The Hypnotist's Love Story

Ellen, a hypnotherapist, is kind, gentle and open to all possibilities. She is a lovely protagonist. She has inherited her grandparents' beautiful beach front house where she has her office. Her clients are quirky but engaging with a variety of problems. Just after the story opens she is internet dating and meets a man named Patrick who she is really attracted to and is hoping he will be the one. Before they can get too involved; however, Patrick tells her he has a stalker, an ex-girlfriend, who he can't get rid of. Ellen is not afraid but intrigued; she believes it makes her life more interesting to have someone observing it. Other interesting characters in the story are Ellen's mother, Anne, who is a doctor and very practical and can't believe her daughter has chosen hypnotism as a profession. Further Anne's mother, along with her two godmothers, raised Ellen, without the help of a man, of which they are very proud. Her two godmothers are interesting as well. Plus there's Patrick's son, Jack, from a previous relationship. Patrick is a widower. Then there is Ellen's best friend, Julia, who has been Ellen's best friend since childhood. Julia is quite a character all on her own. In fact, Moriarty could write a book about Julia if she chose.

The interesting thing about the book, besides how will Patrick and Ellen's relationship end up, is that the stalker, Saskia, gets to tell her side of the story as well. Although at times I got irritated at Saskia for not being able to move on, I never hated her or feared her. In fact, Moriarty writes Saskia's point of view as sympathetic and by the end of the novel I really liked Saskia. None of the characters in this book were portrayed as evil nor were they demonized, which for me made for an interesting and exciting read.

This was another great novel by Liane Moriarty and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes a bit of romance, intrigue, and mystery.

After enjoying "The Husband's Secret" by Liane Moriarty so much, I ordered a copy of "The Hypnotist's Love Story." The title is intriguing enough, but the book is a gem. Ellen O'Farrell is not so far out of a relationship with former boyfriend, Jon, but she has met Patrick, a very nice man who seems to be grounded, employed and nice-enough-looking. He has a problem, though, and that is that his former girlfriend, Saskia, is stalking him. She turns up everywhere that he goes and now everywhere that Ellen and Patrick go. Saskia's story is told in first person alternating with Ellen's story, and Saskia's is very interesting to the point that the author made me understand and even like her, but in a few scenes Saskia becomes a real annoyance, worthy of a call to the police. Patrick fiddles while Rome burns getting a restraining order against Saskia, though.

I was particularly intrigued by the scenes in Ellen's office where she did her hynotherapy with her clients. She has her office in a quirky beach house in Australia that her grandparents left her, and I found the hypnotherapy sessions to be fascinating. It was all very believable and well-researched by Moriarty. The setting by the ocean is perfect and Ellen is sometimes naive, but she is an interesting character that I really liked. Ellen kept her cool in some situations with her mother where I never would have kept mine. I found the mother and the mother's friends to be the characters I liked the least and cared about the least.

Overall, I loved this book and have ordered two more of Liane Moriarty's books. In the two I've read so far, there seems to be a theme of family, love and redemption running throughout and that I like. A hard to put down book!

(3.5 stars)

Liane Moriarty's books "Three Wishes", "The Last Anniversary" and "What Alice Forgot" are some of my favourites on my bookshelf, so I was very much looking forward to reading her fourth novel. With her somewhat quirky and unusual but vividly portrayed and likeable characters, Moriarty has provided yet another enjoyable read - one to look forward to after a hard day at work, putting my feet up, making a cup of tea, and losing myself in another world for a while.

The book tells the story of Ellen, a thirty-something hypnotherapist longing for a fulfilling relationship but getting more than she bargains for when she falls in love with Patrick, a handsome widower and single father of eight-year-old Jack. But as Ellen soon discovers, Patrick comes with even more baggage than his grief for his dead wife: a stalker who is following the new couple on every outing, leaving messages, even breaking into Ellen's house and masquerading as one of Ellen's client client. Ellen discovers that this mystery woman is Saskia, Patrick's ex-girlfriend, who had been his partner and a loving mother to Jack for three years until Patrick suddenly broke off the relationship. Always willing to see the best in people, Ellen does not get angry or jealous, but instead feels a strange kinship with the woman Patrick so despises.

