Review/ The Dan Diaries

Book Details:

Book Title: The Dan Diaries by D.D. Marx (The Beyond Series Book #4)
Category: Adult Fiction; 200 pages
Genre: Chick-Lit
Publisher: Beyond Dreams Publishing
Release date: April 6, 2018
Tour dates: May 14 to June 8, 2018
Content Rating: PG-13 (minimal swearing)

Book Description:

Dan Sullivan was the best friend of Olivia Henry when his life was taken in a tragic car accident. Shocked to be on the other side, Dan navigates his way by learning his new role in eternal life. His first assignment is as Olivia’s guardian angel. He has the crucial role of guiding her to her pre-defined destiny. Dan’s death throws Olivia into a tail-spin which causes her to veer way off course. He understands the enormity of the challenge when he hears the mechanism by which he can communicate. He’s only allowed to use signs and symbols to get her attention and cannot interfere with her free-will.

Every time he thinks he’s close, something throws her off track. He’s forced to start over by convincing her to trust in their enduring, unbreakable bond. Olivia can feel Dan’s presence but is still reluctant to believe the messages he’s sending. She is fearful of falling in love again at the risk of losing another soulmate. Can Dan persuade her to trust in his love from afar so she can finally receive the happiness she truly deserves?

This is the fourth book in The Beyond Series and the previous ones are: Beyond Believing, Beyond Love and Beyond Forever. If you click on the book titles it will take you directly to my review of the books. I don’t know if this is the last book in the series or not as I tried to look it up and so far nothing comes up.

Like the previous books this was a super quick read and I managed to read it in one sitting.  Although as I am reading this I didn’t want it to end. I would definitely read more from this author in the future. I loved reading her books.

I have to say that this was the perfect book to read at the end of the series because this is Dan’s story and he filled in so many gabs that were missing from the book. The book is all about Dan but you do see Olivia and the previous characters in the book.

The book begins with Dan’s tragic car accident. You get to see things in his perspective and how he manages to cope with what has happened. He is hurting just as much as the ones he’s left behind. The one thing Dan doesn’t want is for his life to make this huge impact on the ones he left behind. So he has been tasked by God himself to help Olivia get throw this and show her that there is life after death and that even though your loved one is gone physically they are there in spirit.

There is rules that Dan has to follow to get Olivia to believe this and the ways he does this makes you realize that things like this can really happen in the every day world. I know this because after my aunt passed away quite suddenly 18 years ago I was really upset and questioned things like most people do when someone dies suddenly. I was very much like Olivia asking for a sign that things are okay and sure enough she gave me that sign I was looking for. Whenever I am in doubt I ask my aunt and she reassures me with a scent of her favorite perfume. So I am a bug believer that even though they aren’t here physically they are with us spiritually.

I have to say that this was the perfect book to read at the end of the series because this is Dan’s story and he filled in so many gabs that were missing from the book. The book is all about Dan but you do see Olivia and the previous characters in the book.

If you are looking for a light fun read then I highly recommend this series. But you need to read all the books in order to fully follow along with the story.

Thank you Laura from iReads Book Tour for allowing me to be a part of this book tour and for sending me a copy of the book to read for my review.

Book Spotlight/ June Buzz Books Monthly

I absolutely love that Publishers Lunch has decided to do a monthly version of the Buzz Books along with their seasonal Buzz Books.

Inside the monthly version they include samplers of the upcoming books in fiction, debut, and non fiction. They also include  a weekly list of books that are coming out in the month.

I love that there is excerpts of books because it gives you the chance to read a snippet of the book and decide if its something you want to read or perhaps its a book you heard about but not sure about. I have found so many hidden gems in reading these books that I might not have picked up otherwise or if they would have been on my radar.

Here are a few books that peaked my interest:

The Hawkman: A Fairy Tale of the Great War

At first the cover drew me in and then reading the sampler hooked me in even more. This is scheduled to be released June 5th.

A great war, a great love, and the mythology that unites them; The Hawkman: A Fairy Tale of the Great War is a lyrical adaptation of a beloved classic.

Set against the shattering events of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, at the tale’s heart are an American schoolteacher―dynamic and imaginative―and an Irish musician, homeless and hated―who have survived bloodshed, poverty, and sickness to be thrown together in an English village. Together they quietly hide from the world in a small cottage.

Too soon, reality shatters their serenity, and they must face the parochial community. Unbeknownst to all, a legend is in the making―one that will speak of courage and resilience amidst the forces that brought the couple together even as outside forces threaten to tear them apart.

