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Garbage Bag Suitcase Memoir #Giveaway

3May | 2016

posted by Paula

The Garbage Bag Suitcase is a truly powerful memoir of a young girl who was chronically neglected by her substance abusing parents. Shenandoah is treated abusively by her stepfather, and neglected by her beautiful but drug addled mother and moves homes in the middle of the night many times over with a mother that is not fit to parent. After years of this abuse and neglect, the young girl bravely makes the choice to commit herself to foster care at age of 13. It’s a sad, brave and very real story that is not at all uncommon, but is rarely told.

Truly heartbreaking and poignant, The Garbage Bag Suitcase is a story of a young woman’s success despite aging out of a child welfare system that is badly broken. The Garbage Bag Suitcase in the title is a reference to the number of times kids in care often move houses. There’s often nothing else available to stuff clothes and belongings in when children are moved from home to home while in foster care. So they grab a garbage bag and stuff clothing into it to move. It’s one of the saddest symbols of foster care.

I read this with deep interest because we adopted our children from the domestic foster care system (but as infants) and I often volunteer as a support person with adoptive families so I have a bit of familiarity with the topic matter. Foster care is not always like this and foster carers are not always unkind. In fact many that I have met in Canada are amazing people who take to heart the idea of simply helping as a village to raise children in need. But this is not Shenandoah’s experience. Her experience is real and it is a tragedy, and it is in bad need of repair.

As Shenandoah was small her mother moved her so often that she never stayed long enough in any school district for any adult to really tweak to what was happening to her. Such a brutal but honest statement on how children fall through the cracks. What is interesting here is how this person, the author, manages to survive this horrendous neglect and maltreatment to become a successful business person, author and parent. I am overwhelmed by her resiliency and why she survived, with scars, when we know hundred of children age out and fall into drug use, teen pregnancy, or prison.

When Shen comes into care she first stays at a relative’s home for a time. Her relative is in fact a foster caregiver, but this arrangement doesn’t work out when they decide she’s not alright living in a foster home primarily for boys. More children in foster care should share these stories so that people understand clearly what is lacking and where the problems exist.

I know this a memoir but I almost wish this was also more deeply studied in a subsequent book. Policy makers should read this memoir and they should take it to heart and strive to do better for children who have nobody to speak up for them. It’s a small miracle this person made it through this system in tact, battered for sure and bearing scars for life but frankly an astonishing accomplishment.

Paperback: 196 pages
Publisher: Mission Point Press (February 4, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1943995036
ISBN-13: 978-1943995035
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.5 x 9 inches

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The Tiniest Tumbleweed Review and #Giveaway

2Dec | 2015

posted by Paula

Every so often you come across a cute little children’s book that demands a spot on the already overflowing bookshelves in your children’s collection of well loved reads. The Tiniest Tumbleweed is a sliver of a paperback picture book that will barely take up any physical space in your child’s bedroom, but will command a huge space in their hearts.

The Tiniest Tumbleweed is a super sweet fictional children’s picture book about a tumbleweed that is the smallest member of its family. Tumbleweed’s counterpart, who doesn’t meet Tumbleweed until the end of the book, is a wee little Sonoran Desert neighbour Baby Sparrow. We meet both independently as they are born at the start of the book. Each one grows unbeknownst to each other in their respective environments and they worry about being too small. Will they ever grow as big as their siblings?

This adorable picture book will demand to be read nightly and definitely should remain firmly established as a part of any child’s bookshelf. I read this one aloud to my tween and teen and they both agreed it is incredibly sweet. I will save The Tiniest Tumbleweed for either of the girls to take along when they babysit other people’s children, and to read to my niece and nephews, ages 2 to 7 (the sweet spot for this book is 3 to 8, or maybe 9, in my opinion).

