The 69th Emmy's award show did not fail to entertain in all the ways. From Colbert’s punchy singing-and-dancing opener and Spicer’s surprise guest appearance to Lena Waithe making history as the first African-American woman to win for writing in a comedy series and N. Kidman k-i-s-s-i-n-g A. Skars on the lips right in front of her husband K. Urban, there is so much to talk about. In a nutshell, the awards landed in the hands of the best of the best in the business, and most of us are pretty pleased with that (except her). To add, many of the acceptance speeches brought attention to incredibly important social issues --- praise be! Yet, among all the celebrity-filled commotion, one of the most notable takeaways is that books won big, specifically “Big Little Lies” and “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
"Big Little Lies" and "The Handmaid's Tale" took home eight Emmys each, and that's not the only way these series are similar. They share two other outstanding elements. First, the books were HOT even before they hit the screen. Liane Moriarty’s New York Times number-one bestselling novel of the same name hit shelves in 2014 to much critical acclaim. Her previous novel, THE HUSBAND’S SECRETS, was still on the list’s Top 20 as BIG LITTLE LIES came out. This impressive feat was a first for an Australian author, further affirming her excellent plot and character development as worthy for an adaptation starring Hollywood’s most desired. Witherspoon, a bonafide reader, and Kidman, a serious A-lister, sat down with Moriarty to adapt the series because they weren't being offered roles they wanted. Together and alongside Shailene, Zoe K., Laura Dern and Skars, their talented and expertly executed undertaking proved to be unstoppable and overwhelmingly captivating. If they taught me anything, it's that when you really want something, you really need to go for it.
Margaret Atwood’s dystopian fiction novel of the same name came out in 1985 and picked up several book nominations and awards along the way. In fact, “The Handmaid’s Tale” and some of her other works are so famous they are “frequently offered as examples for the final, open-ended question on the North American Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition exam each year,” according to Wikipedia and the College Board. On top of it all, Harold Pinter wrote the screenplay for a 1990 film adaptation of the book with Natasha Richardson and Faye Dunaway taking the lead roles, and Claire Danes narrated the audiobook, which won the Audie Award for Fiction in 2013. Need I say more? Fun fact: Atwood spoke at my college graduation in 2010, and the core of her speech was how the world was probably going to end real soon, so worrying (about everything and anything) is a bit useless. Wow. Just, wow.
The second unifying thing about these winners: they are about women and all the ways a woman experiences relationships (the relationship with herself, with other women, with a man and with power figures). It can go without saying that in recent times the social and political focus has heavily shifted towards women, but it is absolutely always worth a mention. In both books, we see many of the main female characters in astonishingly complicated and delicate situations. The spotlight shines a light on the intricacies and complexities of dealing with these situations. As the stories unfold, we see how strong women are, who, in the face of adversity, rise above the forces working against them.
Continuing with this theme, one of the strongest women out there is getting her own documentary: Joan Didion. A brilliant writer with a casual, calm, cool and collected demeanor, Didion bared what it meant to lose someone so close to you in THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING after first losing her husband in 2003 and then her daughter in 2005. If you know her work, you know her struggle, and the struggle for so many, to handle intense loss. Rightly so, she’s been untouchable, maintaining a distant, aching allure for years, and now we’re getting a closer look into the extraordinary woman. The documentary entitled "JOAN DIDION: The Center Will Not Hold" will release on October 27th on Netflix, and according to the website was “made with Joan, using Joan's words.” Her nephew and a prominent figure in the entertainment industry, Griffin Dunne, is directing the work, so with all these pieces in place, my hopes are really high for this. I can’t wait until we meet again, J.
There’s something to celebrate right now, and that’s Teenreads.com (our sister, YA site) celebrating turning 20 (yes, it's been around for 20 years, which means it started in 1997 and was the first YA book site --- woooohooooo!) Congrats and welcome to your 20s, which we happen to know a thing or two about. For readers looking to get in on the birthday bash, head on over to Teenreads.com to enter their biggest giveaway ever! They’re giving away 20 books representing a timeline of YA over the last two decades. They’ve selected one book from each year, beginning with BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE by Annette Curtis Klause (1997) and ending with last year's TRUTHWITCH by Susan Dennard (2016). Click here to enter now through Wednesday, November 1st at noon ET, for your chance to be the Grand Prize winner, who will win a copy of each of the 20 featured books, or one of five Second Prize winners, who will each win copies of four select titles.
