Reflections -  Almost Missed You

Almost Missed You

Because I’d read Jessica Strawser’s editor’s letters in Writer’s Digest for years, I recognized

her photograph in the 2019 Pennwriter’s Conference advertisements. Her speech to the whole

group and her workshop convinced me to buy her first novel, Almost Missed You.

Good decision.

Wow!

Jessica creates believable characters and puts them through an increasingly tense character

driven plot.

Internal dialogue brings the three, point of view characters to life—flaws and all. Violet, 

Caitlin, and Finn each withhold information which damages relationships when discovered.

Jessica's ability to increase the tension and raise the stakes by continually putting her characters 

between a worse rock and hard place had me clutching the sides of the book. I doubted I could

finish after the second ratchet-up, but stakes were too high. I felt compelled to read on. 

Professors should use Jessica’s novel to teach tension building.

I made it to the end for Jessica’s logical, not dreadful, resolution.