Far From You by Tess Sharpe

Can we talk about how wonderful this book was. How absolutely perfect. 

No one believes Sophie when she says it wasn't a drug deal gone wrong that ended with her best friend Mina murdered in the woods. Not her parents, not Mina's brother, not the police and not the doctors at the rehab facility she was sent to. But Sophie knows the truth and she is going to find and find justice for Mina. 

A hauntingly beautiful mystery. 

Well-developed characters.

Seamless flow throughout several years.

I am so glad I found this book. 

*ARC provided by publisher through Netgalley for an honest review. 

The Cellar by Natasha Preston

Yesterday, I received a copy of The Cellar by Natasha Preston and I couldn't wait to pick it up. It wasn't a mistake.

Summer is outside at night, along, looking for her friend when a man approaches and begins calling her Lily. Thinking he is just mistaking her for someone else, summer is polite at first,
then scared,
then in the back of his van,
and finally in his secret basement with three other girls: Rose, Poppy and Violet.

She thinks of nothing but escape until her captors deadly habits surface. Now she knows why the other girls play along with their captor, Clover. He thinks they are all one big family and he will do anything to protect his girls. Summer plays along too, but she never stops thinking of escape or of her boyfriend Lewis.

Told in three voices, Summer, Clover and Lewis, The Cellar is a heart stopping thriller. Lewis' story is that of a boyfriend who won't stop searching. Clover's is much worse. The reader is given a glimpse into the mind of a serial killer, a kidnapper and a person who has lost all grasp of reality as he spirals into the most dangerous version of himself yet.

Completely riveting, this is every girls' nightmare come to life. Perfect for fans of Criminal Minds.




*ARC received from publisher in exchange for an honest review.

2014 Hub Reading Challenge

I tried this challenge last year and failed abysmally. This year I plan to do better. I'll try and post a few updates, but lets face it, I'm not really good at that so you can also see my progress at this Goodreads Shelf.

Happy Reading!

Author Talk-Lucy Christopher

Last night I went to the new UCONN Co-op Book Store at Storrs Center and saw Lucy Christopher speak. Her focus was The Killing Woods, her newest novel. I reviewed it earlier this month here.

              

I did something awful in that review and compared it Stolen, her first Printz Honor winning novel because it was closer to that than her middle grade novel Flyaway. Stolen may still be my favorite of her novels, but I learned something that made me want to re-read all of them and gave me a new appreciation for her craft.

Rather than start with a character or a plot, Lucy Christopher begins all her novels and stories with a place. In Stolen that was the Australian Desert, for Flyaway a nature sanctuary and for The Killing Woods it was the woods. This made so much sense to me in retrospect. It really seemed that the Darkwood was a character of its own.

Additionally, she was a great speaker--friendly, engaging and passionate. During the signing, she had accouterments to add to each book, themed from the setting of each story. I also appreciated her anecdotes from asking teens what sort of stories they want to read. She said rather than action or paranormal romance the primary response was dark, honest and emotional. From my work with teens I agree and all of Christopher's works fit into this category. It must be why they are all so good.