Also, be sure to check out the New Release Spotlight for HOLIDAY IN THE HAMPTONS by Sarah Morgan below. It’s the perfect kickback-and-relax book as you make all the seasonal transitions. Need a few more suggestions? Here are a few others to also check out:
In THE BURNING GIRL by Claire Messud, Julia and Cassie have been friends since nursery school. They have shared everything, including their desire to escape the stifling limitations of their birthplace, the quiet town of Royston, Massachusetts. But as the two girls enter adolescence, their paths diverge and Cassie sets out on a journey that will put her life in danger and shatter her oldest friendship. THE BURNING GIRL is a complex examination of the stories we tell ourselves about youth and friendship, and straddles childhood’s imaginary worlds and painful adult reality.
A biography of one of the greatest artists to have ever walked the earth, DAVID BOWIE: A Life by Dylan Jones draws from over 180 interviews with friends, rivals, lovers and collaborators, some of whom have never before spoken about their relationship with David Bowie. This oral history unfolds the story of a remarkable rise to stardom and an unparalleled artistic path. Tracing Bowie’s life from the English suburbs to London to New York to Los Angeles, Berlin and beyond, its collective voices describe a man profoundly shaped by his relationship with his schizophrenic half-brother Terry; an intuitive artist who could absorb influences through intense relationships and yet drop people cold when they were no longer of use; and a social creature equally comfortable partying with John Lennon and dining with Frank Sinatra.
In the latest Lisbeth Salander novel, THE GIRL WHO TAKES AN EYE FOR AN EYE by David Lagercrantz, Salander has never been able to uncover the most telling facts of her traumatic childhood, the secrets that might finally, fully explain her to herself. Now, when she sees a chance to uncover them once and for all, she enlists the help of Mikael Blomkvist, the editor of the muckraking, investigative journal Millennium. And she will let nothing stop her --- not the Islamists she enrages by rescuing a young woman from their brutality; not the prison gang leader who passes a death sentence on her; not the deadly reach of her long-lost twin sister, Camilla; and not the people who will do anything to keep buried knowledge of a sinister pseudoscientific experiment known only as The Registry.
Happy reading!
5 Things To Obsess About This Very Moment, in no particular order:
1. Danielle Steel's desk
2. HBO's "Game of Thrones" prequel series
3. The trailer for Wes Anderson's forthcoming Isle of Dogs
4. A train from London to Tokyo might be a reality
5. Will Ferrell to star in THE 100-YEAR-OLD-MAN adaptation
--- Nicole Sherman
New Release Spotlight: HOLIDAY IN THE HAMPTONS by Sarah Morgan
The perfect summer escape?
Professional dog-walker Felicity Knight loves everything about New York…until her ex-husband starts working at her local vet clinic. She hasn't seen Seth Carlyle in 10 years, but one glimpse of him --- too gorgeous, and still too good for her --- and Fliss' heart hurts like their whirlwind marriage ended yesterday. So when her grandmother in the Hamptons needs help for the summer, it seems the ideal way to escape her past.
Their relationship might have lasted only a few scorching months, but vet Seth knows Fliss --- if she's run away to the Hamptons, it's because she still feels their connection and it terrifies her. He let her go once before, when he didn't know any better, but not this summer! With the help of his adorable dog, Lulu, and a sprinkling of beachside magic, Seth is determined to make Fliss see that he's never stopped loving her.
Sarah Morgan delights with more love and laughter in her acclaimed series From Manhattan with Love, which Publishers Weekly calls "engaging…[a] classic sweep-you-off-your-feet romantic experience."
- Click here to read more about the book.
- Click here to read an excerpt from the book.
- Click here to read more about the author.