The illustrations in The Tiniest Tumbleweed, by Alex Lopez are world class and memorable. Illustrations are important and even before this book arrived here I was pondering how on earth anyone could make a tumbleweed cute or cuddly or animated. Lopez manages that and more. He is a father of identical triplets residing in Silicon Valley, California. He helped to inform my important first impression of the book. These are honestly some of the cutest characters I have seen in a long time here. Lopez is super talented and he manages to convey emotion with his drawings of each character. The tumbleweed and house sparrow are each vulnerable due to their size. Their challenge is to find confidence and acceptance of their size and personality.

Kathy Peach provides a lovely story about resiliency, acceptance, and self esteem, growth and family. There’s a smart, tidy, little message in here also that speaks to the ‘Grow where you are planted’ kind of theme. There’s a hint of educational content about biodiversity which is a topic that runs throughout curriculums of school children in grade 5 and 6 here in Canada. There’s also a strong educational aspect to the book which is much more than I expected from this fictional children’s book. What’s even more wonderful than all of that is the fact that Peach manages to hide some of these lessons well so children won’t even realize they are learning about things like habitat and biodiversity.

First time author Kathy Peach moved from Tennessee to the Arizona area and followed her dream of pursuing a college degree in her retirement years. She opted to study early childhood and early childhood special education and taught for the Head Start program in Phoenix for a time. She combines her knowledge of child development and her experience teaching, rolling both into a substantial book that can also be used as a springboard for many crafts, lessons inside a classroom, or conversation starters at home. There are talking points and facts provided at end of the book, The Tiniest Tumbleweed. There’s a section about the house sparrow that could lead a child to want to research more and potentially prepare a project on the topic matter. There are fun facts and a curriculum guide included that can spark even more curiosity in the reader.

The Tiniest Tumbleweed is a really special story with remarkable illustrations and bonus extras that help give this book added value. The Tiniest Tumbleweed should be part of every library for every child between the ages of 4 to 9. I would say this book appeals to ages 4 to 8 but could be extended to a grade four child if they are still growing into their reading ability or if they have any learning challenges. While The Tiniest Tumbleweed has a great message for any child, it will also resonate strongly with kids who have visible or invisible differences. The Tiniest Tumbleweed is published by Little Five Star, a division of Five Star Publications and is out in 2016. It is 35 pages long. You can win a copy early here.

I received a copy of this book for purposes of review here. My opinion is all my own and 100 % truthful. I have one copy of The Tiniest Tumbleweed to gift to a lucky reader here. Follow the instructions below to win. Open to Canada and the US.

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Hungry Ghosts by Peggy Blair

6Sep | 2015

posted by Paula

When a new novel by Peggy Blair hits the shelves well that’s cause for celebration in my house. Peggy Blair has been one of my favourite Canadian authors since The Beggar’s Opera turned me back onto reading after a lengthy period of duty reads. Now Blair has written a third novel, Hungry Ghosts, fairly fast on the heels of The Poisoned Pawn. Happily for me because I don’t like to wait long between novels for her next instalment.

Peggy Blair’s first novel, The Beggar’s Opera, won me over with her rich cast of characters and intriguing magical realism of sorts. Her main character, Inspector Ricardo Ramirez sees ghosts after all and they hang around sometimes pointing him in the right direction, or triggering a clue of some sort that eventually sets him on a path towards solving these complex mysteries and murders. Blair’s novels rarely disappoint. They are well written and the characters are smart, but the part that I always fall in love with is the setting. With brilliant three dimensional characters playing out their lives against the rich dramatic territory of Cuba, it’s almost impossible not to be transported straight onto the streets of Havana beside the likes of Ramirez. One day I will take another vacation in Cuba and head there packing all of Blair’s novels so that I can fully appreciate the plot for how detailed and realistic it is. (I once did that with Hemingway in university because I enjoy reading authors where they worked at writing, or where they set their plots.)