Little Big Love by Katy Regan

  The President is missing: A Novel
I am a huge James Patterson fan and when I heard he was working with Bill Clinton on this book I was instantly intrigued. This will be released June 4th.
The publishing event of 2018: Bill Clinton and James Patterson’s The President Is Missing is a superlative thriller . . . one that can really happen, and one that must not be missed.

The President Is Missing confronts a threat so huge that it jeopardizes not just Pennsylvania Avenue and Wall Street, but all of America. Uncertainty and fear grip the nation. There are whispers of cyberterror and espionage and a traitor in the Cabinet. Even the President himself becomes a suspect, and then he disappears from public view . . .
Set over the course of three days, The President Is Missing sheds a stunning light upon the inner workings and vulnerabilities of our nation. Filled with information that only a former Commander-in-Chief could know, this is the most authentic, terrifying novel to come along in many years. And a timely, historic story that will be read–and talked about–for years to come.
Image result for When Katie Met Cassidy
This is a romantic comedy and its coming out on June 19th. I have yet to read her debut The Assistants. It sounds really good.
When it comes to Cassidy, Katie can’t think straight.

Katie Daniels, a twenty-eight-year-old Kentucky transplant with a strong set of traditional values, has just been dumped by her fiancé when she finds herself seated across a negotiating table from native New Yorker Cassidy Price, a sexy, self-assured woman wearing a man’s suit. At first neither of them knows what to make of the other, but soon their undeniable connection will bring into question everything each of them thought they knew about sex and love.

When Katie Met Cassidy is a romantic comedy about gender and sexuality, and the importance of figuring out who we are in order to go after what we truly want. It’s also a portrait of a high-drama subculture where barrooms may as well be bedrooms, and loyal friends fill in the spaces absent families leave behind. Katie’s glimpse into this wild yet fiercely tightknit community begins to alter not only how she sees the larger world, but also where exactly she fits in.

The Book Of Essie: A Novel
A debut novel of family, fame, and religion that tells the emotionally stirring, wildly captivating story of the seventeen-year-old daughter of an evangelical preacher, star of the family’s hit reality show, and the secret pregnancy that threatens to blow their entire world apart.

Esther Ann Hicks–Essie–is the youngest child on Six for Hicks, a reality television phenomenon. She’s grown up in the spotlight, both idolized and despised for her family’s fire-and-brimstone brand of faith. When Essie’s mother, Celia, discovers that Essie is pregnant, she arranges an emergency meeting with the show’s producers: Do they sneak Essie out of the country for an abortion? Do they pass the child off as Celia’s? Or do they try to arrange a marriage–and a ratings-blockbuster wedding? Meanwhile, Essie is quietly pairing herself up with Roarke Richards, a senior at her school with a secret of his own to protect. As the newly formed couple attempt to sell their fabricated love story to the media–through exclusive interviews with an infamously conservative reporter named Liberty Bell–Essie finds she has questions of her own: What was the real reason for her older sister leaving home? Who can she trust with the truth about her family? And how much is she willing to sacrifice to win her own freedom?

Not quite sure what is drawing me into this but I want to read The Book of Essie when it comes out June 12th.
Social Creature: A Novel
For readers of Gillian Flynn and Donna Tartt, a dark, propulsive and addictive debut thriller, splashed with all the glitz and glitter of New York City.

They go through both bottles of champagne right there on the High Line, with nothing but the stars over them… They drink and Lavinia tells Louise about all the places they will go together, when they finish their stories, when they are both great writers-to Paris and to Rome and to Trieste…

Lavinia will never go. She is going to die soon.

Louise has nothing. Lavinia has everything. After a chance encounter, the two spiral into an intimate, intense, and possibly toxic friendship. A Talented Mr. Ripley for the digital age, this seductive story takes a classic tale of obsession and makes it irresistibly new.

Anything about NYC I am in. This is coming out June 5th.
The Book Of M: A Novel
I have been hearing so much about this book that I need to read this when it comes out June 5th.

WHAT WOULD YOU GIVE UP TO REMEMBER?

Set in a dangerous near future world, The Book of M tells the captivating story of a group of ordinary people caught in an extraordinary catastrophe who risk everything to save the ones they love. It is a sweeping debut that illuminates the power that memories have not only on the heart, but on the world itself.

One afternoon at an outdoor market in India, a man’s shadow disappears—an occurrence science cannot explain. He is only the first. The phenomenon spreads like a plague, and while those afflicted gain a strange new power, it comes at a horrible price: the loss of all their memories.

