amazed me.)Characters: 4/5 (Badass, brave characters that I was constantly rooting for)| Goodreads | Blog | Pinterest | LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram

News travels fast. There was a plane crash in the Colorado Rockies.Maggie Carpenter thought about pulling the phone cord from the wall. Avoid phone calls from busy-bodies and newspaper reporters. .....but she needed answers. She also knew Ali would need her clear-eyed. Maggie and the rest of the world was sure Alison was dead. Maggie had ‘plane-crash-death-visuals’....yet there was still a part of her that was hopeful that her only child was alive. “SHE HAS TO BE”!.......[and she was......Alison Carpenter was alive]For more than a year Maggie didn’t even know where her daughter, Ali, lived. Ali stopped talking to her mother after her father died. It’s been 2 full years with no verbal communication between mother and daughter.My *FIRST* THOUGHTS......it shouldn’t take a devastating punch-in-the-stomach accident to reunite parents and their adult kids. Kudos to the adult children who are busy with their own lives - school - traveling - working -families of your own who make it their business to stay in communication regularly with their parents. Even a month is almost too long of a stretch to be blasé - with lackadaisical phone calls....or at least some texting. It’s gut wrenching to get a BAD-NEWS call home from our kids - but when communication has been far and few - that sinking feeling in your gut is that much worse. Alison’s body was in agony - pain - hungry - thirsty - freezing at night - physically dreadful uncomfortable - attempting to keep on walking - up mountains across the treacherous elements in the wilderness .....alone and afraid - and shock having lost her fiancé. None of Ali’s clothes are water proof. She needed a rain storm like a hole in the head ....but my god she kept fighting to survive. The prose - detail descriptions of Ali alone in the Rockies gave me chills. I could imagine how heavy her legs were - how wet her hair was - her fingers blue - so cold - sooooo so COLD...( I’m freezing ‘now’ with our heavy California rains just thinking about Ali in her dire hell). Her shoulders were screaming in pain having to carry her bag....LOST IN THE WOODS .....and nothing Ali could do would change her situation. Hopefully recuse teams were looking for her she thought. Of course!!!Her mother, Maggie - on the other side of the country - was in a different kind of agony with a full range of uncomfortable emotions. It was so easy to relate to Maggie’s apathy toward the OWL CREEK community ............the women of their small town in Maine. They were generous in wanting to help but Maggie just wanted their nagging questions and comments to stop. Maggie wanted to punch out every gracious person who thought the power of healing was through casseroles:tuna, green bean surprise, ham & potato, macaroni, chili cheese, etc. Maggie tossed them all! “FREEFALL”, is easy to read in one or two sittings - It’s just what everyone is saying it is: “A PAGE TURNER”. We WANT to know the secrets - about Ali and Maggie’s estranged relationship. We want to know about the 2 missing years - about Ali’s fiancé, Ben - about the demons - dangers - secrets - ALL THAT has happened to BOTH Ali and her mother since the loss of Charles. (Husband & father).There are flaws - but it’s easy to be forgiving of them. We grow to empathize both mom&daughter. And damn if this book doesn’t make you want to call your adult children when done.As a ‘debut’ character driven thriller ...........author Jessica Barry delivers the goods: captivating sinister story - secrets - surprise twists - suspense - sorrows - guilt - regrets - fears - determination & hope. ......some lines might drive you to want to verbally spank either Ali (ONLY SURVIVOR of the crash)....or Maggie. Both of these very strong - stubborn - proud - resilient women ( like them or not), will draw you in. We don’t want to miss a word of this novel. A darn good story.....with an ending I never even considered. I love to be surprised!!!4.7 .....rounding up to 5 stars!

4.5 Stars* (rounded down)Must-Read Suspense for Thriller Fans!Could you survive if your plane crashed in the Colorado Rockies and you were the only survivor? Allison Carpenter is about to find out. She is presumed dead, thus no one is coming to her aid - though much to her chagrin, someone is chasing her. Allison had better use every survival skill she’s ever learned if she has hopes of getting out of this predicament alive! When Maggie Carpenter hears of the crash she can’t believe it. Her daughter Ally can’t be dead - but then she knows nothing of her daughter’s life and hasn’t had contact with her in years unbeknownst to the police or anyone else. Maggie however knows that she has to investigate - what she finds out about her daughter and her daughter’s fiancé seems impossible and yet the more impossible it seems the more plausible it becomes.Freefall is a heartstopping thriller that kept my mind racing with the never ending possibilities! While I guessed certain things immediately, it didn’t keep me from enjoying this high octane thriller. This crazy, intense, wild read is a must-read for fans of mystery/suspense. Thank you to audible for my copy.Published on Goodreads and Twitter on 3.10.19.

