Snapshots of Second Chances: ‘Pictures of You’ Captures Love, Loss and Memory

This review contains spoilers for the book “Pictures of You.”

The story begins with Evie Hudson waking up disoriented in a hospital bed. Doctors circle around her, checking for injuries from the car crash that almost killed her. 

What Evie doesn’t know is she’s awakened with transient amnesia. Despite being a 29-year-old married woman, Evie is convinced she’s still a 16-year-old girl. 

With an intriguing storyline and mesmerizing turn of events, author Emma Grey returns to the romance scene with her second adult novel, “Pictures of You.” Following Grey’s debut, “The Last Love Note,” “Pictures of You” is a book about finding hope amidst the chaos, and plunges readers into the emotional depths of grief, loss and second chances.

Grey discussed her vision for the book in an interview with The Phoenix, she said she harbors a desire to spark hope within the reader. 

“It’s important to give readers hope,” Grey said. “As a writer, you can speak plainly about big issues and also hold hope for a better future.” 

Grey’s narrative demonstrates a well executed storytelling in the interplay of loss and discovery, setting the stage for an intricate journey through a past Evie can’t recall. The nonlinear timeline, which cycles between Evie at 16 and 29-years-old, shapes the novel’s structure. With each page flip, the reader gets a peek into Evie’s complex life.

At 16, Evie was an ambitious girl with dreams of becoming a forensic linguist. At 29, Evie is married to the idea of the nuclear family with a picket white fence house. Married to Oliver, a wealthy high school friend, Evie isolates herself from her family and close friends. Oliver, a narcissist, controls all aspects of Evie’s life until her 16-year-old dreams become nothing but a fairytale. 

Through alternating perspectives between Evie and her friend, Drew Kennedy, the novel unravels like a gripping TV drama. The chapters are short, episodic snapshots which build suspense and capture the reader’s attention. The cycling narratives pull the reader into a deep, tangled history of forgotten memories and rekindled connections between Evie and those she pushed out of her life.

Grey uses distinctive visual imagery to convey the emotional weight of Evie’s journey — from her reawakening to her realization of having a husband, and the revelation her forgotten husband is dead. 

“It’s not a shock that Oliver died, it’s that he existed,” Evie says. “And the loss isn’t about him — it’s about everything else.”

Evie’s struggle isn’t just about mourning Oliver — it’s about coming to terms with the void left by an entire decade of forgotten experiences. 

Grey infuses temporal imagery to reflect the dissonance Evie feels — waking up with a teenage mindset while facing the harsh reality of adulthood. 

“Footsteps are like fingerprints,” Grey writes. “Indelible proof of a person, locked in from years of tramping the earth.”

In addition to grief, Grey’s writing delves deep into love. She draws Evie and Drew as two starstruck lovers who refuse to believe one loves the other — magically connected by an invisible string. The novel’s theme of love and renewal is captured by a scene in which 16-year-old Evie and Drew stand at Australia’s famous Jervis Bay, the luminescent ocean glowing under the night sky, reflecting the hope and love blooming between them. 

“The day I die, when my life flashes before my eyes, this scene will be the final,” Evie tells Drew. 

In a pivotal scene, Evie remembers her work with Drew on a photography exhibit called “Pictures of You.” The two capture photos of women performing daily tasks to show the beauty of life within the mundane. Grey’s clever use of the exhibition’s title highlights Evie and Drew’s connection — they might not have gotten together before, but Evie received a second chance to rekindle her love with Drew. 

Near the end of the novel, Evie and Drew revisit Jervis Bay. Grey ends the novel with an invitation for the reader to finish the love story between the two. Now as a 29-year-old with new memories made and terrible ones forgotten, the fluorescent scene captures the image of hope and second chances. 

“It’s still there, the neon magic,” Grey writes. “We just can’t see it. And that feels like hope.” 

Grey wants readers to leave “Pictures of You” knowing loss will eventually lead to light. 

“I’m always looking for the light, even through my own trauma and loss,” Grey said. “This is a message women need now more than ever.”

“Pictures of You” is available online and at your local bookstore.