Hungry Ghosts is quite simply excellent, and rivals The Beggar’s Opera as Blair’s best work. She has rapidly become one of my favourite Canadian authors, if not one of my favourite authors writing fiction at all. While investigating an art heist in Canada, Ramirez encounters his first ghost of this particular plot. In The Beggar’s Opera at first when Ramirez encountered ghosts he began to wonder if he was experiencing Alzheimer’s or dementia and the psychological portion of that inner conflict made for some rich reading material. That continues somewhat in Poisoned Pawn, but by Hungry Ghosts Ramirez seems to understand their purpose a bit more than previously. He still struggles with plenty of inner psychological conflict but he also recognizes that each time While dead prostitutes turn up in Havana and our favourite detective is back on the case. This instalment in the Ramirez series of novels reminded me most of my experience reading The Beggar’s Opera. The plot is tight and the mystery remains pretty much a page turner until near the end. I did not guess the outcome of this one until it was unravelling in front of me.

I also enjoyed the rich First Nations subplot featuring Charlie Pike in Hungry Ghosts. Peggy Blair, an Ottawa lawyer, now author of three books in this series is a real Canadian treasure. She tackles on reservation politics believably and she also touches on the harm done by residential schools many years ago. Incest, violence, gangs, drugs and secrets are all plot points that jumpstart the back story and give further dimensions and insight into Charlie Pike’s character. That’s a really smart investment in character, and the mark of an author who really wears her characters so well that they become part of the reader’s daily life.

How lucky am I? This is my airplane read this week. @peggyblair hooked by page 1 every time. #books #reads #fun #summer #authors #love #mystery

A photo posted by Paula Schuck (@inkscrblr) on Jul 14, 2015 at 6:43am PDT

I can’t say enough about this author actually. There were moments when I got bogged down in my own work here and that meant I had to set this novel aside for a bit. But, Hungry Ghosts by Peggy Blair is such a great read it demands to be consumed and attended to. Even the title is witty and right. Blair is not overly lyrical or fanciful as a writer. She’s not self indulgent either. Her words, characters, plot and setting are extremely balanced and purposeful. In fact, sometimes reading a novel I am too easily tripped into remembering that the plot is a construct and find myself wondering how did the writer do this and what was the reasoning here and why did the author choose that word? Hazard of being a writer myself I suppose. But here, in this series I don’t do that. There is rarely a reason to question this plot. Blair continues to evolve as a writer and I wait impatiently for each new novel she writes.

I was sent a copy of this book for purposes of review. My opinion is my own.

Hungry Ghosts is by Peggy Blair, 2015, Simon and Schuster Canada, 394 pages, $19.99

St Patrick’s Day Word Search

14Mar | 2015

posted by Paula

St. Patrick’s Day Word Search

10 Soothing Books for Kids Who Are Scared

20Feb | 2015

posted by Paula

soothing Books for kids who are scared

10 Soothing Books for Kids Who Are Scared

Scared is a big emotion for anyone to feel. For a child being scared can feel a bit out of control and a bit worrisome. Helping them calm down and identify their emotions goes a very long way towards helping them feel safe. That’s where books come in. Books can help your child feel less alone. If a beloved character also feels the same thing they are feeling then they must be normal, right? Suddenly big emotions can seem a lot less frightening when they are identified and familiar.

Some of the 10 Soothing Books For Kids Who Are Scared may help you to guide your child through this difficult terrain.
When I Feel Scared
The Berenstain Bears in the Dark
Who Feels Scared?
What to Do When You’re Scared and Worried: A Guide for Kids
Can’t You Sleep, Little Bear?
The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark
When Lizzy Was Afraid Of Trying New Things
Don’t Be Afraid to Drop
Sofia the Snail
Let’s Talk About Feeling Afraid
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Empowered Patients – Diagnose Yourself Review

22Dec | 2014

posted by Paula

Diagnose Yourself: How to Find a Permanent Cure For What Ails You (with or without the help of your doctor)
is a common sense approach with a hint of detective work designed to build empowered patients.