Ory and his wife Max have escaped the Forgetting so far by hiding in an abandoned hotel deep in the woods. Their new life feels almost normal, until one day Max’s shadow disappears too.

Knowing that the more she forgets, the more dangerous she will become to Ory, Max runs away. But Ory refuses to give up the time they have left together. Desperate to find Max before her memory disappears completely, he follows her trail across a perilous, unrecognizable world, braving the threat of roaming bandits, the call to a new war being waged on the ruins of the capital, and the rise of a sinister cult that worships the shadowless.

As they journey, each searches for answers: for Ory, about love, about survival, about hope; and for Max, about a new force growing in the south that may hold the cure.

Like The Passage and Station Eleven, this haunting, thought-provoking, and beautiful novel explores fundamental questions of memory, connection, and what it means to be human in a world turned upside down.

Bring Me Back: A Novel

She went missing. He moved on. A whole world of secrets remained-until now.

Finn and Layla are young, in love, and on vacation. They’re driving along the highway when Finn decides to stop at a service station to use the restroom. He hops out of the car, locks the doors behind him, and goes inside. When he returns Layla is gone-never to be seen again. That is the story Finn told to the police. But it is not the whole story.

Ten years later Finn is engaged to Layla’s sister, Ellen. Their shared grief over what happened to Layla drew them close and now they intend to remain together. Still, there’s something about Ellen that Finn has never fully understood. His heart wants to believe that she is the one for him…even though a sixth sense tells him not to trust her.

Then, not long before he and Ellen are to be married, Finn gets a phone call. Someone from his past has seen Layla-hiding in plain sight. There are other odd occurrences: Long-lost items from Layla’s past that keep turning up around Finn and Ellen’s house. Emails from strangers who seem to know too much. Secret messages, clues, warnings. If Layla is alive-and on Finn’s trail-what does she want? And how much does she know?

A tour de force of psychological suspense, Bring Me Back will have you questioning everything and everyone until its stunning climax.

The Perfect Couple

It’s wedding season on Nantucket. The beautiful island is overrun with summer people–an annual source of aggravation for year-round residents. And that’s not the only tension brewing offshore. When one lavish wedding ends in disaster before it can even begin–with the bride-to-be discovered dead in Nantucket Harbor just hours before the ceremony–everyone in the wedding party is suddenly a suspect. As Chief of Police Ed Kapenash digs into the best man, the maid of honor, the groom’s famous mystery novelist mother, and even a member of his own family, the chief discovers that every wedding is a minefield–and no couple is perfect. Featuring beloved characters from THE CASTAWAYS and A SUMMER AFFAIR, THE PERFECT COUPLE proves once again that Elin Hilderbrand is the queen of the summer beach read.

All We Ever Wanted

Nina Browning married a third-generation Nashvillian, enjoys a newly lavish lifestyle thanks to the sudden success of her husband’s tech business and has a son, Finch, who just got accepted to Princeton.

Thomas Talone is a single dad, works multiple jobs and has a daughter, Lila, who was recently accepted to Nashville’s most prestigious private high school on a scholarship.

They couldn’t be prouder.

Then scandal strikes, and the worlds of these very different families collide. Lila passes out at a party, drunk and half-naked. Finch snaps a picture, types out a caption and click–sends it out to a few friends. The photo spreads quickly, and soon heated reactions bubble throughout the already-divided community. Before long, the families find themselves in the midst of an ethical war as their community takes sides, throws blame and implodes. The gray area between right and wrong grows thick, and Nina and Tom are forced to question every assumption they’ve held about love and family loyalty. Emily Giffin tells a riveting story of characters who face impossible choices–but emerge to live a life truer to themselves than they ever had before.

The Ever After: A Novel

Josie and Frank Moore are happy…at least Josie thinks they are. As parents of two young girls in the Chicago suburbs, their days can be both busy and monotonous, and sometimes Josie wonders how she became a harried fortysomething mother rather than the driven career woman she once was. But Frank is a phenomenal father, he’s handsome and charismatic, and he still looks at his wife like she’s the beautiful woman he married more than a decade ago. Josie isn’t just happy—she’s lucky.

Until one Saturday morning when Josie borrows her husband’s phone to make a quick call—and sees nine words that shatter her world.

Now Josie feels as if she is standing at the edge of a sharp precipice. As she looks back at pivotal moments in the relationship she believed would last forever, she is also plunging ahead, surprising everyone (especially herself) with how far she will go to uncover the extent of her husband’s devastating secret.

