Review: For Better or For Worse by Ingrid Nickelsen

I received this book via the author, Ingrid Nickelsen. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review.

For Better or for Worse by Ingrid Nickelsen
Series: For Better or for Worse #1
Published by Untold Press on March 31, 2014
Length: 330 pages
Reviewing eARC Rating:

When one story ends, another begins.

Evangeline lived a long fulfilling life. Loving mother and wife, she had everything she could wish for...until a tragic car accident took it all away from her.

Awakening in a new world with the body of a young woman, Evangeline doesn't remember anything about her life, not even her own name. Luckily she has godparents to help guide her in this new society of the dead. As she struggles to fit in, deep inside, she can sense something is missing, a part of her that she can't recall. When a mysterious man claims he can help get her memory back if she agrees to keep their nocturnal meetings a secret, she can't refuse. Everything about him screams trouble, but she can't seem to stay away. Every moment spent with him makes her feel alive again.

Is she really prepared to unveil her past completely, from beginning to end? Everything is not as it seems in her new found home, and her new life may also end in tragedy.

Rest in fear, Evangeline.

Right away this book captured my attention and held it. I was so engrossed in the world that I couldn’t set it down until I knew what had happened and what was going to happen to our main character.

For Better or for Worse is the debut novel by Ingrid Nickelsen about a girl who dies and when she awakes doesn’t know who she is or where she is. The author takes you on a stunning journey of an in-between world where Eve must come to terms with her past before she moves on, but how can you do that when you have no memory?

I really loved the characters in this novel! Evangeline or Eve is such a strong, independent young woman. She accepts though begrudgingly that she’s died young. At the beginning she’s bitter and it’s with the help of the mysterious Will and her Godparents Brielle, Blake, and Nate that she moves past this. There’s great character growth for her moving from bitter to accepting. The mysterious Will is a nice twist character in this story. He is very mysterious giving little away to Eve as he helps her navigate the in-between and promises to help her with her memory loss. But the mystery remains who is he? You’ll have to read to find out, I’m not about to spoil it for you 🙂 Then there’s Eve’s godparents. She is assigned other souls who have been there longer to help her in her transition. But can she trust them?

The plot takes a great twist when Eve starts slowly remembering her past through dreams and then one letter she reads. (The characters receive letters that are the prayers of those they left behind) This letter suggests she wasn’t alone when she died. Eve becomes obsessed with finding this person, thinking he/she is the key to her past. It makes for a wonderful kink in the story and then throws another kink in a surprise twist ending!

I loved the world-building in this book! Though the in-between looks much like our world, there’s a lot of mystery surrounding the Godparents, the head of the city, Will, and the mysterious shadows that Eve watches in horror as they burn another person. Can someone really die if they are already dead? is a question that haunts Eve through a good portion of the book.

I would never have guessed that this was a debut novel. There’s a lot of mystery and interweaving tales throughout the plot and Nickelsen does a wonderful job of bringing these characters full circle and leaving you wanting more! I believe that she has set up for a wonderful series and it won’t be last we hear about Eve. If you like afterlife novels, young adult/new adult romances then pick up this book. You will not be disappointed!

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