review: still missing by chevy stevens

With her incredible debut, Chevy Stevens has created a haunting tale that sticks with you. Still Missing unfolds in an interesting way: Annie, a kidnap victim, visits a psychiatrist at the beginning of each chapter, but this psychiatrist never speaks. After the present-time introduction (which thankfully keeps reassuring you that Annie somehow escapes), the story jumps to the time when Annie was still held hostage by “The Freak,” a man who rapes her, impregnates her, and controls every aspect of her life (including when she can use the bathroom) during that horrific year. Despite the time jumps, the story is still told in a linear, cohesive manner.

Still Missing was one I could not put down. When I reached the part where Gary (the one working the case) asks Annie who would benefit from her kidnapping, I immediately knew who was behind it but Stevens brilliantly didn’t reveal the truth at that time. The plot advanced and kept me on edge as I hoped my suspicions would be wrong. The terrible truth behind the kidnapper's original motive is frightening; it is the worst thing imaginable. Still Missing is by far one of the best books I’ve ever read.
5/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, St. Martin’s Press.

giveaway: she's gone country

In my review of Jane Porter's She's Gone Country, I said I found Shey selfish. For the chance to find out if you agree, enter the giveaway courtesy of Hachette! Three will win.

Here's what Publishers Weekly had to say:
"Porter (Easy on the Eyes) injects some western flavor in this story of starting over and romance in the over-30 set. After ex-supermodel Shey Darcy's husband leaves her for another man, she packs up her three teenage sons and moves from New York City to the Texas ranch where she grew up, and while Shey easily finds work as a catalogue model and reconnects with her two older brothers, the divorce weighs on her mind and two of her boys can't make the transition, particularly 14-year-old Bo, who suffers from depression. Naturally, Shey's return to her old stomping grounds prompts the inevitable reunion with an old flame, former pro bull rider Dane Kelly. Porter's depiction of small town Texas is convincing, but her protagonists are too flawless to be believable, and their happy ending comes after too little conflict. It's a nice diversion that could use a bit more complexity."

The rules: Enter by leaving a comment to this post with your email (if I can't contact you, you can't win). You can gain additional entries by leaving separate comments letting me know that you're a follower (one extra each for the blog and Twitter) or have posted a link to the giveaway on your site. The deadline to enter is 11:59pm Pacific on September 11. Winners will be selected at random. Since this is from Hachette the winners must have mailing addresses in the US or Canada; no PO Boxes.

review: she's gone country by jane porter

When her husband proclaims he’s always been gay, but thought he could make it work with her (only now he can’t), Shey hightails it back home to Texas with their three sons. But is Texas really the best place for this New York family? Shey is a model and there aren’t many modeling jobs available in Texas. Her three city-raised, private-schooled boys also have to adjust to life on a ranch. The youngest embraces the new life, but the older boys struggle. One is the victim of bullying, which only makes his depression worse. Even so, Shey is determined to stay in Texas; and once she finds that her high school crush is in town and single, she’s even more motivated to make this new life work.

Shey struck me as incredibly selfish. To pull her sons from everything they know (including their father) because she’s having difficulty accepting that her going to be ex-husband now lives with a man reeks of selfishness. When her oldest gets the courage to say he wants to live in New York, Shey backs out of the discussion while her internal monologue is all about how she will miss him and how she can’t lose him. She also seems to give little thought to how the distance between the boys and their father exacerbates their already strained relationship. Furthermore, although Shey states she has no problem with gay men, it came across as protesting too much. It seemed that, despite her words, she really was more upset that the cheating was with a man than the cheating itself. It would’ve done much for Shey’s character had she done more than simply state that John wasn’t trying to hurt the boys when attempting to get them to accept their father’s relationship with Erik.