ALL THE DIRTY PARTS by Daniel Handler (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Josiah Tristan
Cole is a boy in high school. He runs cross country, he sketches, he jokes around with friends. But none of this quite matters next to the allure of sex. He fantasizes about whomever he's looking at. He consumes and shares pornography. And he sleeps with a lot of girls, which is beginning to earn him a not-quite-savory reputation around school. This leaves him adrift with only his best friend for company, and then something startling starts to happen between them that might be what he's been after all this time. And then he meets Grisaille. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
ALL THE LITTLE CHILDREN by Jo Furniss (Apocalyptic Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Fiona Hardingham
Struggling with working-mother guilt, Marlene Greene hopes a camping trip in the forest will provide quality time with her three young children --- until they see fires in the distance, columns of smoke distorting the sweeping view. Overnight, all communication with the outside world is lost. Knowing something terrible has happened, Marlene suspects that the isolation of the remote campsite is all that’s protecting her family. But the arrival of a lost boy reveals they are not alone in the woods, and as the unfolding disaster ravages the land, more youngsters seek refuge under her wing. The lives of her own children aren’t the only ones at stake. When their sanctuary is threatened, Marlene faces the mother of all dilemmas: Should she save her own kids or try to save them all? Reviewed by Rebecca Munro.
THE BURNING GIRL by Claire Messud (Fiction)
Audiobook available, narrated by Morgan Hallett
Julia and Cassie have been friends since nursery school. They have shared everything, including their desire to escape the stifling limitations of their birthplace, the quiet town of Royston, Massachusetts. But as the two girls enter adolescence, their paths diverge and Cassie sets out on a journey that will put her life in danger and shatter her oldest friendship. THE BURNING GIRL is a complex examination of the stories we tell ourselves about youth and friendship, and straddles childhood’s imaginary worlds and painful adult reality. Reviewed by Bianca Ambrosio.
DAVID BOWIE: A Life by Dylan Jones (Biography)
Drawn from over 180 interviews with friends, rivals, lovers and collaborators, some of whom have never before spoken about their relationship with David Bowie, this oral history unfolds the story of a remarkable rise to stardom and an unparalleled artistic path. Tracing Bowie’s life from the English suburbs to London to New York to Los Angeles, Berlin and beyond, its collective voices describe a man profoundly shaped by his relationship with his schizophrenic half-brother Terry; an intuitive artist who could absorb influences through intense relationships and yet drop people cold when they were no longer of use; and a social creature equally comfortable partying with John Lennon and dining with Frank Sinatra. Reviewed by Ray Palen.
DEAD WOMAN WALKING by Sharon Bolton (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Julia Barrie
Just before dawn in the hills near the Scottish border, a man murders a young woman. At the same time, a hot-air balloon crashes out of the sky. There’s just one survivor. She’s seen the killer’s face --- but he’s also seen hers. And he won’t rest until he’s eliminated the only witness to his crime. Alone, scared and trusting no one, she’s running to where she feels safe --- but it could be the most dangerous place of all. Reviewed by Ray Palen.
DON'T CLOSE YOUR EYES by Holly Seddon (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Mandy Williams and Elizabeth Knowelden
Driven by fears and obsessions, Robin Marshall is haunted by what happened to her family when she was a girl. Her only connection to the outside world is through her rear windows and the lives she spies upon in the apartment house across the way. Then a stranger starts pounding on her door. Sarah Marshall, Robin’s estranged twin, has recently lost custody of her child and has set off on her own, hoping that somewhere in England she can find Robin. While Sarah, slowly unraveling, searches for her sister’s hiding place, Robin sees another life hanging in the balance in the lighted windows across the street. It is a life only Robin can save --- as long as she never looks away. Reviewed by Ray Palen.
