The Two Lila Bennetts

By: Liz Fenton, Lisa Steinke

Narrated by: Karissa Vacker

Length: 11 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

"One fateful decision. Two unexpected endings. A perfect summer read!" --Wendy Walker, bestselling author of The Night Before

Lila Bennett's bad choices have finally caught up with her. And one of those decisions has split her life in two. Literally.

In one life, she's taken hostage by someone who appears to be a stranger but knows too much. As she's trapped in a concrete cell, her kidnapper forces her to face what she's done or be killed. In an alternate life, she eludes her captor but is hunted by someone who is dismantling her happiness, exposing one secret at a time.

Lila's decorated career as a criminal defense attorney, her marriage, and her life are on the line. She must make a list of those she's wronged - both in and out of the courtroom - to determine who is out to get her before it's too late. But even if she can pinpoint her assailant, will she survive? And if she does, which parts of her life are worth saving, and which parts must die? Because one thing's for certain - life as Lila Bennett knew it is over.

©2019 Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Intriguing...Chapters headed ‘captured’ and ‘free’ alternate, each describing a parallel reality...Along with two perfect endings, this satisfying thriller offers food for thought. Flawless pacing will keep readers on the edge of their seats."--Publishers Weekly

“The Two Lila Bennetts is heart-pounding action from start to finish. It’s Sliding Doors with a killer twist. I couldn’t put it down!”--Aimee Molloy, New York Times bestselling author

“The Two Lila Bennetts, by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke, begins with one of the most intriguing premises that I’ve encountered in a novel and ends with two jaw-dropping conclusions. In Lila Bennett, Fenton and Steinke have created a tough, complicated character whose life splinters into two very different directions the moment she makes a life-altering choice. Toggling back and forth between each of Lila’s fates, Fenton and Steinke masterfully blend both threads together, propelling the stories forward with hand-wringing tension. Clever, unpredictable, and obsessively unputdownable, The Two Lila Bennetts is psychological suspense at its finest."--Heather Gudenkauf, New York Times bestselling author of The Weight of Silence and Not a Sound

Good but a little long.

worth listening to. a little long but the self examination while doing so was cleansing.

Confusing

Very confusing story. I’m not sure what really happened. Did she really make the choices to change on her own or was she forced to.

Great... until it wasn't

The story goes to great lengths to keep you guessing as to who the bad guy(s) is/are... and once revealed, it was disappointing. There were so many people who could have been guilty, for a multitude of reasons... but then the actual 'bad guy' felt like it was almost chosen simply because it was the one person you forgot even existed. Very enjoyable for most of the book, but the end was meh.

wow. so much wow.

my mind is absolutely blown right now! I love the story, the concept, the lessons learned, and how much I loved, related to, understood, and rooted for Lila Bennett. The narrator was excellent & had a very soothing but attention grabbing voice. absolutely a must read!

Better than expected!

Full disclosure, I only listened to part of this because I also have it on my reading app and ended up reading most of it, so I can't review too much of the narration. The part I did hear seemed great though.

When I first started this book, I saw that a lot of reviewers mentioned the movie Sliding Doors, which I believe is what the authors were inspired by. Admittedly I did not see that movie and some of the wording that people used gave me the impression that there was an element of supernatural or that it was perhaps a sci-fi type novel, which is not at all my taste. I was pleasantly surprised that it really just a straight thriller about a woman getting kidnapped and the realization that her poor choices in life may have led her to her current situation.

Lila Bennett is a ruthless attorney who will stop at nothing to advance her career regardless of who she hurts. Honesty is kind of a grey area to her. As someone who is honest to the core myself, I have to admit I did not like her as a person one bit. But major life circumstances tend to change a person and Lila finally starts to wake up so to speak, to how her behavior has impacted her life and those around her. I do love how the characters are built, if not a few cliches but overall a well-woven story. The fact that the main character was such an unlikeable person, in the beginning, made it hard to settle into this but the compelling story actually kept me engaged. In reality, Lila really is just a flawed human and after many twists and turns, we finally breathe a sigh of relief as she redeems herself and the story wraps up, but not without unexpected twists that you do not see coming. A suspenseful read with a lot of build-up and a satisfying surprise ending! If you like crime dramas or psychological thrillers this one delivers!

lila's redemption

this book was well written with two story's following the same women and the choices she makes to her ultimate redemption. This is not a love story but a finding yourself and righting your wrongs to the best of your ability. I wished there had been a epilogue so I knew how her life turned out after the fact .

novel novel

story line developed in two parallel stories that fork at one point ie same story told with two different paths. basic who done it keeps reader guessing as focus moves from one possibility to another and back. underlying premise is sappy but story is well told. performer is mostly excellent

I wanted to like this

Good story, but the dialogue with Q was just eyeroll worthy, and I never could really empathize with the main character. I wanted to...and I also was expecting the 2 stories to converge rather than leaving me feeling like this was some parallel universe stuff. What bothers me is that the decisions she makes in the turning point moment aren't different enough to justify such different stories. I don't know...great idea, but the execution didn't fire off for me.

I wanted to love this book

The performance by the narrator was phenomenal. I really wanted to love this story and at certain points I did. however, I struggled with trying to find redeeming qualities of the main character. Everytime I wanted to stop listening something would happen in the story and pull me back in again. overall it was good. I just found the main character frustrating.

An engaging, droll read.

The premise of this book is unique, but the book needed to be reworked. The dialogue was quite wordy, and self centered. The characters initially had value, but by the ending had faded into obscurity. Not a bad read, but definitely not a great one.