"Broken Harbor" by Tana French

Broken Harbor by Tana French opens with a murder of a husband, two young children, and the wife in very bad shape. As told by the lead detective, he thinks he has the person who did it, or does he? This is a really good book for sure. I got into it from the get-go and the last 200 pages or so are very gripping. They kept me turning pages until I got to a compelling surprise ending which I loved! I would have liked a little more action throughout, but it certainly is a good read!
(Gerard's review)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

Tuesday Teasers: 3 Good Ones For You

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should  Be Reading. Anyone can play along, so I thought  I  would play for fun! Just do the following

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on  that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away!   You don’t  want  to  ruin the  book for others!)
• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can  add the book to their TBR  Lists  if they  like your teaser.   

Karen's:

The morning the man with the gun walked into Evelyn Oliver's classroom, she was wearing two items she had vowed during her forty-three-year career as a teacher never to wear. Denim and rhinestones.

Taken from p. 8 of One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf. (One school. One gunman. Your child.--fantastic book we both liked, click link to see our review)

"Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. I confess that I am an accessory to a crime that is ongoing and to a murder that is going to happen very soon."

From page 2 of I'll Walk Alone by Mary Higgins Clark. (Stolen identity thriller)

Gerard's:

They scurried in every direction like small animals caught suddenly under a light.
But, of course, there was nowhere on earth to go.

From page 4 of The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker.  (science fiction)

Happy Reading!

"Leota's Garden" by Francine Rivers

Touching Christian Fiction

Leota's Garden by Francine Rivers is very good about an old lady, Leota, who was totally misunderstood by her kids and her granddaughter (Annie) and a college student (Corey) who met her through a sociology project because he needed a case study. While using Leota as his case study project, Corey got to know her as a person and gained a better understanding of the elderly. Leota had an overgrown garden which she couldn't take care of because her arthritis was so bad, but was delighted that Annie decided to restore it for her. There's a lot of tension between the mothers and daughters which makes this such a sad story. The grandmother is feisty and loves her visits from her granddaughter who is a college student, and hopes to set things right between herself and her children before she dies.

I liked Leota's Garden very much because Leota was such an interesting character. This novel gives insight into the issues of aging and caring for the elderly in an amusing and touching way. It's an emotional read that I had a hard time putting down.

Other books I liked by Francine Rivers:
Redeeming Love
The Scarlet Thread

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

"The Age of Miracles" by Karen Thompson Walker

Imagine if you woke up one day and found out that the rotation of the earth has slowed, causing the days and nights to be longer?  That is what happens in The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker  A young girl named Julia describes how her family and everyone else is coping with this and also the usual other things life always seems to throw at us.  I enjoyed this book a lot and got into it right away.  For her first book, this is extremely well done!
(Gerard's review, rating 5 stars) 

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

"One Breath Away" by Heather Gudenkauf

Her Best Yet!

In One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf, a lone gunman takes over a small classroom holding the teacher and pupils hostage.  What made this book so good in my opinion is that it is told by five people as the novel is ongoing.  I got to know their thought and background to understand what led up to this point.  The writing is superb.  If you want riveting, this is it!  I could hardly put it down and kept saying how good it was while reading it.  Oh, and good luck trying to figure out who the gunman is—I was completely surprised!  To sum it up, it doesn’t get any better than this—don’t let this one get past you! 
(Gerard's review, rating 5 stars)

One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf is really, really good!  It is fast-paced and realistic contemporary fiction with characters that are very believable.  It grabbed my attention right from the start and never let me go!  The hostage situation at the small school in a fictional small town in Iowa is described so well, I could feel what the characters were feeling.  It kept me guessing who the gunman was right until he was revealed.  I’m sure because this story is told from five different people, there is at least one that you will identify with.  For me, I identified with the teacher—determined to protect her students from the gunman while thinking about her husband.  The teen girl’s unwavering desire to protect her brother was both touching and heartwarming.  It shows how a crisis can bring families closer.    I highly recommend One Breath Away—it even has a dog in it!
(Karen's review, rating 5 stars)

Other books we've read by this Heather Gudenkauf:
These Things Hidden
Weight of Silence

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!