3.5 starsThis turned out to be a pretty solid thriller. Maggie Carpenter is devastated to hear the news her daughter, Allison, died in a plane crash. Even though they have been estranged for the last two years, Maggie is determined to find out more about Allison's life leading up to the crash. Except wait, Allison didn't actually die, but she doesn't want people to know she survived either. Told from the perspectives of a grieving mother searching for answers and a daughter who seems to be running from her past.Even though the story isn't exactly perfect, I really couldn't turn the pages fast enough on this one as you can't help but feel invested in the characters, particularly the mother. Maggie is what really drove the story in my opinion. I'm not even a parent but you do almost feel like you are grieving with her and understand her determination to find out more about what was going on with Allison during their estrangement. The thriller aspects of the story are done pretty well although there were a few times when you wanted to shout at the characters, "Come on, wise up!". Overall, it is a decent thriller, but an even better story about a mother's love for her child. I won a free copy of this book in a giveaway. I was under no obligation to post a review and all views expressed are my honest opinion.

Allison Carpenter comes to consciousness, realizing she’s just survived a crash in her fiancé’s private plane somewhere in the Colorado Rockies. Her next moves are curious as she hustles to leave the plane site...and run before the crash is located. Game on as meanwhile, in her hometown of Owl’s Place, Maine, Allison’s mother Maggie is dealing with the news of the crash. Though no body is found, her daughter is presumed dead along with her wealthy fiancé Ben Gardner whose body was identified. Maggie isn’t ready to accept that Allison is dead but now must acknowledge to those around her that she’s been estranged from her daughter for two years. Her mission now is to discover what Ally was doing during that time and who was this man that she was engaged to and why didn’t she know about him. The story transitions between Allison’s and Maggie’s points of view and the brilliance of how it was orchestrated left me with the feeling that they were slowly running towards each other in real time. Maggie’s decision to explore Allison’s life in San Diego was fortuitous and placed me in the middle of a lot of unexplained situations that were later clarified when the story pivoted back to Allison. The timing and pacing was just about perfect most of the time. This wasn’t so much a slow burn but more a slowly evolving reveal. Who was Allison running from? Why did that plane crash? Who could Maggie trust...or not trust? These were the questions I was desperately trying to resolve throughout and my proposed answers kept changing. There were three narrators used to tell this story. Hillary Huber is one of my favorites and she nailed Maggie so well I could actually see this woman and predict a lot of her responses. The other two narrators, Karissa Vacker & MacLeod Andrews, were new to me and delivered equally fine performances. This was the perfect story to listen to on audio and I am impressed by this genre debut by the author. I enjoyed all aspects of the story, even some of the predictable parts as they were conveyed in interesting ways. Better yet, there were still a couple of surprises in the end that I didn’t foresee. I’m definitely in for the author’s next book!(I received an advance copy from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review)

4.5 Exciting, and Lots of Fun Stars!For two years Maggie has had no contact with her only child. Allison has refused to speak to her since Maggie did something unforgiveable in her eyes. Now, Allison is presumed dead, one of two victims of a plane crash, and Maggie is seeking answers to increasingly dangerous questions, all the while hoping her daughter is still alive.Allison has survived the crash, but the threat is far from over. Hurt and alone, she’s on the run in the treacherous terrain of the Colorado Rockies – equipped with secrets powerful men will do anything to protect.Wowser – this was an excellent debut – a high-stakes, multi-layered, as thrilling as it was fun, action adventure with courageous protagonists who you’re genuinely rooting for. We are launched straight into the action with Allison sifting through the wreckage, and right off the bat I was blown away by her survivalist skills, and even picked up a few tips. At first I thought it a bit odd how resourceful, and resilient she was – she kept a clear head, didn’t panic, or fall to pieces – but it’s soon mentioned that her father taught her all sorts of useful practical things, and there are later flashbacks to support this.I was awe struck by the level of emotion, and small details, Jessica Barry managed to inject into every scene. Even a paragraph on neighbourhood women leaving casseroles on Maggie’s doorstep was conveyed in an interesting manner. I would class this as light entertainment – there’s no overly graphic content or language, and even when the characters are threatened, or in danger, you know they’re going to find a way out of it. The twists vary – some are fairly predictable, others completely threw me for a loop, but even when I suspected what was coming, I was never bored or disappointed. Chapters alternate between Maggie and Allison, with the latter’s chapters alternating between the present, and what led up to the crash. Superbly written. I didn’t want to leave these characters. A first novel to be proud of, and one I highly recommend. I’d like to thank Netgalley, Random House UK – Vintage Publishing, and Jessica Barry for the e-ARC.US Publication Date: Out Now!UK Publication Date: 7th March, 2019.