It is a credit to the author to be able to make the character of Saskia not only believable, but also likeable, and enable the reader to understand her pain, emotional turmoil and motivations for her actions, however wrong or strange they may seem. Probably the one thing I like best about Moriarty's books is that they leave me with a warm afterglow, believing in the good in people. Contrary to most other people's reactions, Ellen does not get jealous or hateful when confronted with Patrick's ex-girlfriend stalking them, but tries to understand her pain. Who else does that? But through Ellen's kind-heartedness, and Saskia's first person narrative, the reader also gets the chance to feel empathy for Saskia rather than disgust over her actions. I love to be reminded that there is always a flipside to every story, and that it is better not to judge people unless we have been in their situation. As Saskia tells her story, I felt more and more drawn to her, feeling her pain. Of all the characters in this story, Patrick irritated me most for the best part of the book, and only partly redeeming himself in the later pages (so much for being non-judgmental!).

Written with insight and humour, this is a novel which will warm your heart and make you smile. A nice break from my usual fare of murder mysteries.

Anything Liane Moriarty writes is going to be a "thumbs up" for me. Her books are like calling your best friend from first grade. When you read her stories, it's like you're "catching up"with your family. The plot of The Hypnotist's love story covers so many different topics:hypnosis, stalking, being single in your 30's, step-parenting, having your first child. Who can't relate to any of these topics? As "chik lit" goes, this book should appeal to the masses. Ms. Moriarity writes with an intellect level that is witty and not predictable. This isn't written like fake drama. You really think the events could happen...and did happen!

My first Moriarity book was "The Husband's Secret". Comparing the two stories: this one is a little slower where the plot drags just a teensy bit. At first I was disappointed but realized that "The Husband's Secret" was so enthralling, I couldn't put that book down. I read "The Husband's Secret" in less than 12 hours. And I can't keep doing that because I can't live in a book for the rest of my life! At least when life forces you put this book down, you can do so without feeling like you're missing something.

I am on my third Moriarity book today, "Three Wishes". It's also wonderful. I've dubbed the summer of 2014 "The summer of Liane Moriarity"!

I recently read Moriarty's book, What Alice Forgot, which I really enjoyed. Therefore, I was very much looking forward to reading the Hypnotist's Love Story. I suppose it isn't fair to expect an author to write all his or her books with the same tone, because this one wasn't as light-hearted as the book about Alice. In fact, it's much more low key, and I found the story thread a bit disturbing. Without giving away anything, I'll say that the story is about a young woman hypnotherapist who begins dating a new man. This man is a widower with a young son, but from the start the relationship seems doomed, because the man has an obsessive ex-girlfriend stalking him. The author likes to alternate points of view with each new chapter, so one chapter is the pov of the hypnotherapist, the next would be the pov of the stalker, and then back to the hypnotherapist, etc. I understand the mechanics of developing the plot this way, but many times I wanted to skip the chapters with the pov of the stalker, because obviously, she is mentally disturbed and thus, uncomfortable to read. However, she is written with compassion, and is portrayed as an intelligent woman with some justification for her behavior. The story escalates to a serious climax that the reader can sense is going to be really messy--and, of course, it is--and I found myself almost dreading to read it. In fact, I considered not finishing the book at one point, because I could not see how this was going to turn out well. However, the ending was plausible and much better than I expected it to be. I enjoy her writing style, which is crisp and relaxed. Her characters are real, and I'd say she's excellent at touching the reader with those "Ah, yes" moments; the ones we can each personally relate to.

I've been wanting to read this book for awhile. I finally got the chance at a discounted price and dove head first. The beginning of the book was intriguing I enjoyed learning about the main character Ellen who is the hypnotherapist. She explains how she got into the business and how she obtained her house, the description gives you a perfect picture of how everything looks without feeling like she described everything on the wall to bore. The story flips back and forth from Saskia and Ellen. Saskia is the stalker of the book and I enjoyed the thrill of trying to figure out who she is. Around a quarter of the book we finally figure it out and then I think we'll where do we go from here? I don't want to spoil the book but events happen and you feel omg this is getting good. You start to understand alit more about Ellen and her now fiancé Patrick whom Saskia is stalking. As I get closer to end, the book neutralizes and there's no more surprises it just plateaus. It gets boring your waiting for something to happen and all that happens is a little strife in Ellen's seeming perfect life. Towards the end Saskia hits "rock bottom" as quoted and we finally see her where she's goes after 3 years of stalking. You understand a little bit more of the characters feelings and Saskia starts to change. But it feels like your reading many empty chapters of just back to back conversations with no building except for certain scenes I just wanted it to be over. This was a nice read I did enjoy different parts of it but I had to put it down a couple of times from it going no where I felt like skipping chapters. The one that holds you is what is Saskia going to do? Will she break down and go nuts. That is anticlimactic in itself to be honest. The one thing I do like is it gets into depth with feelings and makes you reflect upon yourself. I also enjoyed Ellen's hypnotherapist sessions with her clients and Patrick.