BOOK NEWS: The Man I Thought You Were by Leah Mercer

Leah Mercer, author of Who We Were Before (and who also writes romantic comedies under the name Talli Roland), returns with her next novel The Man I Thought You Were, in which Anna's husband is keeping some very deep secrets. The novel will be released in August.

One fine autumn evening, Anna returns from work and starts making dinner, eager to welcome home her husband, Mark. It’s just like any other day in their ten-year, Pinterest-perfect marriage—until he says he’s leaving her.

Discovering that the man she thought she knew better than anyone else is capable of abandoning it all sends Anna reeling. She believed the life they’d built together – and the bright future they’d imagined—counted for everything. How can he walk away?

The truth is Mark is battling secrets of his own—secrets Anna knows nothing about. A painful past and an uncertain future threaten to bring his life down around him—and he’ll do anything not to expose her to that.

But unravelling the past is lonelier than Mark could ever have imagined and, as the days turn to months, Anna worries the separation will break them forever. Can she bring him back from the brink of self-destruction before it’s too late, or will she discover that she never really knew him at all?

BOOK REVIEW: Who We Were Before by Leah Mercer

Who We Were Before is the new novel by Leah Mercer (who also writes romantic comedies under the name Talli Roland). Who We Were Before focuses on the life of married couple Zoe and Edward Morgan, as they try to come to terms with a shared tragedy.

Zoe and Edward have grown apart since the death of their two-year-old son Milo. Once happy, the tragedy has pulled them from one another so forcefully that they may not be able to repair their marriage. As a gift, Zoe's parents have arranged a weekend in Paris for the both of them to enjoy, which neither is looking forward to.

On the way, the pair get separated, leaving Edward with the hotel tickets and Zoe without her phone and purse, having to wander Paris in search of her husband. As Zoe and Edward navigate their trip, they're also forced to navigate their relationship, and try to come to terms with what has happened to their once idyllic family life.

The novel focuses on both Zoe and Edward, the chapters switching between characters and their lives both in the present, and the years previously, giving an insight into their relationship from the beginning, the highs, lows, and the problems they faced both before and after Milo's death. As the book continues and the pair struggle to find each other in the Paris evening, we learn more about the couple's struggles and the events that brought them to that very point.

Despite their troubles, Zoe and Edward are both likeable characters; individually flawed yet loving and determined, once, to make their family work. However, as things in life don't always go to plan, their growing family is ripped apart in an instant, leaving them to cope with heartache and loss. Their troubles are understandable and I found myself rooting for both of them from the start of the book, hoping that things would eventually work out.

I won't spoil the book for you, but Who We Were Before is a beautiful novel; gripping, yet very emotional, focusing on grief, loss, and the possibility of saving what was once to be a happy ending.

Rating: 5/5

BOOK NEWS: Who We Were Before by Leah Mercer

Talli Roland, author of many romantic comedies including Build a Man, The Hating Game and The Pollyanna Plan, will return with a new offering, though this time writing as Leah Mercer. Who We Were Before will be released in October.

Zoe knows that it wasn’t really her fault. Of course it wasn’t. But if she’d just grasped harder, run faster, lunged quicker, she might have saved him. And Edward doesn’t really blame her, though his bitter words at the time still haunt her, and he can no more take them back than she can halt the car that killed their son.

Two years on, every day is a tragedy. Edward knows they should take healing steps together, but he’s tired of being shut out. For Zoe, it just seems easier to let grief lead the way.

A weekend in Paris might be their last hope for reconciliation, but mischance sees them separated before they’ve even left Gare du Nord. Lost and alone, Edward and Zoe must try to find their way back to each other—and find their way back to the people they were before. But is that even possible?