With her “conversational writing style and a knack for making readers care about her characters” (The Washington Post) bestselling author Sarah Pekkanen paints a vivid, kaleidoscopic portrait of a marriage before and during a crisis—and of a woman who fears that the biggest secret of all may be the one she’s hiding from herself.

You Were Made For This

Doting wife, devoted husband, cherished child. Merry, Sam, and Conor are the perfect family in the perfect place. Merry adores the domestic life: baking, gardening, caring for her infant son. Sam, formerly an academic, is pursuing a new career as a filmmaker. Sometimes they can hardly believe how lucky they are. What perfect new lives they’ve built.

When Merry’s childhood friend Frank visits their Swedish paradise, she immediately becomes part of the family. She bonds with Conor. And with Sam. She befriends the neighbors, and even finds herself embracing the domesticity she’s always seemed to scorn.

All their lives, Frank and Merry have been more like sisters than best friends. And that’s why Frank soon sees the things others might miss. Treacherous things, which are almost impossible to believe when looking at this perfect family. But Frank, of all people, knows that the truth is rarely what you want the world to see.

**These were just  a few of the books mentioned that I am dying to read. Do any of these peek your interest? If so which ones?**

Review/ By Her Touch by Adriana Anders

Review/ By Her Touch by Adriana AndersBy Her Touch (Blank Canvas, #2) by Adriana Anders
Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca on April 4th 2017
Pages: 412
Goodreads

He Will Always Bear the Scars
Undercover cop Clay Navarro left the Sultans biker gang a changed man. Its ringleaders may be awaiting trial, but he wears the memory of every brutal act he was forced to commit tattooed across his skin. He doesn't have space in his messed-up life for anything gentle--not now, maybe not ever. Dr. Georgette Hadley is drawn to the damaged stranger's pain, intimidated but intrigued by the warmth that lies beneath Clay's frightening exterior. But when the Sultans return looking for revenge, she finds herself drawn into the dirty underbelly of a life forged in violence...that not even her touch may be able to heal.
Blank Canvas Series: Under Her Skin (Book 1)By Her Touch (Book 2)In His Hands (Book 3)

This is the second book in the Blank Canvas series by Adriana Anders. You might recall that I read and reviewed Under Her Skin last week and I really enjoyed it and I have to say going into this I was a little nervous because you never know what the next book will be like well this did not disappoint. I loved it just as much as the first one.

I will be starting In His Hands the third book probably some time next week. I want to space out the books because I am not ready for this story to end.

With that being said, the books aren’t really a continuation where you need to read the previous book to follow along. I noticed that each story line or book is geared toward the main character and his or her storyline. Previous characters do make an appearance but not enough to where you would be how does this fit in etc

Our main character is Clay who is an undercover cop and he was in deep with a biker gang trying to get information out of the group so that he could bring the organization down. He is getting what he needs until someone snitches on him and the group take action to get him out of the picture and that means tattooing him and shooting him.

Thankfully he manages to escape with his life in tack but whats to get the reminders of what they did off of him before he goes back to testify. He is on the run and is constantly looking for his shoulder because he knows they will come looking for him. He realizes he can trust no one even those that he thought he once could.

He manages to escape to Blackwood, Virginia. He thinks he is far enough away that no one would think to look for him there. He knows that there is a dr who can help remove his tattoos and he is willing to pay any price to make it happen.

Normally George has a firm stance that you don’t mix business with pleasure but when she sees Clay come in asking for her help she can’t turn him away and makes after office appointments to help him remove this tattoos. The more she works on him the more she is intrigued by him.

Clay does a good job of holding her back as much as he can but slowly being around her he realizes he can’t and he will do anything to protect her from danger. But will he be able to protect her when the biker gang finally shows up? Does she realize how much her life could be in danger?

I was pretty much flying through this book because I had to know more and what was happening. This book was definitely a page turner for me. I can’t wait to dig into the third book very soon.

Review/ Night by Elie Wiesel

Review/ Night by Elie WieselNight (The Night Trilogy #1) by Elie Wiesel, Marion Wiesel
Published by Hill and Wang on January 16th 2006
Pages: 120
Goodreads

Born into a Jewish ghetto in Hungary, as a child, Elie Wiesel was sent to the Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald. This is his account of that atrocity: the ever-increasing horrors he endured, the loss of his family and his struggle to survive in a world that stripped him of humanity, dignity and faith. Describing in simple terms the tragic murder of a people from a survivor's perspective, Night is among the most personal, intimate and poignant of all accounts of the Holocaust. A compelling consideration of the darkest side of human nature and the enduring power of hope, it remains one of the most important works of the twentieth century.