GEORGE AND LIZZIE by Nancy Pearl (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Nancy Pearl
George and Lizzie have radically different understandings of what love and marriage should be. George grew up in a warm and loving family --- his father an orthodontist, his mother a stay-at-home mom --- while Lizzie grew up as the only child of two famous psychologists, who viewed her more as an in-house experiment than a child to love. Over the course of their marriage, nothing has changed --- George is happy; Lizzie remains…unfulfilled. When a shameful secret from Lizzie’s past resurfaces, she’ll need to face her fears in order to accept the true nature of the relationship she and George have built over a decade together. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
THE GIRL WHO TAKES AN EYE FOR AN EYE: A Lisbeth Salander Novel by David Lagercrantz (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Simon Vance
Lisbeth Salander has never been able to uncover the most telling facts of her traumatic childhood, the secrets that might finally, fully explain her to herself. Now, when she sees a chance to uncover them once and for all, she enlists the help of Mikael Blomkvist, the editor of the muckraking, investigative journal Millennium. And she will let nothing stop her --- not the Islamists she enrages by rescuing a young woman from their brutality; not the prison gang leader who passes a death sentence on her; not the deadly reach of her long-lost twin sister, Camilla; and not the people who will do anything to keep buried knowledge of a sinister pseudoscientific experiment known only as The Registry. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
GLASS HOUSES by Louise Penny (Mystery)
Audiobook available, read by Robert Bathurst
When a mysterious figure appears in Three Pines, Armand Gamache and the rest of the villagers are at first curious. Then wary. From the moment its shadow falls over the village, Gamache, now Chief Superintendent of the Sûreté du Québec, suspects the creature has deep roots and a dark purpose. Yet he does nothing. What can he do? Only watch and wait. And hope his mounting fears are not realized. But when the figure vanishes overnight and a body is discovered, it falls to Gamache to discover if a debt has been paid or levied. Months later, as the trial for the accused begins, Chief Superintendent Gamache continues to struggle with actions he set in motion, from which there is no going back. Reviewed by Roz Shea.
GOOD ME BAD ME by Ali Land (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Imogen Church
Milly’s mother is a serial killer. Though Milly loves her mother, the only way to make her stop is to turn her in to the police. Milly is given a fresh start: a new identity, a home with an affluent foster family, and a spot at an exclusive private school. But Milly has secrets, and life at her new home becomes complicated. As her mother’s trial looms, with Milly as the star witness, Milly starts to wonder how much of her is nature, how much of her is nurture, and whether she is doomed to turn out like her mother after all. When tensions rise and Milly feels trapped by her shiny new life, she has to decide: Will she be good? Or is she bad? She is, after all, her mother's daughter. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.
LIE TO ME by J.T. Ellison (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available; performed by Matthew Waterson, Saskia Maarleveld, Sarah Naughton and Julia Whelan
Sutton and Ethan Montclair's idyllic life is not as it appears. Consumed by professional and personal betrayals and financial woes, the two both love and hate each other. As tensions mount, Sutton disappears, leaving behind a note saying not to look for her. Ethan finds himself the target of vicious gossip as friends, family and the media speculate on what really happened to Sutton Montclair. As the police investigate, the lies the couple have been spinning for years quickly unravel. Is Ethan a killer? Is he being set up? Did Sutton hate him enough to kill the child she never wanted and then herself? Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE by Celeste Ng (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Jennifer Lim
In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is planned. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson. Enter Mia Warren, who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenage daughter and rents a house from the Richardsons. But Mia carries a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo that threatens to upend this community. When family friends of the Richardsons attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that divides the town --- and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Elena is determined to uncover the secrets in Mia's past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs. Reviewed by Maya Gittelman.
LOVE AND OTHER CONSOLATION PRIZES by Jamie Ford (Historical Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Emily Woo Zeller
Twelve-year-old Ernest Young, a half-Chinese orphan, is raffled off at the 1909 World’s Fair. The winning ticket belongs to the flamboyant madam of a high-class brothel, famous for educating her girls. There, Ernest becomes the new houseboy and befriends Maisie, the madam’s precocious daughter, and a bold scullery maid named Fahn. But as the grande dame succumbs to an occupational hazard and their world of finery begins to crumble, all three must grapple with hope, ambition and first love. Fifty years later, in the shadow of Seattle’s second World’s Fair, Ernest struggles to help his ailing wife reconcile who she once was with who she wanted to be, while trying to keep family secrets hidden from their grown-up daughters. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
MY ABSOLUTE DARLING by Gabriel Tallent (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Alex McKenna
At 14, Turtle Alveston roams the woods along the northern California coast. But while her physical world is expansive, her personal one is small and treacherous: Turtle has grown up isolated since the death of her mother. Her social existence is confined to her middle school and her life with her tortured and charismatic father, Martin. Then Turtle meets Jacob, a high-school boy who tells jokes and looks at Turtle as if she is the sunrise. And for the first time, the larger world begins to come into focus: her life with Martin is neither safe nor sustainable. Motivated by her first experience with real friendship and a teenage crush, Turtle starts to imagine escape, using the very survival skills her father devoted himself to teaching her. Reviewed by Harvey Freedenberg.