Imagine you are suddenly struggling with a host of minor symptoms related to headaches or sinus pain. It’s there constantly bothering you, painful enough to warrant a trip to the doctor’s office. He listens to your complaint, asks if you have a history of allergy to any antibiotics and writes you a prescription. You are in and out in under ten minutes. One complaint per visit. It’s a health care system standard rule really. On the odd occasion, your doctor might sit and listen to two minor issues. He is a medical doctor. Or perhaps she is a medical doctor and their training is essentially almost entirely around diagnosis and prescription. The right prescription solves the problem. It is not always his or her concern what the underlying cause of the issue is. This is true whether you are a patient of the Canadian (Taxpayer funded social health care model) or the American system that is somewhat less universal or accessible. So the cause of many issues, ailments and complaints is often not so important as long as the symptom goes away eventually. In the centre of this system, while working through it you often do not feel like empowered patients. In fact quite the opposite is true.

Now imagine that this headache or sinus pain become chronic and returns pretty much every few weeks. You are stuck in this cycle of painful symptoms, doctor’s appointments, prescribed antibiotics and then temporary relief. Diagnose Yourself: How to find a permanent cure for what ails you says: what if you consider a common sense approach to the symptoms and apply a bit of detective work to unravel what is causing the issue first? What if you take control of your health care and do the detective work to reveal why a symptom is happening? Could you become a more empowered patient? Could you take charge of your health and potentially resolve some of your health issues without needing the doctor as often?

Diagnose Yourself: How to Find a Permanent Cure For What Ails You (with or without the help of your doctor) is the first non fiction book by the author. It is a book peppered with case studies that make sense. It starts with the example of a father and daughter struggling for years with vicious sinus pain. They have little relief ever and yet they live in a house with two other members of their family who never ever have sinus pain. Why them? Why not the others? What is unique about the environment the father and daughter share that is not happening for the other two family members? Reid Jenner suggests that you can help uncover many of your symptoms by working through his system of questions and work sheets. The process itself can be more empowering than the doctor and patient relationship that still sits at the heart of the health care system. The goal at heart of this book is to create a system of empowered patients less reliant on traditional health care models.

It’s the kind of premise that makes you think this seems incredibly simple, almost too simple to be true. But what if it works? What if you tried it and it worked? You might be surprised. Traditional medicine really is not that interested in uncovering the source of the issue, or symptom. Traditional medicine sometimes tackles the symptoms and leaves the cause undetermined. That can be unfulfilling over the longterm for the patient. Jenner advocates giving patients more tools to problem solve some of their own health care issues.

Diagnose Yourself is a smart approach that doesn’t hurt to try. The book is structured in three parts: case studies, health care history and a template so that patients can help work through some of the causes of their maladies. It’s a fast read and could easily be kept as a reference guide for many issues and health care concerns. Jenner is an acclaimed naturopathic problem-solving specialist with over twenty years’ experience designing, teaching, and facilitating root-cause analysis techniques in the health sector. He has a track record of solving many patient problems with this approach which focuses also largely on environmental factors. Jenner has helped many patients use their health history to find the quickest, simplest, and least invasive permanent solution to each problem. In his experience, many problems can be solved in less than 60 minutes.

I often talk about empowerment and advocacy over on my main blog http://www.thriftymommastips.com and in my own family I have had more than my fair share of interactions with the health care system. Sometimes relationships with doctors works well to help build a treatment plan for a child, or other member of the family. Occasionally the doctor patient relationship leaves you feeling powerless. Reid Jenner offers a means to take back some of the control. Even if you only remember 3 or 4 of the takeaways here, the book is worth your time. Every tool in your health care toolkit is relevant and useful in helping you become your own best advocate. (or your child’s best advocate.)

Diagnose Yourself is available on Kindle and paperback.

Diagnose Yourself by Reid Jenner, published in September 2014, can be purchased here:Diagnose Yourself: How to find a permanent cure for what ails you It is available for about $6.50 US via Kindle and it is also available for about $11.50 US paperback. That is extremely affordable and worthwhile. I think the price, coupled with content makes this one a $$$$$ out of $$$$$ because it will save you money and aggravation with the health care system in the long run.

Product Details

Paperback: 280 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (November 11, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1503099237
ISBN-13: 978-1503099234

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30 Hanukkah Books for Children

28Nov | 2014

posted by Paula

30 Hanukkah Books for Children

30 Hannukah Books for Children

Check out this wonderful list of 30 Hanukkah books for children that I have compiled for you. These books are a great way to discover the importance of this miraculous Holiday. Scoop up some of these gems for great Hanukkah gifts, or keep some for a great addition to your family’s library.

