The Daughter

The Daughter: A Novel by Jane Shemilt

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


How well do you really know those you love?

Jenny loves her three teenage children and her husband, Ted, a celebrated neurosurgeon. She loves the way that, as a family, they always know each other's problems and don't keep secrets from each other.

But when her youngest child, fifteen-year-old Naomi, doesn't come home after her school play and a nationwide search for her begins, secrets previously kept from Jenny are revealed.

Naomi has vanished, leaving her family broken and her mother desperately searching for answers. But the traces Naomi's left behind reveal a very different girl to the one Jenny thought she'd raised. And the more she looks the more she learns that everyone she trusted has been keeping secrets.

How well does she really know her sons, her husband? How well did she know Naomi? If Jenny is going to find her, she'll have to first uncover the truth about the daughter she thought told her everything.

--My thoughts. Okay, we all have thought this. I think anyway? So, what would you do? Secrets come out. Wow. This book is chalk full of them! This is such a mystery you go back and forth, did she run away or did something more sinister happen to Naomi?

One secret after another and then you think ahha maybe this is the secret that will unravel everything. We also have a bit of a love triangle and other stuff going on that will delight the reader. I can't believe this is her debut either! Talk about an excellent new author coming out!

What descriptions. One of my favorites were, "Mad fragments of words hit against the lining of my skull." Such imagery. This book really will make you think and you will be delighted you read it. The very last paragraph will have you!

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.



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The Bookseller

The Bookseller by Cynthia Swanson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A provocative and hauntingly powerful debut novel reminiscent of Sliding Doors, The Bookseller follows a woman in the 1960s who must reconcile her reality with the tantalizing alternate world of her dreams

Nothing is as permanent as it appears . . .

Denver, 1962: Kitty Miller has come to terms with her unconventional single life. She loves the bookshop she runs with her best friend, Frieda, and enjoys complete control over her day-to-day existence. She can come and go as she pleases, answering to no one. There was a man once, a doctor named Kevin, but it didn’t quite work out the way Kitty had hoped.

Then the dreams begin.

Denver, 1963: Katharyn Andersson is married to Lars, the love of her life. They have beautiful children, an elegant home, and good friends. It's everything Kitty Miller once believed she wanted—but it only exists when she sleeps.

Convinced that these dreams are simply due to her overactive imagination, Kitty enjoys her nighttime forays into this alternate world. But with each visit, the more irresistibly real Katharyn’s life becomes. Can she choose which life she wants? If so, what is the cost of staying Kitty, or becoming Katharyn?

As the lines between her worlds begin to blur, Kitty must figure out what is real and what is imagined. And how do we know where that boundary lies in our own lives?

--My thoughts. We travel between past and present. What is real and what is imaginary? One cannot tell until the VERY end. At first it all seems so innocent, one life from the other. But as time goes on, it becomes more than that. Sad and heartbreaking, both lives.

Swanson did an excellent job mastering the job of teetering between both so carefully as to not have it become a distraction and keep us in suspense the whole time. I am a Denver native and I loved the nod to all the old places -- I have a hard time believing this is her debut!

If you are looking for a feel good book or a lighthearted book this is not it. This one simply is not one you can read on the beach and put down whenever! It begs to be read in one sitting! Enjoy.

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.



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