{"id":26277,"date":"2020-09-04T07:23:24","date_gmt":"2020-09-04T11:23:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/?p=26277"},"modified":"2022-10-11T16:58:59","modified_gmt":"2022-10-11T16:58:59","slug":"review-one-step-beyond-by-lauren-north","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/2020\/09\/04\/review-one-step-beyond-by-lauren-north\/","title":{"rendered":"Review \ud83d\udd0d One Step Beyond by Lauren North"},"content":{"rendered":"<!--themify_builder_content-->\n<div id=\"themify_builder_content-26277\" data-postid=\"26277\" class=\"themify_builder_content themify_builder_content-26277 themify_builder tf_clear\">\n    \t\t\t<!-- module_row -->\n\t<div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_row themify_builder_row tb_bbbcac8 tb_first tf_w tf_clearfix\">\n\t    \t\t\t<div class=\"row_inner gutter-narrow col_align_top tb_col_count_2 tf_box tf_rel\">\n\t\t            <div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_column tb-column col3-1 tb_49667e8 first\">\n                                                        <div class=\"tb-column-inner tf_box tf_w\">\n                        <!-- module image -->\n<div  class=\"module module-image tb_7036296 rounded drop-shadow customBorderRad_top image-center auto_fullwidth tf_mw\" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div class=\"image-wrap tf_rel tf_mw\">\n\t\t    <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/one-step-behind-lauren-north.jpg?w=640\" title=\"Review \ud83d\udd0d One Step Beyond by Lauren North\" alt=\"Review \ud83d\udd0d One Step Beyond by Lauren North\">\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<!-- \/image-wrap -->\n    \n    \t<\/div>\n<!-- \/module image --><!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_a1982ef customBorderRad_bottom repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">Jenna is a wife, a mother, a doctor. She\u2019s also the victim of a stalker. Frightening &#8220;gifts&#8221; are left on her doorstep, her home is broken in to, and when she leaves her house to take her children to school, he\u2019s waiting. She feels powerless, and the police are unable to help.<\/span><br \/><br \/><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">Then her stalker is brought into the emergency room after a terrible accident, and Jenna has to\u00a0treat the man who\u2019s been tormenting her for months. With her stalker in a coma, Jenna is desperate to understand the life of this seemingly normal man.\u00a0When she finds startling images on his phone, she is consumed by her need for answers&#8211;and her own obsession leads her down a twisting path of destruction.<\/span><br \/><br \/><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">Just how far is Jenna willing to go to take back control of her life?<\/span><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text -->                    <\/div>\n                            <\/div>\n                        <div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_column tb-column col3-2 tb_23787e9 last\">\n                                                        <div class=\"tb-column-inner tf_box tf_w\">\n                        <!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_2d1ea91  repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25881 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/smitten-recommends-banner-1.png?resize=296%2C72\" alt=\"\" width=\"296\" height=\"72\" \/><\/p><hr \/><p><strong>Release Date:<\/strong> Sep 1, 2020<br \/><strong>Publisher:<\/strong> Penguin Group<br \/><strong>Imprint:<\/strong> Berkley<br \/><strong>Price:<\/strong> $9.99<\/p><hr \/><p>\u00a0<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Jenna Lawson<\/strong> is a busy emergency medicine doctor, wife, and mother of two. Jenna has it all, but her life is beginning to unravel because of a stalker who has been harassing and threatening her for the last year. Then things start to escalate and Jenna starts to fear for the safety of her children. The police are no help since they can\u2019t prove who is behind the threats, but Jenna is convinced she knows who is stalking her. Unexpected circumstances give Jenna the opportunity to take matters into her own hands, but will she be able to finally resolve the matter or will her actions make things even worse..<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>One Step Behind<\/strong> is a standalone mystery\/suspense novel told from two points of view. One point of view is Sophie\u2019s, both in the present dealing with a controlling boyfriend, and in the past with a difficult childhood and an adopted younger brother having troubles adjusting to his new home. The other point of view is Jenna\u2019s, who narrates the story as if she is talking to her stalker, which is an unusual technique that helps show how much the stalking is taking over Jenna\u2019s whole life. At first it\u2019s hard to see how Sophie and Jenna\u2019s chapters connect, but it is eventually revealed as the story unfolds.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">My favorite part of the book is the way the tension builds throughout the story. More and more of Jenna\u2019s life starts to suffer due to the stress of constantly being on guard and because of her determination to stop the stalker. I have mixed feelings about her husband Stuart, who sometimes seems so supportive but other times is judgmental. In fact, there are a few other supporting characters in the book that are hard to like. It makes for some frustrating reading at times, but opens up the suspect pool as to who is stalking Jenna and why. I was engaged in the story and hoped that Jenna could figure things out before her or someone close to her got hurt. She is flawed, but is still someone I was rooting for.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">There is a lot of drama and creepiness towards the end of the book. There are a few different plot twists, some of which I predicted and a couple that completely took me by surprise. The ending is unsettling and although it resolves most unanswered questions, it\u2019s more ambiguous than I prefer. However, when I consider the book as a whole, it entertained me, kept me in suspense, and provided a few surprises at the end. I wasn\u2019t familiar with this author before, but I will keep an eye out for future books by <strong><em>Lauren North<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>~ Christine<\/em><\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00a0<\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text --><!