While I had little sympathy for Shey, I appreciated how she helped Delilah, a classmate of her son, Bo (the one with depression). I really liked Delilah and wish she’d been a bigger part of the story. At least her brief appearances inspired Shey to stop being so selfish! Not connecting with Shey didn’t really detract from my enjoyment of She’s Gone Country though because so many of the other characters were great. I really liked how individual each of the boys was. However, I found the ending to wrap things up far too neatly. While it’s nice to get a happy ending, I felt the book ended better without the one and a half page epilogue.
4/5
Review copy provided by BookSparksPR.
ARC Review

review: john belushi is dead by kathy charles

If all the celebrity gossip shows and magazines are any indication, many people are Hollywood-obsessed. High school student Hilda and her friend Benji are as well, but with a bit of a twist—they only care about the dead celebs. No one understands their obsession, so they hang out even though Hilda thinks Benji’s morbidity has started to go too far. She begins to pull away when she doesn’t like how Benji treats Hank, an old man who lives in the apartment where a silent film star committed suicide. Instead of seeking out old Hollywood haunts with Benji, Hilda tries to coax Hank into the world. She discovers somewhat of an ally in Hank’s neighbor, Jake, who just happens to be attractive and age-appropriate. But all three of these relationships put Hilda in a difficult place. With Benji, she has no idea how to help a boy whose death obsession is heading toward cruelty. That situation ramps up when Benji obtains a gun. Then there’s Hank, who Hilda may have pushed too far when she got him to attend a movie screening at a cemetery. He’s harboring a secret from World War II—a secret that Jake, a screenwriter, wants to know. Hilda fears Jake is only using them for his next screenplay, but he’s also her chance at romance.

Hilda is one amazing girl. Although she has a hard time connecting with anyone (she survived the car crash that killed her parents and should’ve definitely gone into therapy), she shows a huge amount of empathy for someone she met only briefly. When Hank reached out, she was there. Hilda was always my reason for reading; had John Belushi is Dead been about someone like Benji, the macabre nature of the book would’ve been nearly impossible to take. And yet, I felt Benji should’ve been developed more. The extreme he goes to at the end might have made more sense if there’d been more background. The quick succession of trauma at the end, though not unexpected, and yes, very emotional, simply jarred a bit too much.
4/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, MTV Books.

giveaway: follow me

Thanks to Hachette one lucky person will win a copy of Follow Me by Joanna Scott!!

Check out the Reading Group Guide. Publishers Weekly had the following to say:
"A granddaughter sifts through her grandmother's rich and mysterious life in Pulitzer finalist Scott's latest. As a teenager in 1946, Sally Werner experiences something between rape and seduction at the hands of her cousin, resulting in a baby, family shame and her running away. Each time Sally feels her past catching up with her, she finds a new town and assumes a new identity, eventually graduating from taking the charity—and more—of others to supporting herself. A doomed love affair, a cat and mouse chase with the brutal father of a second child, and a longing for safety and freedom keep Sally moving until she settles down and her daughter, Penelope, inherits her restless energy. As the novel, and Sally's life, draws to a close, we get a final look at this remarkable woman through the eyes of her granddaughter, also named Sally, and through the younger Sally's once absent father, Abe. A retelling of the archetypal American journey from a female perspective, this rendering of the perils and triumphs facing women is imbued with a questing spirit."

The rules: Enter by leaving a comment to this post with your email (if I can't contact you, you can't win). You can gain additional entries by leaving separate comments letting me know that you're a follower (one extra each for the blog and Twitter) or have posted a link to the giveaway on your site. The deadline to enter is 11:59pm Pacific on September 4. Winners will be selected at random. Since this is from Hachette the winners must have mailing addresses in the US or Canada; no PO Boxes.

giveaway winners: deadly fear

Congratulations to clschaan, Cheryl F., Wise Owl, Benita, and holdenj, who are the winners of Deadly Fear!

review: vintage veronica by erica s. perl

Veronica is a fat teenager (hey, she was blunt about it, so I can be too!) with a unique fashion sense inspired by vintage clothes. As Veronica puts it, she’s “the one who wears those ridiculous pouffy skirts from the fifties that look like she hacked off the top of an old prom dress (because actually, I did).” Veronica is also a bit insecure, which probably stems from her relationship with her parents, who are divorced. Veronica always felt closer to her dad, but he moved away after the divorce. Her mom is a fitness fanatic who encourages Veronica to lose weight, which makes Veronica all the more insecure about her appearance. So it’s not that surprising when Veronica trusts the wrong people at her summer job at a consignment shop. And yet, I completely understood why Veronica would easily trust at times while being cautious at others. Her character (and the others in Vintage Veronica) came across as very authentic. I quite enjoyed reading how she tested out her newly forming relationships and discovered that everyone has insecurities and secrets.
4/5
Review copy provided by BookDivas.