Some of It Was Real by Nan Fischer: Sylvie Young was adopted as a young child, but she doesn’t 
remember anything prior to her adoption. Now on the verge of stardom as a psychic-medium, she gives each show her all. When at the end of one show, the gentleman that she picked for the finale slides her a business card showing that he’s a reporter, she is nervous that everything will come crashing down.
When Thomas Holmes tells Sylvie that he is planning on writing an expose about how her entire career is based on deception, he is out with a vengeance. Having lost his father and brother in a tragic car accident, his mother has thrown all of her money at trying to talk to them on the other side. He himself doesn’t believe a word that they say since he has seen the effects it has had on his mother. He chose to write the expose to show the damages it can cause on people, but he finds himself at a standstill when it comes to Sylvie because her past is a mystery.
When Thomas confronts her with his questions, she invites him to go on the adventure with her to dig into her past. As the two search for missing pieces of Sylvie’s past, they find a lot of dead ends, but try to use the information they have to get to the bottom of it. As Thomas spends more and more time with Sylvie, he sees the impact that she has on people and questions whether his intuitions about her powers are correct or not.
In addition to questioning her powers, the two end up questioning their feelings towards each other. As they grow closer to finding out the truth about Sylvie, Thomas’s mother deals with a hip injury and consequently meets Sylvie. When Thomas is confronted by Sylvie’s powers head on, can he look past that to really truly understand the woman that he has been falling for?
Wow. This book had a little bit of everything that is good in the world. I loved the fact that the romance of the book was so beautifully interwoven with the mystery of Sylvie. It didn’t take away from it at all. Sylvie and Thomas both have a lot to overcome in their lives, but the way that they help each other is almost poetic.
Thomas has always felt like he isn’t good enough since he lost his father and brother. Consumed by missing them, his mother hasn’t had the time for him. As he works on his story with Sylvie, he finally feels like he has found someplace to belong, but then he is confronted by her powers at random moments. He has to decide what he wants most in life, and how Sylvie would fit into that puzzle.
Sylvie has always felt like there is a part of her missing, and it all stems from not knowing her past. She felt like she didn’t necessarily belong in her adoptive family, and it was solidified when she was shut out of their lives for not choosing the profession they wanted. Sylvie has to confront her inner demons to truly understand who she is and how she became that person. With Thomas’s help, she finds answers although they may not be the ones she wants.
Overall, the book was beautiful! I loved it more than I thought I would by reading the blurb. It was so beautifully written and switched back and forth between Thomas and Sylvie’s points of view that it was easy to follow. As Sylvie and Thomas got closer to answers, you never knew what their next step would entail, but you knew you wanted more. In addition, the way they dealt with their feelings for each other shows how they can truly support each other. It’s definitely one to talk about to your friends.
Book Info:
Publication: July 26, 2022 | Berkley |
A psychic on the verge of stardom who isn’t sure she believes in herself and a cynical journalist with one last chance at redemption are brought together by secrets from the past that also threaten to tear them apart.
Psychic-medium Sylvie Young starts every show with her origin story, telling the audience how she discovered her abilities. But she leaves out a lot—the plane crash that killed her parents, an estranged adoptive family who tend orchards in rainy Oregon, panic attacks, and the fact that her agent insists she research some clients to ensure success.
After a catastrophic reporting error, Thomas Holmes’s next story at the L.A. Times may be his last, but he’s got a great personal pitch. “Grief vampires” like Sylvie who prey upon the loved ones of the deceased have bankrupted his mother. He’s dead set on using his last-chance article to expose Sylvie as a conniving fraud and resurrect his career.
When Sylvie and Thomas collide, a game of cat and mouse ensues, but the secrets they’re keeping from each other are nothing compared to the mysteries and lies they unearth about Sylvie’s past. Searching for the truth might destroy them both—but it’s the only way to find out what’s real.
