ReadingNook Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Denise Grover Swank always grabs my attention with her writing and as much as I want to savor the book, I feel like I always end up flying right through them. This one was a completly different genre then the first book I read from her, but stayed true to her writers voice that I loved so much in the previous story I read from her, twenty-eight and a half wishes.
This book follows Emma Thompson and her son Jake, they've been on the run for as long as Emma can remember, from who they don't know, but she does know that they want to get her and they find her eventually everywhere they go. When Emma's young son Jake inisists they need a stranger named Will to accompany them on their way, Emma is not happy, Jake is however usually correct with his feelings and intuitions and those same feelings and intuitions are usually what gets them away from the people following them in just enough time to escape. Will Emma be able to eventually trust Will, or will Jake's intuitions lead them right into the hands of the men they've tried so hard to stay away from?
This book is PACKED with action and intensity, with a bit of paranormal aspects thrown in there as well, which for me, who's usually hit or miss in the paranormal genre, felt like it had just the right amount, without feeling too far-fetched. I'm hoping that this book is a series, because I felt like the ending left me hanging and didn't answer some important questions, which is the only reason this book didn't get a full five stars, other then that, this book had me!!! (and it is a series, just had my questions answered, the second book is called, The Hunted)
Guest Post w/ Denise Grover Swank:
When I learned to read, an entire world opened to me. I didn’t just read books. I devoured them. In my first grade class, each student got a caterpillar with little bubbles we could color for each book we read. My teacher had to keep getting me more sheets. My caterpillar stretched to the side and around the corner. By the end of the year, I’d read 187 books.
As I got older, I always had a book in my hand and it wasn’t uncommon for my mother to find me hiding under covers reading with a flashlight instead of sleeping. (Some things never change. I’m still known for not going to sleep at appropriate times.)
By the time I was a teen, I’d blown through Judy Blume, Madeline L’Engle, and Laura Ingalls Wilder. (Which produced a semi-obsession with all things pioneer related and inspired me to create sunbonnets out of baby dresses. See? I had a wild imagination even back then.) I moved onto adult books. Barbara Cartland, Stephen King, LaVerle Spencer, J.R. Tolkien, Kathleen Woodiwiss, Robin Cook, T.H. White Do you notice a trend here? Yeah. Me neither. There is none. I literally read everything I could get my hands on. During the summer, it was common for me read a book a day. The library became my best friend.
When I started a family, my reading time decreased, although I would often cook and bathe kids with one hand and have a book in another. But my genre hopping still continued, now moving onto to Patricia Cornwell, Janet Evanovich, Michael Crighton, Mary Janice Davidson, Stephenie Meyer. (So I actually own up to that one. Sue me.)
Lately, I’ve gone through a paranormal romance and young adult craze. And let’s not forget the Game of Thrones marathon reads. But my current favorite author is Sarah Addison Allen, who writes adult magical realism. She was actually a partial inspiration for my humorous southern mystery, Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes. Her books are sweet and southern with a dash of paranormal thrown in.
Here’s the fact: I like change. I thrive on it. If I spend too much time reading one genre, it becomes stale. And if I was chained to a single genre to write, I’d probably gnaw my limb off to get away. Because even though writing is the most fun career I’ve ever had, it’s also the hardest. If I start writing stories that don’t excite me, then I might as well hang it all up. The only way I know to keep it fresh is to keep moving around.
Besides, I never know when and where inspiration for story ideas will strike next. It just might be in my next great read.