A gripping survival tale that is held together by an intriguing mystery.Allison Carpenter has survived a plane crash in the mountains, the news agencies are all reporting that she had died - she is completely isolated.The only person that believes Allison is still alive is mother Maggie, the pair haven't seen each other for other two years - but the parental bond could prove so strong.The narrative jumps between those two POVs and it really helped moved the story along, slowly the layers are pealed back as to why they've drifted apart.Seen Allison's journey play out as Maggie seeks to trace her daughters footsteps is a great lead into the main plot.Alternating the chapters with the various flashbacks glossed over the minor niggles of this novel and help made it a riveting read.

4.5/5This is my first review of the new year and what a read it was, this one begs to be read in one breathless sitting, a total binge read. From the brief, incredibly fast paced chapters to the switch between points of view it’s a truly entertaining read with a fresh premise, what more could you want?!This flips between Allison for one chapter and then her mother Maggie the next, Allison’s story begins from the minute her plane crashes and Maggie’s from the moment she finds out about the accident. As Allison fights to stay alive you slowly and steadily find out about her life over the past few years and the events that led to to the crash while simultaneously Maggie struggles to piece together what her daughter had been doing for the past two years. I was so invested in these two women and so eager to find out what was really going on, both possessed an inner strength that was remarkable and then add in a super tense environment for both women and I was all in.While I did see a few things coming, the author did shock me in the end, and the aspects I did work out on my own didn’t take away from my enjoyment whatsoever. A really impressive debut, recommended for fans of pacey, exciting thrillers.Freefall in three words: Entertaining, Dynamic and Fast.

Wow.. Jessica Barry...what a book!! I could not get enough of this story and desperately needed to find out what happened. I was pulling for both the main characters to get the ending that they deserved. I will certainly be looking out for more from this writer. This book is like a roller coaster and I read it so quickly. Can't recommend this book enough.. if you like thrillers then you need to read this book!!!Allison is involved in the crash of a private plane and assumed to be dead. She does however manage to survive but this is just the start of her fight. She is now trying to stay alive, being stalked by a man determined to kill her because she knows too much. It's is a long way from the ideal life she was living just months ago with the perfect fiancée. Across the country her mother Maggie is being told that her daughter has been killed in the crash. She hasn't seen her daughter for over 2 years and her heart is broken. But her gut is telling her that Allison is still alive and is determined to find her. After seeing a photo of Allison that she hardly recognises she sets out to find out what happens to her little girl.Thanks to Random House UK, Vintage Publishing and NetGalley for my advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own and are in no way biased

Allison by her own choice had no contact with her mother for two years, and then her mother found out that Allison had been killed in a plane crash.Maggie had not talked to her daughter since her husband had passed away, knew nothing about her life, and was at a loss to answer questions about her daughter.Maggie did what every mother would have done to keep in touch, but to no avail, and I admired her for searching out details about her daughter’s life under the circumstances.Maggie could find no one who knew anything about her daughter or rather anyone who would say anything about her. They became silent when she asked. Maggie wondered what the reason for that was.Maggie had an inkling that her daughter hadn't perished in the fiery crash but kept that thought to herself for her own sanity.

We follow Maggie and Allison in alternating chapters both past and present as the story unfolds.

Allison's life the past two years had been a bit tough at first, and she had a secret that prevented her from her wanting to be found.

The tension mounted on Allison’s side of the story as we find out things about her past, what she was up to, and perhaps the reason for the crash.

FREEFALL keeps you rapidly turning the pages, has good writing, great detail, and enough suspense that you won’t want to put the book down. 

Through bits and pieces everything slowly came together, the mystery unraveled, and the intensity of the situations increased.

If you enjoy suspense, secrets, and twists, FREEFALL fits the bill.

