A Gripping Tale: Still Missing

Still Missing by Chevy Stevens
Hardcover, 352 pages
Published July 2010 by St. Martin's Press
ISBN 9780312595678
Read August 2011

What an emotional story this was. After listening to Emma Donoghue's Room, I wanted to read something else along those lines. A story that dealt with how the person coped with the trauma of being abducted and held captive. I'm not sure if I'm ready to read a factual account like Jaycee Dugard's A Stolen Life: A Memoir. But I definitely find the story line fascinating. I really like stories that speak of the resilience of the human spirit.


When I first started reading Still Missing, I was afraid I would have nightmares. Whereas in Room, Ma fell for the "help me with my dog" line, Annie was just doing her job as a realtor by showing the man the house. It made me a bit paranoid; the story was so realistic that I often had to remind myself that it was a fictional story. There are a few twist and turns and even a curve ball I didn't see coming to keep the story moving. When I mentioned on Twitter I was reading Still Missing and another person replied that it was gripping. I definitely agree - this story took hold of me and didn't let me go until the end.


It is interesting that the entire story is basically told while Annie is in her shrink's office. Her doctor never speaks (though there are indications that she does make suggestions to help Annie), but this was a stipulation of Annie's. She had tried the therapy route without much success, but knows she needs to talk to someone. She wants someone to listen and not just bent on "fixing" her. I imagine many survivors feel like this. Who do you talk to? Do you burden your friends and family?


Chevy Stevens does a great job of pulling the reader into the story and painting vivid pictures with her words. I cried when Annie detailed the first few days after her captivity ended and finally being able to know she was free from The Freak. I grew suspicious right along with Annie when not all seemed right with the investigation. Though I was definitely thrown for a loop on how that turned out - never crossed my mind as a possibility.


I'm not sure how I feel about the end. It isn't all tied up in a bow. While I'm fine not having a perfectly normal back-to-her-before-self, there were some open questions. I actually am glad that the author didn't quite fix all of Annie's problems. I don't think it is something anyone ever truly gets over, but there was enough progress towards healing that you can tell Annie will be ok. No, I think my problem was more of where does she go from here. There are hints as to possibilities, but no concrete answers. I wonder if Chevy is planning to revisit Annie in a few years.


Overall this was a wonderful book. It flows really well; you don't realize how much you've read until something interrupts you. And it is a book that you want to read big chunks of at a time. If you are a fan of realistic dramatic fiction then Still Missing needs to be on your to read list.

Video: On my reading list

 

It's Monday! What are you reading? is a weekly meme from Book Journey.

Finished reading...

Still Missing by Chevy Stevens

Reading this week...

Paperback:

Boyfriend from Hell by E. van Lowe

eBook:

Forbidden (The Books of Mortals) by Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee

Audio Book (new on my reading list):

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women - mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends - view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't.

Predictable: Mr. and Miss Anonymous

Mr. and Miss Anonymous by Fern Michaels
Audio Book, Narrator
Published May 2009 by Brilliance Audion
ISBN 9781423344681
Listened July 2011

I finished listening to this book just before I left for my trip to New York City. I attended the Indie Book Event. I thought I would have a little bit of down time to get this written up, but it was pretty much no stop until I arrived at the airport on Sunday. By then, I was so exhausted, I don't think I could have strung together a coherent thought. Add to the the fact that there was not super spectacular about Mr. and Miss Anonymous, I just couldn't get motivated to put words on the screen.

 I picked this out of my digital library right after I finished Room by Emma Donoghue. I think I was thinking for something different, but the summary sounded like what I was looking for. It wasn't a bad listen, just too predictable for me. I think I would have liked to see more about what went on at the school. The relationship between Lily and Pete seemed contrived; I didn't feel any chemistry between them. The story just didn't hold me attention, and that's bad for an audio book because then my attention wanders.

It might have been better to have read the book, instead of listen to it. If you are looking for a light mystery to read, then you'll probably like Mr. and Miss Anonymous.

Related articles

• Fuel Your Spring Break with FREE Audio Books for Children! (frugalinfortworth.wordpress.com)
• Audiobook Review: Born Wicked (theunreadreader.com)

Video: In my July Mailbox and What I'm Reading

Here are the eBooks I picked up this month. I have quite a back log so I tried to be a bit more selective this month.




New on my reading list this week:

Still Missing by Chevy Stevens

On the day she was abducted, Annie O’Sullivan, a 32-year-old realtor, had three goals—sell a house, forget about a recent argument with her mother, and be on time for dinner with her ever-patient boyfriend. The open house is slow, but when her last visitor pulls up in a van as she's about to leave, Annie thinks it just might be her lucky day after all.
Interwoven with the story of the year Annie spent as the captive of a psychopath in a remote mountain cabin, which unfolds through sessions with her psychiatrist, is a second narrative recounting events following her escape—her struggle to piece her shattered life back together and the ongoing police investigation into the identity of her captor.

