Olivay

Written by Deborah Reed

Narrated by Angela Dawe

We don’t believe that our lives can change in an instant—until they do.

Olivay, widowed for a year and sleepwalking through life, meets Henry by chance. She takes him to her Los Angeles loft, thinking it will just be for the night. But the following morning, bombs detonate across the city, and she and Henry are trapped together. Henry is skittish, solicitous, and strangely distracted. Who is this man she’s marooned with as the city goes on lockdown? Why is she catching him in lie after lie? Is he somehow connected to her husband’s death and the terrorist attacks outside?

With eloquent and suspenseful prose, Olivay explores the wreckage of loss and the collision of grief, desire, and terror in its aftermath. As the characters get pushed outside their comfort zones, forced to walk the thin line between destruction and salvation, Olivay keeps readers guessing what will become of Olivay and Henry until the very end.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Jul 7, 2015
• ISBN: 9781501252532

Deborah Reed

DEBORAH REED is the author of the novels Pale Morning Light with Violet Swan, The Days When Birds Come Back,Olivay,Things We Set on Fire, and Carry Yourself Back to Me. She has written two thrillers under the pen name Audrey Braun. She lives on the coast of Oregon and is the owner of Cloud and Leaf, an independent bookstore in Manzanita, Oregon.

Reviews for Olivay

[weeta-3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Olivay is a fast and engaging read with an action-packed plot (and some bizarre love rectangles). This was a delightful transit commute read - short chapters and easy to pick up after neglecting the book for a few days.

Olivay watched her husband die before her eyes in a traumatic motorcycle hit and run, and finds herself the unwanted center of media attention in the months that follow. Henry, a journalist, makes attempts to woo her, which gradually work and lead them to Olivay's bed. A series of explosions, possibly terrorist attacks, rattle the city and trap them both in Olivay's home. Olivay begins to doubt her initial trust of Henry after finding out about his past and her dead husband's past, and tension builds between the two.

The ending is unbelievable (in the way that cassette tapes and VHS tapes were infuriating when the magnetic tape suddenly snapped, mid-emotion, ruining the whole tape and never to be repaired again).

(this review written based on a goodreads first reads selection.)

[fictionzeal · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Olivay’s husband’s death was a tragedy. As she sat cradling Will’s broken head in her lap on the Los Angeles street, the video images of that moment went viral. People began comparing her to Jackie Kennedy. One year after the accident, she meets Henry. They instantly seem attracted to each other to the point she takes him home to her loft where he spends the night with her. Olivay’s world is about to collide with disaster again. The next morning, Henry leaves for his work at the Tribune, the same paper for which Will worked. It’s the day of the LA Marathon. Only an hour or two after Henry leaves, he returns and must see her. No sooner than she lets him up, an explosion rocks the city and there’s utter chaos everywhere. The windows in her apartment shatter throwing glass and debris everywhere. Her knee becomes badly injured.Who is Henry anyway? Why did he manage to just show up at this time in Olivay’s life? The reader initially wants to like him, yet it doesn’t take long to realize there’s reason for caution here.The opener blew me away! It held the promise of everything I hoped for. Olivay has closely guarded secrets for which the reader feels like they need to listen a little harder. They are unspoken hints of a marriage that was not quite what it appeared to be. Initially, this story really gripped my full attention. However, after the bombing, logistics kept getting in the way. Much of the destruction was described very well. But, some begged to differ with reality. The streets were flooded because two bombs busted two water mains. But yet a few hours into the chaos, she’s talking to Henry about getting her car which was in the “lot beneath the building.” Wouldn’t the car be flooded? Then too, the blast caused the windows to blow. So, they spend a couple of days in an apartment with a gaping hole where windows used to be. Also, maybe there are a few people who would enjoy a good ‘Woo Hoo’ at this time, but I honestly think sex would be the furthest thing from my mind at this point. Rating: 3 out of 5.