It takes a few pages to grab your interest, but be sure you don’t have anything else to do because you won’t be able to put this book down. 5/5

This book was given to me as an ARC by the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

I found “Freefall” to be a powerful thriller that kept me up reading late into the night. What I also enjoyed is that it is a female driven read, with both protagonists determined and strong.The story begins with Allison pulling herself out of a plane wreck in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. She is frantically going through the wreckage to escape with her mantra “youhavetogo”.Next Maggie, Allison’s mom is making homemade bread when the local Chief of Police, who is a family friend, comes to her door to tell her that Ally has been in a plane accident and presumed dead. Maggie has been estranged from Ally for a couple of years. Maggie clings to hope that Ally is still alive because her body wasn’t found in the burned wreckage.The story is told in alternating chapters with Ally descending the mountain while she thinks about how she got where she is. It’s through Ally’s memories that the reader gains the back-story information. Maggie, who is a retired Librarian from Bowdoin College in Maine, decides to use her credentials to research the man Ally was with and what Ally was doing prior to the accident.I’m a fan of the alternating chapters. Author Jessica Barry uses the device to create heart-pounding angst. With all great thrillers, there is a bit of unrealistic exploits that make the story exciting. No thriller is realistic fiction; I mean if it were, it wouldn’t be as entertaining. If one rolls with the story, mostly Ally’s timing and strength, one will be gifted with an awesome story. I loved this one. Reality isn’t important to me in thrillers.

It's quite possible that I sometimes rate debut novels a bit higher than I would other books. Maybe it's because I always feel that the first book may be a little bumpy and therefore it's a learning process. So when I come across a debut that just bites at me like the bugs did to Allison in the woods... well, I just can't help myself. Ok ok, I realize that might not have been the best analogy but I hope you get where I'm coming from.Told in alternating views between Allison and her mother, Maggie, who she's estranged from - Barry takes us not only on a journey of Allison's surviving a plane crash, the mystery behind who is after her and how she got into this predicament, but most importantly into the relationship between a mother and her daughter. Maybe because it's my mother's birthday today and I'm missing her more than usual that this is what hits harder for me over everything else. *Sorry Jessica, if this was not your intention.There are definitely things that seasoned thriller readers will see coming a mile away. But who cares?! The short chapters make this book a one sit read... not only because of how quickly each part seems to go but because this starts out strong and well, YOU JUST NEED TO KNOW! Like most debut novels, there are certain things that could probably be improved upon, but I can't pick apart a book that I just absolutely was drawn right into. From pages one to the end, I was hooked.Barry, bring me more. I'm waiting on you. 😉

My Thoughts: One hell of a debut! A well-written, gripping and positively unputdownable thriller! I can’t wait to see what Jessica comes out with next!This book looked so good, I had to start reading it as soon as I was approved! First...the cover caught my eye. Although it’s nothing spectacular, there is something catchy about it. Then...I read the description. A plane crash in the Colorado Rockies. I’ve lived in Colorado most of my life, so this was the clincher!The chapters alternate between the POV of the mother—Maggie—and the daughter—Allison. The chapters get you all pumped up, then boom...chapter change! You’re usually left with a cliffhanger, so you CAN’T STOP READING! I kept telling myself...just one more chapter! Allison’s chapters were the most interesting. I couldn’t get enough of her...her life leading up to the plane crash, her relationship with Ben and her struggle after the crash. I was on the edge of my seat, flipping pages as I was BLOWN AWAY...one shocking twist after another! And finally, the ending...WOW! Highly recommend!Book Description:A propulsive debut novel with the intensity of Luckiest Girl Alive and Before the Fall, about a young woman determined to survive and a mother determined to find her. When your life is a lie, the truth can kill youWhen her fiancé’s private plane crashes in the Colorado Rockies, Allison Carpenter miraculously survives. But the fight for her life is just beginning. For years, Allison has been living with a terrible secret, a shocking truth that powerful men will kill to keep buried. If they know she’s alive, they will come for her. She must make it home.In the small community of Owl Creek, Maine, Maggie Carpenter learns that her only child is presumed dead. But authorities have not recovered her body—giving Maggie a shred of hope. She, too, harbors a shameful secret: she hasn’t communicated with her daughter in two years, since a family tragedy drove Allison away. Maggie doesn’t know anything about her daughter’s life now—not even that she was engaged to wealthy pharmaceutical CEO Ben Gardner, or why she was on a private plane.As Allison struggles across the treacherous mountain wilderness, Maggie embarks on a desperate search for answers. Immersing herself in Allison’s life, she discovers a sleek socialite hiding dark secrets. What was Allison running from—and can Maggie uncover the truth in time to save her?Told from the perspectives of a mother and daughter separated by distance but united by an unbreakable bond, Freefall is a riveting debut novel about two tenacious women overcoming unimaginable obstacles to protect themselves and those they love.Thank you to Edelweiss / Harper Collins / Jessica Berry for this digital ARC / in exchange for my honest review.