ROBERT B. PARKER'S THE HANGMAN'S SONNET: A Jesse Stone Novel by Reed Farrel Coleman (Mystery)
Audiobook available, read by James Naughton
Jesse Stone, still reeling from the murder of his fiancée by crazed assassin Mr. Peepers, must keep his emotions in check long enough to get through the wedding day of his loyal protégé, Suitcase Simpson. The morning of the wedding, Jesse learns that a gala 75th birthday party is to be held for folk singer Terry Jester. Jester has spent the last 40 years in seclusion after the mysterious disappearance of the master recording tape of his magnum opus, The Hangman's Sonnet. That same morning, an elderly Paradise woman dies while her house is being ransacked. What are the thieves looking for? And what's the connection to Terry Jester and the mysterious missing tape? Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
SECRETS IN DEATH by J. D. Robb (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Susan Ericksen
Larinda Mars, a professional gossip, has been murdered. As it turns out, she was keeping the most shocking stories quiet, for profitable use in her side business as a blackmailer. Setting her sights on rich, prominent marks, she’d find out what they most wanted to keep hidden and then bleed them dry. Now someone’s done the same to her, literally. Eve didn’t like Larinda Mars. But she likes murder even less. To find justice for this victim, she’ll have to plunge into the dirty little secrets of all the people Larinda Mars victimized herself. Along the way, though, she may be exposed to some information she really didn’t want to know. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
SING, UNBURIED, SING by Jesmyn Ward (Fiction)
Audiobook available; read by Kelvin Harrison, Jr., Rutina Wesley and Chris Chalk
Jojo and his toddler sister, Kayla, live with their grandparents, Mam and Pop, and the occasional presence of their drug-addicted mother, Leonie, on a farm on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. Leonie is simultaneously tormented and comforted by visions of her dead brother, which only come to her when she’s high; Mam is dying of cancer; and quiet, steady Pop tries to run the household and teach Jojo how to be a man. When the white father of Leonie’s children is released from prison, she packs her kids and a friend into her car and sets out across the state for Parchman farm, the Mississippi State Penitentiary, on a journey rife with danger and promise. Reviewed by Sarah Jackman.
SOMETHING LIKE HAPPY by Eva Woods (Fiction)
Audiobook available, performed by Henrietta Meire
Deep down, Annie Hebden is still mourning the terrible loss that tore a hole through the perfect existence she had once taken for granted --- and hiding away is safer than remembering what used to be. Until she meets the eccentric Polly Leonard, who is determined to finally wake Annie up to life. The mission: One hundred days. One hundred new ways to be happy. Annie will slowly begin to realize that maybe, just maybe, there's still joy to be found in the world. But then it becomes clear that Polly is about to need her new friend more than ever…and Annie will have to decide once and for all whether letting others in is a risk worth taking. Reviewed by Megan Elliott.
SOURDOUGH by Robin Sloan (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Therese Plummer
Lois Clary is a software engineer at General Dexterity, a San Francisco robotics company with world-changing ambitions. Her human contact is limited to the two brothers who run the neighborhood hole-in-the-wall from which she orders dinner every evening. But when visa issues force the brothers to close up shop, they give Lois their culture, the sourdough starter used to bake their bread. Soon, she is providing loaves daily to the General Dexterity cafeteria and is urged to take her product to the farmer’s market. When Lois comes before the jury that decides who sells what at Bay Area markets, she encounters a close-knit club with no appetite for new members. Then an alternative emerges: a secret market that aims to fuse food and technology. But who are these people, exactly? Reviewed by Eileen Zimmerman Nicol.
