Bits & Pieces

By: Dawn Hosmer

Narrated by: Diane Box-Worman

Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's Summary

A chance encounter with a stranger traps Tessa within the mind of a madman. 

Tessa was born with a gift. Through a simple touch she picks up pieces of others. A flash of color devours her - the only indication that she’s gained something new from another person. Red equals pain; purple, a talent; yellow, a premonition; orange, a painful memory; and blue, a pleasant one. 

Each flash blurs the lines between her inherent traits and those she’s acquired from others. Whenever she gains bits of something new, she loses more pieces of herself. While assisting in search efforts for a local missing college student, Tessa is paralyzed by a flash that rips through her like a lightning bolt, slicing apart her soul. 

A blinding light takes away her vision. A buzzing louder than any noise she’s ever heard overwhelms her, penetrates her mind. As the bolt works its way through her body, images and feelings from someone else take over. Women’s dead eyes stare at her as her hands encircle their throats. Their screams consume her mind. Memories of the brutal murders of five women invade her.

Will she be able to find the killer and help save the next victim? Can she do so without completely losing herself? Bits & Pieces is a fast-paced, riveting psychological suspense tale with supernatural elements that leaves the listener guessing until the end.

©2018 Dawn M. Hosmer (P)2019 Dawn M. Hosmer

Unique look at premonitions...

Oh, where to begin... Tessa is a young woman with what she feels is a curse, others call it a gift. She has sort of premonitions. Depending on what colors she sees surrounding you when she touches you, she will either see your future, your past, learn something (like a language) take a piece of your personality with her. Good or bad! She could pick up smoking, gain memories of places she's never been or maybe desire to kill... so she tries to wear gloves and keep touching to a minimal.
Life for her becomes even more complicated when she is touched by an unseen serial killer. At the same time she is at the beginning of a new relationship. Could he have been the one to touch her? She doesn't want to think so but something's not right with him.
Then there are abductions from the college where he's a teacher.
Tessa begins to think she is loosing her grasp on reality. But her psychiatrist and brother are a great support. Or are they?
This is a fast paced, fun roller coaster of book with a really surprising ending.
The narration by Diane Box-Worman takes a little getting used to. She speaks like a Valley Girl and everything sounds like a question.
If you found this review helpful please indicate so. Thank You.

12 people found this helpful

A Wonderfully Emotional Sory

I absolutely loved this book. While it was dark, it masterfully captured emotions that have often left normal people wondering about the dark side of human nature.
Tessa has a unique power. When she touches someone she can see flashes of color. Each color is related to an emotion, a thought. This "gift" has traumatized her for many years, but finally, Tessa thinks she can make a true connection with someone else. But that sparks her seeing and feeling the thoughts of a serial killer who rapes his victims. If only Tessa was able to tell who the flash came from, she can help the authorities find the killer. But Tessa has to deal with the shocking effects of absorbing the desires of such depraved persons.
Using Tessa to describe what the serial killer is thinking is a new approach at trying to understand what goes through these horrible people's heads. Tessa's dealing with those emotions and how she reacts to them is the ultimate manifestation of how we as a society live in a society with these people. The author shows you inside their heads without glorifying or making celebrities out of them.
I enjoyed the idea of flashes of color being connected to thoughts and ideas. It gave Tessa's power something to set it aside from similar ideas in other novels. Tessa stands on her own two feet as a haunted heroine and I loved her complexity and that she wasn't just come stereotypical mind reader.
I listened to this via Audible. I liked that Tessa had an adult voice. So many books are done with a young woman's voice, but the narrator here sounds like's she's lived and that weight gives a lot to the story. She was able to handle such dark ideas with true emotion and moved me to tears.
Bits & Pieces is a special book; while not everyone can handle something so dark, those that can will have a genuinely moving experience.

1 person found this helpful

I enjoyed it!

Fast paced and full of action mystery thriller! The book has you guessing till the very end! I liked the character and the way her abilities were portrayed! The author sets vivid scenes that you can almost see!

1 person found this helpful

Wow..... Unique and Gripping!!

This book was so unique, it grabbed me and never let go.....

This book has twists and turns and lots of surprises....

Tessa sure has an interesting 'gift' and she deals with it the best she can....

There is violence to women, but it's very well written and such a unique story!!

1 person found this helpful

Simply Amazing!!!

I absolutely love, love, loved this audio book! The main character's unique abilities, the pain and struggle they brought her, the effortless weaving of a murder-mystery into the plot, left me itching for more all the way to the amazing end! Brilliant writing and such creativity! Truly recommend this book! There are some parts that are slightly harder to get through (e.g., rape/murder descriptions), but if you can power through that the ending is SO worth it!

1 person found this helpful

Visceral

Jeepers Creepers this was a good book. I got to *listen* to this one at the courtesy of the author in exchange for a review.

Let’s get the trigger warnings out of the way: this book deals with rape, murder, violence, anxiety, depression, and thoughts about wanting to die. For that reason, this isn’t going to be for everyone, so beware.

This is not my usual kind of read. I love psychological thriller movies, and I’m one of those weirdos that finds serial killers morbidly fascinating. So, when this came up for a review, I thought, why not? I didn’t know if I would like it or not, but figured I could try! And this book was great! I really loved the story.