What is your favorite Hanukkah book? Did it make our list? Happy Hanukkah!

Is Leaving Time One of The Best Jodi Picoult Books Yet?

9Oct | 2014

posted by Paula

Fall reads

Leaving Time is Jodi Picoult’s latest release, due out this coming week. It’s been buzz worthy for months on line, and it’s sure to take a key spot on any list of the best Jodi Picoult books ever. Leaving Time doesn’t disappoint. Diehard fans of Jodi Picoult books will want to race out, download or order this one now on Amazon. Jodi Picoult books are almost always instant blockbuster best-sellers. Leaving Time is likely to dominate the New York Times bestseller’s list for months. It will also be a huge hit with book lovers this holiday season. But is it one of the best Jodi Picoult books yet?

From the time my kids were babies I have been a huge Jodi Picoult fangirl. When my babies were tiny, I used to take them for a lot of stroller walks. It was a means of getting outdoors, exercising and keeping the girls occupied too. Occasionally it tired my girls out too. Many of those walks landed us at the local library branch near our house. It was one of those mornings, after Books for Babies, when I found on the hot books display stand a copy of Tenth Circle by an author I had never heard of called Jodi Picoult. I picked it up and was enthralled. I signed it out and read it, unable to put it down. The next week at Books For Babies I picked up Nineteen Minutes. Well that was it, from the opening sentence I was done, lost to Jodi world as my husband calls it. Over the last decade I have sought out each of the Jodi Picoult books and read them all. The saddest moment ever in my world is the last page of a Picoult novel. When I finish one of her beautiful page-turners, I know I will have a small reader’s hangover of sorts waiting for the next novel to appear. Now that I have read every single thing Picoult has ever written, I can no longer visit the library and get my fix. One year is a very long time for a diehard Picoult fangirl like me.

This summer Leaving Time showed up here in advanced view format and I was giddy. The theme of memory resonated with me as many of you also know I have recently lost my Mom to acute pneumonia that was also tied to her Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. It has been an extremely sad time after months of learning about the brain and how memory works and also how it fails to work. Memory is such an incredibly sad thing to see vanish. The predominant themes of memory, family, love, grief, motherhood and loss are all contained in Leaving Time as the title hints. Needless to say I connected with the plot and the characters immediately.

Leaving Time is the story of a young girl names Jenna Metcalf who is obsessed with her mother’s disappearance. She is a bit of a loner and she lives with her grandmother. Jenna constructs lies and often tells her grandmother she is babysitting or sleeping over at a friend’s house so she can investigate her mother’s disappearance. In Jenna’s memory her mother Alice exists as a beautiful passionate woman who helped run an elephant sanctuary and studied elephant grief. Jenna’s father is equally passionate but moody and eventually we learn he is also extremely mental ill. Jenna’s obsession is all consuming. Abandoned as a child, she is wounded and not able to believe that her mother could have simply left her behind, either by death, or otherwise, so she pours over old newspaper snippets, journals, and follows an on line trail, hoping to find closure. She is a slightly naive and entirely unique main character. You have to read the book in order to understand fully all the nuances of character.

Jenna constructs a ragtag team of helpers, with a disgraced celebrity psychic and a jaded private detective. Together they grow to become a small family searching for the truth about Alice. Serenity Jones, Virgil Stanhope and Jenna clash often and, at times, seem unlikely to be able to finish the job they have been thrown together to complete. But each carries with them a history of complex emotional baggage that weighs them down at times, and volleys them forward in some mission to prove they can once again have purpose. Despite their regular conflicts and squabbles Serenity and Virgil begin to feel some emotional responsibility for Jenna’s youth and mental health and so they will follow through with their investigations, even when that means they are chasing Jenna across the country on their own dime.

