Author: Melissa FosterPublisher: Solstice Publishing (April 2011)
Nine years ago, Molly Tanner witnessed a young girl’s abduction in the busy city of Philadelphia, shifting her occasional clairvoyance into overdrive. Two days later, the girl’s body was found, and Molly’s life fell apart. Consumed by guilt for not acting upon her visions, and on the brink of losing her family, Molly escaped the torturous reminders in the city, fleeing to the safety of the close-knit rural community of Boyds, Maryland.
Molly’s life is back on track, her son has begun college, and she and her husband have finally rekindled their relationship. Their fresh start is shattered when a seven-year-old girl disappears from a local park near Molly’s home. Unable to turn her back on another child and troubled by memories of the past, Molly sets out to find her, jeopardizing the marriage she’d fought so hard to hold together. While unearthing clues and struggling to decipher her visions, Molly discovers another side of Boyds, where the residents--and the land itself--hold potentially lethal secrets, and exposes another side of her husband, one that threatens to tear them apart.
I really enjoyed Chasing Amanda. The story had me hooked from the beginning and I didn't want to put it down. This book is a perfect glimpse into small town life. Small towns tend to hold many secrets for a long time. The author does a great job of slowly revealing those secrets to the reader. The plot of the book is very well planned out so that the reader learns the truth along the same timeline as Molly. I wasn't able to figure out how all of the pieces fit into the puzzle until Molly did. I really enjoyed that aspect.
I liked Molly's character. She is strong willed and willing to risk everything, even her marriage, to save a little girl's life. She has rebuilt her life after learning that she could have saved a child's life and didn't. I can see why she would be so adamant about helping with this one. There were 2 things that didn't ring true for me. I felt like her husband should have been more sympathetic and more believing of her "knowing". I also felt that in real life, a cop would follow up on any lead for a missing child, budget issues and false leads aside.
I highly recommend you give this one a try. I haven't read Ms. Foster's first book, Megan's Way, but it is loaded up on my Kindle and at near the top of my TBR Pile. I look forward to seeing what Ms. Foster comes up with next.
--Kari
* note: I read an complimentary copy of Chasing Amanda supplied courtesy of the author as part of her virtual blog tour. I was not compensated in anyway for this review. By receiving a complimentary copy, I am in no way obligated to write a good or bad review. I am an honest reviewer and my reviews are based on my own opinion and only written by me.*
2 comments:
Thank you, Kari, for the great review and for hosting my blog stop! Love your blog:-)
XO,
Melissa
Very few books have been able to get raw emotions out of me and Chasing Amanda just happens to be one of those rare books. Melissa Foster was able to drive so many different types of feelings out of me from anger,sadness,frustration and hope all while keeping me at the edge of my seat.
What really drew me into this novel was the fact that there were many different point of views. I was able to get inside the heads of all the key characters including the abductor and Tracey the little girl who was kidnapped. And even though I knew the thought process of the abductor I loved how the character was still surrounded by suspense and mystery.
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