It was visceral, painful, and heartbreaking... but it has hope at the end. I loved this concept of someone who has the ability to see into people, but as a side effect takes on pieces of the people she comes in contact with. It’s a great concept of something that could be a super power, but is actually not so great. I love that Tessa expresses everything through art, and that she’s in therapy. She feels relatable.

In terms of narration... I didn’t love the narrator, because her voice is very coarse. Also, the editing is a little weird, so that sentences rush together in way that indicates they’ve trimmed out pauses, but trimmed it too close. It just sounds off. However! She does a fabulous job of emoting with the characters, which definitely enhances the experience of the book. There are some really chilling passages from her narration of the killers thoughts, I mean it creeped me out bad. It was awesome.

So... I really enjoyed this, and it was very emotional. Being my first in this genre, I can’t give you a good comparison. It does make me think of a lot of Shaymalan movies though, the good ones (and I may have spelled his name totally wrong, sorry). So if that’s your thing, I think you’ll like it!

1 person found this helpful

Fantastic

Wow, just wow, this story was not what I was expecting. Tessa has a unique gift, when she touches others, she absorbs parts of them, and slowly loses parts of her identity. She is touched by a serial killer, and the presence slowly takes her over. It kept you guessing throughout the story, and with and end I never saw coming. The narration could have used some work, there were times when the sentence would fluctuate in the middle, and unsure if this was a editing error, or the narration. Overall the story was fantastic.

1 person found this helpful

Brilliant!!

This is my first read from this author and Bloodyhell I need more!! This is a psychological thriller and man it is mind blown!!
Such a riveting series that kept me into the story till the very last sentence. I didn’t want to end. It was that good y’all!!
I was absolutely gutted towards the end where a revelation was given. Such a great book. Will be looking for more books by this author.

Narrator- I didn’t care much for the narrator. I felt like it was a bit nasally and pitchy at times. I listened to it at a faster pace of 1.75. After that I was able to ignore some of it but I’m glad I stuck with it because the story is awesome.

1 person found this helpful

Grabs on and doesn’t let go

Wow, what an intense ride! It didn’t take long for the story to grab hold of my attention, and once it did, I was a goner. The level of intensity held tight all the way through to the end, and I had no idea where or how it was going to end. And that ending, well, let’s just say it was definitely not predictable. I very much enjoyed this book! The narration seemed a little abrupt at times, a bit maybe harsh, but overall it was very well done, with good feeling and intonation woven into the characters. Definitely would recommend this book if you enjoy a good psychological suspense story that keeps you on your toes.

I received this audiobook free in exchange for my fair and honest review.

1 person found this helpful

A Mind-Numbingly Brilliant Thriller

Hopefully that review title intrigued you. Because we’re about to explore Bits & Pieces, a novel written by Dawn Hosmer.

I listened to it on audiobook (though I also own the paperback), and WOW. What a novel.

Let’s start with a clear CONTENT WARNING. Bits & Pieces contains incredibly graphic scenes of sexual violence. Read (or listen to) this novel at your own risk.

Bits & Pieces follows Tessa, a young woman with an extraordinary gift. This is one of those novels where reviews really shouldn’t give away specific details, because this book’s narrative relies on its twists and turns. But I’ll do my best. The story begins with Tessa’s ordinary life, complicated by her insane gift. She wants love and companionship, but her mind won’t let her experience those to their fullest extent.


And through Tessa’s gift, she’s thrown into a whirlwind of an adventure where she uncovers the truth about particular crimes throughout her community… but will it destroy her in the process?

Listening to Bits & Pieces on audiobook, I enjoyed the witty writing and focused first-person POV, all from Tessa’s perspective. However, the narrator’s pacing was inconsistent throughout (though one particular chapter stands out as significantly better than the rest). The narrator was good at giving Tessa personality, but sometimes she lacked in giving voice to other characters. And sometimes, words would cut in and out at different volumes.

The critiques of the narrator aside, Dawn Hosmer’s words draw you in through every chapter. Just enough suspense, just enough characterization, just enough style to keep the words moving at a pace deserving of the story.

If you’re looking for a psychological thriller exploring the human condition through a novel lens, Bits & Pieces is for you. I usually don’t like thrillers of this style, so the fact I enjoyed Bits & Pieces should say quite a bit about its gripping and compelling nature.

Writing: 9/10. Excellent voice and POV.

Characters: 8/10. Loved Tessa. Other characters were good, but they were overshadowed by Tessa.

Setting: 7/10. Typical small university town, nothing special. It worked well for the story.

Plot: 10/10. Every word mattered, every word drove the story, every character fit in perfectly.

Overall: 8.5/10. Round that up to 9 and we’ve got a clear 5 stars!

1 person found this helpful

Bits and Pieces

I loved this book more then I thought I would. There was even a surprise twist that I did not see coming.
The narrator did not suit the book because she sounded a lot older then the characters. Not her fault but it did not put me off the book.
Would highly recommend

A totally immersive story with a twist you wont be ready for!

I loved this story! I was hooked from the first chapter always on the edge of my seat wanting to know what was going to happen next. The unexpected ending had me crying my eyes out ,which is always the sign of a great story if it can envoke real emotions happy or sad. I highly recommend this book and give it 10/10. My only negitive is that I would opt to read this book again rather than listen to it, as I felt the narrators voice did not go with the description, personality and age of the main character. But this is in no way a criticism of this unique, emotional, violent, unexpected rollercoaster of a story.