New translation by Marion Wiesel, with a new introduction by Elie Wiesel.

I am a little embarrassed to say that this has been sitting in my TBR pile since 2006. I picked it up when Oprah announced her Oprah Selection and this was book 55. Not sure why I didn’t read it then but I think at the time I was just collecting books and not reading them. But 12 years later I am happy to say that I did haul this off my TBR pile and I read it.

After reading it I have to admit that I didn’t realize it was a trilogy. Here are the other books in the series:

Dawn: A NovelDay: A Novel

I did manage to pick up these two with a gift card and plan on reading them this month so be sure to come back and check out my reviews for them.

I had no idea what I was going to read when I started this book because I avoided reading the back cover and I have to say that I am happy I didn’t read it because I don’t know if I would have read it otherwise or at least not at this point.

If your a reader of my blog you know that I don’t read a lot of non fiction so this is a first for me but hopefully not the last.

Night is a true story of what Elie endured during the Holocaust and his life at a concentration camp.  This was definitely not a light read and at times I had to put the book down because I couldn’t imagine what it must have been like to live through that not knowing what was going to happen to you. It makes you wonder how a group of people literally could hate another group of people and think it was perfectly fine to kill them and treat them like they were nothing. It breaks my heart. Nothing those people did can justify why they needed to kill innocent people.

I struggled with a lot in this book and I think its was just wondering how people could do this to another living person. I think I went through a wide range of emotions at all the groups invovled. How could no one stand up for these people?

Elie realized at the age of 15 that he had to lie about his age in order to survive and you can see him struggle and survive all the way through the book. He witnessed so much that no one should have to witness or endure. You could see the determination in Elie and his determination not to give up. I am happy that Elie shared his story with the world as it needed to be told.

Elie was one of the few survivors of the Holocaust. His tale is gripping and heart breaking and one everyone should read. I have put this back on my book case to eventually reread one day or even if my son wants to read it its there for him to do so. This is one book that will stay with you.

 

Review/ Under Her Skin by Adriana Anders

Review/ Under Her Skin by Adriana AndersUnder Her Skin (Blank Canvas, #1) by Adriana Anders
Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca on February 7th 2017
Pages: 344
Goodreads

Her Body is His Canvas

A darkly possessive relationship has left Uma alone and on the run. Beneath her drab clothing, she hides a terrible secret—proof of her abuse, tattooed onto her skin in a lurid reminder of everything she’s survived.
Caught between a brutal past and an uncertain future, Uma’s reluctant to bare herself to anyone…much less a rough ex-con whose rage drives him in ways she will never understand. But beneath his frightening exterior, Ivan is gentle. Warm. Compassionate. And just as determined to heal Uma’s broken heart as he is to destroy the monster who left his mark scrawled across the delicate tapestry of her skin.

Its not very often that I read a lot of romance books but when I do I seem to enjoy the ones I pick up and this was no exception. I first heard about Under Her Skin from a Sourcebooks Casablanca email last year and I instantly had to pick up the book because it sounded really good and I don’t know why at the time I didn’t read it once I had it but going into 2018 I said that this was going to be the year I read more of my own books so I am happy to say that I finally did take this off the TBR pile to read.

This was a super quick read and I practically read it in one sitting. I had a hard time to put the book down. This is the first book in what I think might be a trilogy although I could be mistaken. The other books in the series are:

By Her TouchIn His Hands

Be sure to check back this month because I plan on reading the other two books this month.

This is Adriana’s debut novel. If this is any indication then the following books are going to be amazing and I can’t wait to continue this series.

Under Her Skin takes place in Blackwood, Virginia and its this tiny little town where everyone knows everyone and their business. Thankfully for Uma she plans to be in and out before her ex boyfriend finds her. She arrives a beaten down woman who trusts no one. On the outside she looks like a normal every day person but in the darkness of her room you see that she has been branded. Her body holds the scars and the torture she endured from her ex-boyfriend.

Uma is there because she heard about a doctor who runs a free clinic who can remove skin imperfections and she is hoping that the doctor will be able to help her so that at least on the outside she can be normal again or be able to look at herself without seeing that awful reminders of what she endured.