Many Jodi novels have a sort of formula that works. I am not knocking that at all. It is tried and true and it is often the framework for other things that are extremely creative, such as plot twists and plot devices, so even when the books rely on a formula it is completely overshadowed by other things. We know with Picoult that the subject matter will often be ripped from the headlines and built into a great fictional story. We know the characters will often be children. The emotional buy in is often fast and intense because of the child characters at centre of the plot. The story will almost always involve the use of multiple narrators, providing more than one viewpoint and driving the plot forward nicely. This is often so well done that it really keeps the novel moving forward fast for the reader. Multiple narrative viewpoints can be clunky when they aren’t done well, but here they work. We also always know that Jodi will twist something near the final stage of the novel and it will be a stunning revelation that shocks you. I am not in the business of sharing spoilers that ruin the reading experience so I won;t start now. But there is a gigantic plot twist here that is incredibly artful and well done. There are so many reasons I found Leaving Time to be Jodi Picoult’s best book yet. The strength of the writing, the plot and characters. The plot twist. Sometimes it’s just reading the right book at the right time that makes a topic resonate as well. Regardless of the whys, Leaving Time is my new favourite Jodi Picoult book. Go buy it and tell me what you think.

Jodi Picoult is the author of 22 novels. The Lone Wolf, My Sister’s Keeper and The Storyteller were each the # 1 New York Times bestsellers. My Sister’s Keeper was made into a movie. As I noted I have read each of her novels and thoroughly enjoyed all of them. The Lone Wolf was the only one that left me a tiny bit unsatisfied. But many disagreed with me about that one.

Leaving Time is by Jodi Picoult, Ballantine Books, out this coming week, 2014, $28.00 in hard cover format, 406 pages.

$$$$$ out of $$$$$. This might be one of the best books I have ever read. For sure it’s Picoult’s best novel yet. Brilliant.

Five Classic Mexico Books

6Aug | 2014

posted by Paula

Five Classic Books about Mexico

(guest post by contributor Bonnie Way )

Many of the dreams I have about travel are inspired by the books I’ve read about other countries. While traveling lets us see a country, reading can take us into the heart and soul of a place in another way. Here are five books about Mexico, written by great authors of the past century, that are sure to delight and teach you about Mexico, whether you are an armchair traveler or fortunate enough to make it there in person.

Some fantastic fiction books about Mexico

Sea of Cortez, a Liesurely Journal of Travel and Research
by John Steinbeck is his account of a research trip to the Gulf of California with his friend, marine biologist Edward F. Ricketts. Steinbeck and Ricketts depict their journey from Cabo San Lucas north, sharing their discoveries, friendship, and insight into the world of the 1930s. This book offers a fascinating exploration that is both literary and scientific. Paperback. Penguin Books, 2009.

The Lawless Roads (Penguin Classics)
by Graham Greene is another travel narrative set in 1930s Mexico. Greene was commissioned to report on how the Mexican people had faced the brutal anti-clerical purges of President Calles. This trip inspired his novel, The Power and the Glory. Greene brings his rich, poetical language to descriptions of remote areas of Mexico. Paperback, Penguin Classics, 2006.

Mornings in Mexico
by D. H. Lawrence is a series of essays written about Mexico in the 1920s. Lawrence’s trademark poetic prose marks these essays, which describe Mexico in a sauntering, unhurried fashion perfect for a vacation reader. This is ranked as one of the best travel books about Mexico and one of Lawrence’s best books as well. Hardcover and paperback. Fredonia Books, 2003.

All the Pretty Horses (The Border Trilogy, Book 1)
by Cormac McCarthy has been made into a movie by the same name and is actually the first novel in a trilogy. This coming-of-age story follows 16-year-old John Grady Cole into Mexico with two companions on an adventure that ends in romance. Winner of the 1992 National Book Award, All the Pretty Horses is a mesmerizingly tragic story. Hardcover and paperback. Vintage, 1993.

Mexico
by James A. Michener is the epic story of a country as only Michener can tell it. An American journalist travels to Mexico to report on a matador duel and discover the dramatic story of his own Mexican ancestry. From the ancient peoples to the Spaniards to the modern country, Michener takes readers through Mexico’s past and present. Paperback. Fawcett, 1994.

