The Hypnotist's Love Story

Overview

For fans of Emily Giffin, another wonderful book by the author of What Alice Forgot.

Ellen O’Farrell is a professional hypnotherapist who works out of the eccentric beachfront home she inherited from her grandparents. It’s a nice life, except for her tumultuous relationship history. She’s stoic about it, but at this point, Ellen wouldn’t mind a lasting one. When she meets Patrick, she’s optimistic. He’s attractive, single, employed, and best of all, he seems to like her back. ...

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The Hypnotist's Love Story

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More About This Book

Overview

For fans of Emily Giffin, another wonderful book by the author of What Alice Forgot.

Ellen O’Farrell is a professional hypnotherapist who works out of the eccentric beachfront home she inherited from her grandparents. It’s a nice life, except for her tumultuous relationship history. She’s stoic about it, but at this point, Ellen wouldn’t mind a lasting one. When she meets Patrick, she’s optimistic. He’s attractive, single, employed, and best of all, he seems to like her back. Then comes that dreaded moment: He thinks they should have a talk.

Braced for the worst, Ellen is pleasantly surprised. It turns out that Patrick’s ex-girlfriend is stalking him. Ellen thinks, Actually, that’s kind of interesting. She’s dating someone worth stalking. She’s intrigued by the woman’s motives. In fact, she’d even love to meet her.

Ellen doesn’t know it, but she already has.

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Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
In Moriarty’s intriguing follow-up to What Alice Forgot, Ellen O’Farrell is a hypnotherapist in Australia who becomes romantically involved with Patrick, a single father and widower with a troubling secret: he has a stalker—ex-girlfriend Saskia. Instead of being disturbed, Ellen is curious about Saskia, wondering who she is, why she’s stalking Patrick, and if she, Ellen, could ever love anyone enough to stalk them for three years. Soon, Ellen discovers more than she was expecting: after three months of dating, she’s pregnant with Patrick’s child; Patrick wants to get married; and Saskia has been a patient of hers (under a pseudonym) since Ellen started her relationship with Patrick. Ellen and Patrick (and his son Jack) move in together, but Saskia doesn’t stop, a problem abetted by Ellen’s inquisitiveness and frustration about Patrick’s comparisons of Ellen to his dead wife, Colleen. As Saskia’s antics become increasingly aggressive, Ellen soon realizes that their bizarre situation has crossed into dangerous territory. Ellen’s voice is compelling and believable, and readers will appreciate Moriarty’s deft conveyance of a potentially trite topic into the realm of good storytelling. (June)
Library Journal
New relationships are difficult enough to navigate on their own, but when you mix in a stalker ex-girlfriend and a dead wife with whom your boyfriend may still be in love, things get even more complicated. Ellen O'Farrell, a successful hypnotherapist, faces that very situation. Even though the plot may seem simultaneously far out and familiar, Moriarty's (What Alice Forgot) fourth novel feels fresh with believable, likable characters whom readers will root for (even the stalker ex-girlfriend). Also appealing is the humorous tone, even in the many awkward situations that arise. VERDICT Moriarty seems to have a flair for writing about realistic situations that have a twist. Fans of Luanne Rice and Barbara Delinsky will enjoy this title; those reentering the dating world and finding it difficult to navigate will be especially entertained. [See Prepub Alert, 12/12/11.]—Amber Woodard, Cumberland Univ. Lib., Lebanon, TN
Kirkus Reviews
Australian Moriarty (What Alice Forgot, 2011, etc.) has managed to combine an infectiously lighthearted romance about a Sydney hypnotherapist with a potentially upsetting examination of a stalker's interior life. In the first scene, an unnamed narrator has come for treatment for mysterious leg pains at the home of the eponymous heroine, Buddhist-leaning but not stereotypically New-Agey Ellen, who uses her powers of hypnotic persuasion to solve other people's problems. Unfortunately, Ellen has been less successful solving her own problems in maintaining relationships. Then she meets surveyor Patrick, a widower, and the rapport is immediate. The romance proceeds swimmingly. Ellen even hits it off with Patrick's 8-year-old son, Jack. There is only one little hitch: Patrick is being stalked by his ex-girlfriend Saskia, who turns out to be the leg pain patient. Chapters take turns showing Ellen's and Saskia's perspectives as events unfold. Ellen, whose self-professed goal in life is self-awareness, tends to overanalyze, but she is also endearingly honest in rooting out her true feelings. Saskia's way of showing up and knowing everything about Ellen's and Patrick's lives creeps her out, but Ellen also finds herself wanting to understand Saskia, especially when Ellen acknowledges her own reaction to Patrick's lingering feelings for his dead wife. She is even drawn toward a gray ethical area in deciding whether to use her powers of suggestion on Patrick. But Saskia is the novel's unexpected heart. Moriarty makes it clear why Patrick, who is refreshingly imperfect as a secondhand Prince Charming, finds Saskia a threatening presence in his life. How far she might go is worrisome. But like Ellen, readers will be drawn to Saskia. She is a predator but also a deeply troubled woman. Moriarty makes sure that any woman who has ever compared herself to a lover's ex or Googled an ex of her own will identify to some degree with Saskia's struggle to overcome what she recognizes is an unhealthy obsession. Amazingly, the effervescent comedy and troubling melodrama combine to create a satisfying beach read, escapist but not unintelligent.
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780425260937
  • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
  • Publication date: 6/4/2013
  • Pages: 480
  • Sales rank: 371,508
  • Product dimensions: 5.59 (w) x 8.24 (h) x 1.06 (d)

Meet the Author

Liane Moriarty is the author of three previous novels, What Alice Forgot, Three Wishes, and The Last Anniversary, which have been published around the world and translated into seven languages. Also the author of the Nicola Berry series for children, she lives in Sydney, Australia, with her husband and two small, noisy children.

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