THE WESTERN STAR by Craig Johnson (Mystery)
Audiobook available, narrated by George Guidall
A younger sheriff confronts Walt Longmire with a photograph of 25 armed men standing in front of a Challenger steam locomotive. It takes him back to when, fresh from the battlefields of Vietnam, then-deputy Walt accompanied his mentor Lucian to the annual Wyoming Sheriff's Association junket. The young Walt was ill-prepared for the machinations of 24 veteran sheriffs, let alone the cavalcade of curious characters that accompanied them. The photograph --- along with an upcoming parole hearing for one of the most dangerous men Walt has encountered in a lifetime of law enforcement --- hurtles the sheriff into a head-on collision of past and present, placing him and everyone he cares about squarely on the tracks of runaway revenge. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
WITHOUT FEAR OR FAVOR by Robert K. Tanenbaum (Legal Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Peter Berkrot
When a cop shoots down the son of a respected inner-city Baptist preacher, the community rises up in anger and demands to have the officer prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. But there’s something more than a call for justice at work here: a plot to bring down the city’s police force through a conspiracy so vast and malicious that only Butch Karp and his band of truth-seekers can untangle it. Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum.
GENUINE FRAUD by E. Lockhart (Mystery)
Audiobook available, narrated by Rebecca Soler
From the author of the unforgettable New York Times bestseller WE WERE LIARS comes a masterful new psychological suspense novel --- the story of a young woman whose diabolical smarts are her ticket into a charmed life. But how many times can someone reinvent themselves? You be the judge. Reviewed by Ansley K., Teen Board Member.
PASADENA by Sherri L. Smith (Mystery/Noir)
Audiobook available, narrated by Rebecca Soler
When Jude's best friend is found dead in a swimming pool, her family calls it an accident. Her friends call it suicide. But Jude calls it what it is: murder. And someone has to pay. Now everyone is a suspect --- family and friends alike. And Jude is digging up the past like bones from a shallow grave. Anything to get closer to the truth. But that's the thing about secrets. Once they start turning up, nothing is sacred. And Jude's got a few skeletons of her own. Reviewed by Anna R., Teen Board Member.
A SEMI-DEFINITIVE LIST OF WORST NIGHTMARES by Krystal Sutherland (Contemporary Fiction)
Audiobook available, narrated by Tara Sands
Ever since Esther’s grandfather was cursed by Death, everyone in her family has been doomed to suffer one great fear in their lifetime. Esther doesn’t know what her great fear is yet, so she keeps a list of potential phobias, or worst nightmares, in her pocket. When Esther is pickpocketed by an old classmate named Jonah, he discovers her list and the two become friends. Jonah sets a challenge for them: in an effort to break the curse that has crippled her family, they will meet every Sunday of senior year to work their way through the list, facing one terrifying fear at a time, including one that Esther hadn’t counted on: love. Reviewed by Lauren C., Teen Board Member.
WARCROSS by Marie Lu (Science Fiction)
Audiobook available, narrated by Nancy Wu
For millions, Warcross isn’t just a game --- it’s a way of life. Emika Chen works as a bounty hunter, tracking down Warcross players who bet on the game illegally. To make some cash, Emika takes a risk and hacks into the opening game of the international Warcross Championship --- only to accidentally glitch herself into the action and become an overnight sensation. Emika is shocked when she gets a call from the game’s creator with an irresistible offer. He needs a spy on the inside of this year’s tournament in order to uncover a security problem...and he wants Emika for the job. But her investigation uncovers a sinister plot, with major consequences for the entire Warcross empire. Reviewed by Makayla H., Teen Board Member.
WE NOW RETURN TO REGULAR LIFE by Martin Wilson (Fiction, Friendship, Gay & Lesbian, Young Adult 14+)
Sam Walsh had been missing for three years. His older sister, Beth, thought he was dead. His childhood friend, Josh, thought it was all his fault. They were the last two people to see him alive. Until now. Because Sam has been found, and he’s coming home. Beth desperately wants to understand what happened to her brother, but her family refuses to talk about it --- even though Sam is clearly still affected by the abuse he faced at the hands of his captor. And as Sam starts to confide in Josh about his past, Josh can’t admit the truths he’s hidden deep within himself. Reviewed by Reanna H., Teen Board Member.
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