In my Mailbox is sponsored by The Story Siren and It's Monday! What are you Reading? is sponsored by Book Journey.

What's the point? Tribulation Point

Tribulation Point: Sometimes Just Making It Through Another Day Isn't Always Easy by Ricci Lane
Paperback, 240 pages
Published May 2011 by Outskirts Press
ISBN 9781432773304
Read July 2011

I received this book for free from the author for the purpose of providing an honest review.


For those who have watched my videos the last two weeks, you know that I have been struggling to finish Tribulation Point. It had so much promise and maybe my expectations were too high, but this book missed the mark for me. I never really connected with the characters, the author missed many opportunities for better conflict within the plot, and don't get me started on the editing. I really hope the author didn't pay Outskirts Press for copy editing, because I would be asking for my money back.


I think my biggest problem with the book was story set-up and plot development. It was like reading about someone's life who didn't really have anything happen, though there was plenty of opportunities for drama and conflict in this urban fiction novel. It covers a tumult period in the history of our country, however, the author did not capture any of the racial conflict that was occurring. It was alluded to, but not brought forward enough to give me the sense that I was in the midst of it. Instead, I was given middle school basketball stats.


On Ricci Lane's blog, the author states that there are over 50 characters in this novel. I think that the cast could have been cut in half and more time spent developing the true character of the people in the story. The blurb I was sent when offered to review the book had me believing the focus would be on Precious. However, halfway through the story becomes focused on the narrator, her son James; Precious becomes a minor character. This development left me wondering why the heck I spent 50+ pages reading about basketball stats for this woman. 


The reading level for this book isn't high. Did you know that the newspaper is written on a sixth grade reading level? I don't think the book was marketed for middle grades, particularly given the fact there is some sexual content. Many times while reading Tribulation Point, I felt that I was reading a newspaper article. I was given facts, but the details that make it storytelling was absent. The lack of basic editing bugged me, and became increasingly distracting by the the last third of the novel. 

The man said; "my name is Sylvester Blackmon." "All my friends call my Sly." "I've been working this route for seven years and I always see you walking." "I just thought, today I'd stop and speak." page 64

 Also, there was a lot of repetition.

Pork Chop and I both had received basketball scholarship to the same college, a small predominately white college in Austin. It would not be far from home. We would be able to visit home on a regular basis. page 84

 Then just a few pages over, again we are told...

We had learned that we both had received four-year scholarships to play basketball. The best about it was that we were going to be teammates together at Wolf A & M, a small Catholic College in Austin. This was going to work out well because we would not be that far from home and could come and visit from time to time. page 93

These problems kept popping up and with more frequency towards the end of the book (particularly the quotation use problem). The name of the college was also being misspelled by the last few chapters (Wolfe instead of Wolf).

I was disappointed with book. It could have been so much better with a little editorial help and a lot of copy editing. Other readers thought it was a great read. See GoodReads for other reviews or you can try the book yourself. I'm giving away my copy of it.

Giveaway!!
For your chance to read Tribulation Point by Ricci Lane, please leave a comment with a way to contact you. I will use Random.org to select a winner. You have until Saturday July 29 at midnight US EST to enter. It is open to US addresses only.

More Desperate than Funny: Confessions of a PTA Mafia Mom

Confessions Of A PTA Mafia Mom by Elsie Love
ebook, 195 pages
Published June 2011 by CreateSpace
ISBN 9781463563615
Read July 2011
I received this book for free from the author for the purpose of providing an honest review.

I was hoping that this would be funny. Right from the start it reminded me of the television show Desperate Housewives, which I've only watched a couple of episodes of. By the end of the book it still reminded me of the few episodes of Desperate Housewives. And like the television show, I just didn't find the humor in it. I did chuckle a few times, but not as much as some of the other reviews had be believing I would.


The story line is rather ridiculous (and that is not a negative thing). If you are looking for a book you can just lose yourself in and not think about real life, then definitely this is the book for you. I thought it would be a silly (I guess that's the right word) read, but it turned pretty serious towards the end. Like Lanie, I waffled between was Suni, Babette, and Yvette for real or was it all fun and games.

It was overall a good story, just not really my thing. At first I had trouble relating to Lanie. She's a mom of two kids and is experiencing a bit of a mid-life crisis. But within a few pages, I started to care about her, but then she kind of ruined it for me with her choices in Vegas. Two wrongs doesn't make it right, no matter what she tells herself to justify it.i


If you are a Desperate Housewife fan (and I know there are a lot of them out there) then you will most definitely be a fan of Confession of a PTA Mafia Mom. But you don't have to take my word for it. See what others thought of it:


GoodReads
My Life. One Story at a Time