Bonnie Way is a reader, writer, and mom who visited Mexico for a few days in 2012.

Don’t Go by Lisa Scottoline

23Jul | 2014

posted by Paula

Don’t Go

I have found a new author I love, which means I will never ever truly make it through that Book Lover’s To Do List. You know the one I mean. Fellow book lovers each have one of those endless lists of treasures they aspire to enjoy. Don’t Go by Lisa Scottoline is directly responsible for my red eyes this morning. Last night I sat up reading well into the wee hours so I could finish this lovely story. Don’t Go is a murder story with a strong family theme of fatherhood, familial loyalty, love, trust, addiction and new beginnings, set against a backdrop at home in the United States and abroad in Afghanistan. Don’t Go by Lisa Scottoline begins with a hook so dramatic that I was reeled in right from page one. Don’t Go by Lisa Scottoline is difficult to put down.

The Plot: Chloe, is the wife of Mike, a trauma surgeon serving in Afghanistan. As the novel opens Chloe lays dying on her kitchen floor, confused about what has just happened and, in an apparent drunken episode. While drinking she has decided to empty the dishwasher and a knife slipped, slashing her arm. As Chloe lays slipping in and out of consciousness ( she can’t stand the sight of blood) she fights to crawl to the front door and also struggles to reach a phone. She knows her sister-in-law should be home any moment from Christmas shopping with the baby and she will find her there and help her, she thinks as she lay dying. But the sister-in-law is not fast enough and yet the door lock is open and someone finds Chloe laying there. Will they call 9-1-1? Who is at the door? Is Chloe’s death as straightforward as it seems? Many mysterious circumstances surround Chloe’s devastating and deadly wound.

Meanwhile Mike is performing surgery in Afghanistan. We learn he is a foot and ankle surgeon _ in high demand because war injuries are often foot related due to bombs and land mines. He is operating as usual with his picture of beautiful wife and baby girl, Emily tucked into his pocket as a good luck charm and suddenly he gets a call that he will need to take a leave of absence for a funeral. Mike is about to go home when another tragedy occurs. This one adds emotional dimension to the character of Mike. He is a character who seems like he might not ever be able to get his head above water after such devastating insults to body and spirit. His homecoming is tragic because he is also now a widower and he intends to reclaim his role as a father but also realizes his infant daughter essentially doesn’t even remember him. How will he help her to get accustomed to his presence in her life.

Don’t Go by Lisa Scottoline is a gripping read with emotional layers and a strong suspense element. I loved that the character Mike seemed to have strong three dimensional appeal and was well researched. The topic of the emotional reality of war, war veterans and people who sustain traumatic war injuries seemed authentic. The actual resolution of who the antagonist is came late in the novel and was less predictable than I might have thought.

If I have any critique of Don’t Go by Lisa Scottoline, it would be this: her characters never seemed to grab me by the heart and shake. Some authors are extremely skilled at pulling on the heartstrings. Lisa Scottoline has moments and for sure I was applauding and getting upset at moments in the book, especially during the child custody trial. But I never really felt the author’s hand around my heart. The characters are good. Mike is a solid male character. Danielle and Bob both have moments where their dialogue is really smart and rings true. But nobody made me cry. It’s a minor thing, but books are like customer experiences – you might not always remember what you bought, but for sure you recall you it made you feel. Don’t Go made me feel angry and happy and sad and invested but it didn’t ever hit the deep reserve of emotion that some authors are extremely talented at tapping into.

Lisa Scottoline is a New York Times bestselling author. She and the author of over 21 novels. She is published in 30 countries and she is also a weekly columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Lisa Scottoline is an author I will definitely read again. She is readable and her characters are relatable and Don’t Go is a great little summer read by the pool or at the beach.

Don’t Go is by Lisa Scottoline, published in 2013 by St. Martin’s Press, New York, 400 pages, $18.50 in Canada and $15.99 US.

This one gets $$$$ 1/2 out of $$$$$