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_eb0616c customBorderRad repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2Z3PLAg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a><\/span><span class=\"s2\">\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/books.apple.com\/us\/book\/one-step-behind\/id1490755975?mt=11&amp;app=itunes&amp;at=11l88k\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">iBooks<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/one-step-behind-lauren-north\/1135428720?ean=9781984803870\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">B&amp;N<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kobo.com\/us\/en\/ebook\/one-step-behind-10\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">Kobo<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/books\/details\/Lauren_North_One_Step_Behind?id=PkfCDwAAQBAJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">Google Play<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text -->                    <\/div>\n                            <\/div>\n            \t    <\/div>\n\t    <!-- \/row_inner -->\n\t<\/div>\n\t<!-- \/module_row -->\n\t<\/div>\n<!--\/themify_builder_content-->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jenna is a wife, a mother, a doctor. She\u2019s also the victim of a stalker. Frightening &#8220;gifts&#8221; are left on her doorstep, her home is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[83,89,128,48],"tags":[152,367,369,404,405],"class_list":["post-26277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-berkley","category-christine","category-penguin-group","category-reviews","tag-4-stars","tag-mystery","tag-mystery-suspense","tag-recommend","tag-recommended-reads"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review \ud83d\udd0d One Step Beyond by Lauren North - Smitten by Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/2020\/09\/04\/review-one-step-beyond-by-lauren-north\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Review \ud83d\udd0d One Step Beyond by Lauren North - Smitten by Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jenna is a wife, a mother, a doctor. 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She\u2019s also the victim of a stalker. Frightening \"gifts\" are left on her doorstep, her home is broken in to, and when she leaves her house to take her children to school, he\u2019s waiting. She feels powerless, and the police are unable to help.<br \/><br \/>Then her stalker is brought into the emergency room after a terrible accident, and Jenna has to\u00a0treat the man who\u2019s been tormenting her for months. With her stalker in a coma, Jenna is desperate to understand the life of this seemingly normal man.\u00a0When she finds startling images on his phone, she is consumed by her need for answers--and her own obsession leads her down a twisting path of destruction.<br \/><br \/>Just how far is Jenna willing to go to take back control of her life?<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/smitten-recommends-banner-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"296\" height=\"72\" \/><\/p><hr \/><p><strong>Release Date:<\/strong> Sep 1, 2020<br \/><strong>Publisher:<\/strong> Penguin Group<br \/><strong>Imprint:<\/strong> Berkley<br \/><strong>Price:<\/strong> $9.99<\/p><hr \/><p>\u00a0<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Jenna Lawson<\/strong> is a busy emergency medicine doctor, wife, and mother of two. Jenna has it all, but her life is beginning to unravel because of a stalker who has been harassing and threatening her for the last year. Then things start to escalate and Jenna starts to fear for the safety of her children. The police are no help since they can\u2019t prove who is behind the threats, but Jenna is convinced she knows who is stalking her. Unexpected circumstances give Jenna the opportunity to take matters into her own hands, but will she be able to finally resolve the matter or will her actions make things even worse..<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>One Step Behind<\/strong> is a standalone mystery\/suspense novel told from two points of view. One point of view is Sophie\u2019s, both in the present dealing with a controlling boyfriend, and in the past with a difficult childhood and an adopted younger brother having troubles adjusting to his new home. The other point of view is Jenna\u2019s, who narrates the story as if she is talking to her stalker, which is an unusual technique that helps show how much the stalking is taking over Jenna\u2019s whole life. At first it\u2019s hard to see how Sophie and Jenna\u2019s chapters connect, but it is eventually revealed as the story unfolds.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">My favorite part of the book is the way the tension builds throughout the story. More and more of Jenna\u2019s life starts to suffer due to the stress of constantly being on guard and because of her determination to stop the stalker. I have mixed feelings about her husband Stuart, who sometimes seems so supportive but other times is judgmental. In fact, there are a few other supporting characters in the book that are hard to like. It makes for some frustrating reading at times, but opens up the suspect pool as to who is stalking Jenna and why. I was engaged in the story and hoped that Jenna could figure things out before her or someone close to her got hurt. She is flawed, but is still someone I was rooting for.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">There is a lot of drama and creepiness towards the end of the book. There are a few different plot twists, some of which I predicted and a couple that completely took me by surprise. The ending is unsettling and although it resolves most unanswered questions, it\u2019s more ambiguous than I prefer. However, when I consider the book as a whole, it entertained me, kept me in suspense, and provided a few surprises at the end. I wasn\u2019t familiar with this author before, but I will keep an eye out for future books by <strong><em>Lauren North<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>~ Christine<\/em><\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2Z3PLAg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/books.apple.com\/us\/book\/one-step-behind\/id1490755975?mt=11&amp;app=itunes&amp;at=11l88k\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">iBooks<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/one-step-behind-lauren-north\/1135428720?ean=9781984803870\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">B&amp;N<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kobo.com\/us\/en\/ebook\/one-step-behind-10\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kobo<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/books\/details\/Lauren_North_One_Step_Behind?id=PkfCDwAAQBAJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google Play<\/a><\/strong><\/p>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}