Knowing that staying in the town will cost her money she decides she needs a low key job and manages to find one being a housekeeper for an elderly lady, Mrs Lloyd. Mrs. Lloyd was fiesty and told it like it was with a deep dark past as well. She was the perfect match for Uma and Uma held her ground against her. It was nice to see that Uma could finally get through to Mrs Lloyd vise versa. As the story progressed you could understand where she was coming from. I think Mrs Lloyd was just what Uma needed because her own mother did nothing to help or protect her daughter.

Now enter the love interest because heck no romance book would be complete without one. In this case its a big burly guy named Ivan. He happens to live next door to Mrs. Lloyd’s. She tried hard to put up a barrier between them because the last thing she wanted was to be involved with anyone but gradually over time she realized there was something there and spending time with Ivan felt good. I loved how gentle Ivan was and how he let her set the pace. He was a complete gentleman. One I think anyone could fall for.

I am so excited to continue this series and to see what happens. Does it continue the Uma, Ivan storyline are will we get to see more of the side characters get more of a storyline such as George the dr, the sheriff, or even Jess.

I am still thinking about this book as I sit here and do this review and that says a lot about the book for me.

 

 

Review/ Faithful by Alice Hoffman

Review/ Faithful by Alice HoffmanFaithful by Alice Hoffman
Published by Simon Schuster on August 1st 2017
Pages: 288
Goodreads

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Marriage of Opposites and The Dovekeepers comes a soul-searching story about a young woman struggling to redefine herself and the power of love, family, and fate.
Growing up on Long Island, Shelby Richmond is an ordinary girl until one night an extraordinary tragedy changes her fate. Her best friend’s future is destroyed in an accident, while Shelby walks away with the burden of guilt.
What happens when a life is turned inside out? When love is something so distant it may as well be a star in the sky? Faithful is the story of a survivor, filled with emotion—from dark suffering to true happiness—a moving portrait of a young woman finding her way in the modern world. A fan of Chinese food, dogs, bookstores, and men she should stay away from, Shelby has to fight her way back to her own future. In New York City she finds a circle of lost and found souls—including an angel who’s been watching over her ever since that fateful icy night.
Here is a character you will fall in love with, so believable and real and endearing, that she captures both the ache of loneliness and the joy of finding yourself at last. For anyone who’s ever been a hurt teenager, for every mother of a daughter who has lost her way, Faithful is a roadmap.
Alice Hoffman’s “trademark alchemy” (USA TODAY) and her ability to write about the “delicate balance between the everyday world and the extraordinary” (WBUR) make this an unforgettable story. With beautifully crafted prose, Alice Hoffman spins hope from heartbreak in this profoundly moving novel.

Choosing the first book of the year is always a hard choice for a book lover especially if a book lover has a lot of books on her shelf but I have to say that I am happy with what I chose this year. I decided to go with something new to me and Alice Hoffman is certainly a new to me author even though she has written quite a few books. Plus I have to say the cover is really pretty.

Faithful was a pretty quick read and I managed to pretty much devour it within a few sittings. Its a short quick read. I do admit that when I picked it up I didn’t read the back of the book  and perhaps this wasn’t the best book to kit of the new year because it wasn’t one of those happily ever after kind of books but none the less. I am happy I read it. Its definitely a tear jerker and will tug at your heart strings. Be fore warned to have some tissue on hand.

The book is told in our main character Shelby’s point of view. Shelby is racked with guilt and is hiding in her parents basement, hiding away from the world and feels that if she probably turn back time she would. She would never have drive the car with Helene that night and she would have stayed in.  Shelby and her friend, Helene are in a tragic car accident. Shelby walked away unhurt but scarred and Helene is in a coma. Every day is a struggle for Shelby. She is just barely surviving.

Then out of the blue these mysterious post cards start showing up and at first Shelby things its Helene because anyone who has gone to visit Helene claim she works miracles so I could see where Shelby would think she was behind the messages or had something to do with them.

With the help of Ben, who just happens to be the one supplying her with drugs they form this weird kind of relationship but at the time it works for Shelby. He manages to get out of her rut to see that she is truly deserving of living her life. They both decide to move to NYC and its there that she discovers things about herself that she never knew before and is slowly on the road to realizing that she is worthy of living and moving forward with her life.

It was nice to see Shelby come around and I can’t say I know what she was going through because I don’t but can only imagine. But I do know that throughout the book I couldn’t help but root for her to see the light and see that things would be okay.

After reading Faithful I have to say I am curious about Alice Hoffman’s other books and curious to read more. Have you read Alice Hoffman? What should I read next?