“False Hope” by Lynne Lee         

Published by Amazon Publishing UK

Finished 2/26/21 - 4/5 stars

 

To me, this is a suspenseful story of motherly love…….

A dying mother’s wish for her son to grow up in a loving, safe home.

A mother’s love to protect both her birth son and her adopted son who was formerly her nephew.

A mother’s unconditional love for her troubled son and her need to continue to be a grandmother to his child.

And a mother’s love for her daughters and grandsons, wanting to ensure that her daughter that has died is not forgotten.

The question is, how far would you go to love and protect the ones you love?  Whose recollection of the past do you believe to ensure you are making the right choices for their future?

Although I would occasionally become annoyed with the authors use of very long sentences throughout the book, I enjoyed the storyline and characters and felt the past and present were well entwined to make it flow well.  It was a page turner as well so that was a nice bonus.  I would definitely recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for an electronic copy of this book in return for an honest review.

The Children's Blizzard

 

“The Children’s Blizzard” by Melanie Benjamin

Finished 2/19/21 – 5/5 stars

Published by Random House

 

Bravo!  Bravo!  What a fabulous historical fiction.  I’m not a huge fan of reading books that take place in the 1800s but because the subject matter was children and the author is well known for other titles, I thought I might enjoy it.  And I truly did.  As a bonus, I learned about an event in American history that I was not aware of. 

A horrific blizzard in the prairies with zero visibility, in a time when there weren’t timely weather forecasts so people were unprepared and taken by surprise.  To make the situation worse, the storm arrives just as children have been released or are about to be released from school.  This is the fictional telling of this storm based on the lives of those children and their teachers trying to walk home, praying they are going in the right direction.  And after it passes, the aftermath it leaves behind of bodies frozen in the snow, amputations from frost bite, and lives ruined.  All of this makes for a true page turner. 

I highly recommend this book.  Not only do I think it’s a great book for pleasure reading (especially while snowed/iced in myself) but I think it would be a good book for high schoolers to read for an assignment.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Whisper Man

 

“The Whisper Man” by Alex North

Published by Celadon

Finished 2/11/21 – 5/5 stars

 

It’s been a while since I’ve read a book as suspenseful as this one was at times.  And a very well written one at that.  One of the things I truly liked about it was that there wasn’t that gimmicky tell all scene at the end where the killer confesses.  Obviously, there were revealing moments to tie things together but it wasn’t forced.

Without giving too much away, when a young man lost his wife, he and his son moved away to start a new life.  What they didn’t know at the time was that they were moving into “the scary house” in town.  From there you learn about the dark past of the town in which 20 years ago people were murdered or went missing.  They caught the serial killer at the time but now another young boy has gone missing.  And from there, you’ll have to read it to find out what happens next.

Great book and highly recommended.