THE STANDALONE SEQUEL TO IF SHE DIES

2023 Reader Ready Awards Top Pick

2022 Best-Thrillers Book Awards Finalist

Tess is picking up the pieces of a devastating car crash that rendered her sister-in-law, Torrie, comatose—and left her responsible for Torrie’s infant son, Levi. Shortly after, a woman appears on Tess’s doorstep claiming to be Torrie’s estranged sister and Levi’s rightful guardian. But then a second stranger arrives with the same story…

PROLOGUE

The first thing I see when I open my eyes is blood; running down my left forearm, glazing the backside of my hand and dripping from my fingers. My father cursed me with thin blood, and my first emergency room visit was at age seven after crashing my bicycle and cutting my ankle on a broken spoke. It had been a gusher, painting the sidewalk red within seconds. Genetics, the friendly ER doctor with the overbite told my mother. My bone marrow didn’t produce enough platelets to properly clot.

Pain flares through my neck as I turn my head. I’m in the driver’s seat of my car, and something white and soft dangles from the steering wheel. It looks like a crumpled pillowcase, and it only takes me a moment longer to realize it’s a deflated airbag. Through the cracked windshield, I can see the giant wooden utility pole that’s taken a large bite out of my hood. The Malibu’s left headlamp is flickering, and the right headlamp is pointed crazily toward the sky.

A deer, I tell myself. We swerved to avoid hitting a deer.

We.

My heart leaps inside my chest as I look to the passenger seat for Josh. The seat’s empty, but the airbag there has also deployed, and the door is open. Someone was in the seat, but not my husband. Josh is home babysitting, because I went out to dinner with—

“Torrie,” I rasp.

Everything comes rushing back.

What readers are saying about If She Wakes

“Fast-paced thriller that will keep you guessing.”—Bonnie Reads & Writes

“Each chapter left me wanting more.”—Blue Moon Blogger

“Took me less than a day to read.”—Bookworm Blogger

“Hooks you from the very start.”–Whispering Stories

“The suspense pours off the page.”—Page Ladies

“This book gave me chills.”—Books With Gina