CHASING AWAY THE BLUES WITH “MISSING PIECES”

Welcome to another Tuesday celebrating bookish events, from Tuesday/First Chapter/Intros, hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea; and Teaser Tuesdays hosted by A Daily Rhythm.

Today’s featured book is an e-ARC from an author I enjoy:  Heather Gudenkauf’s newest book, Missing Pieces, will be released on February 2, 2016.

 

 

 

Intro:  (Prologue – 1985)

Lydia gazed absentmindedly outside the kitchen window, the bright May sunshine glinting off the dew-glazed sweet-potato vine that cascaded from the window box just beyond the screen.  It was barely seven thirty, and fifteen-year-old Jack and eleven-year-old Amy were already on the bus, making the forty-minute ride to school.  Their last day before summer vacation began.  She’d have to make a special supper to celebrate the occasion.  Waffles topped with strawberries and freshly whipped cream, lemonade garnished with mint snipped from the windowsill herb garden.

Outside, Grey, their pewter-eyed silver Lab, began barking.  A relaxed, friendly yapping.  Lydia leaned in, scanning the yard for the source of Grey’s excitement.  From her vantage point, the farmyard was deserted.  John’s truck was still gone and wouldn’t return until after six.  The bedsheets that she had forgotten on the clothesline overnight flapped languidly in the mild morning breeze.  The gravel road that wound its way up to the main highway was empty, no telltale dust announcing the arrival of a visitor.  Someone could have come by way of the old mud road, but few dared to, for fear their tires would become stuck in the mire brought along by the early-summer rain….

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Teaser:  She had settled on the couch, not anticipating being able to sleep but grateful when it came.  Someone must have laid the blanket over her sleeping form.  A kind gesture made ominous because she’d slept so soundly through it. (65%).

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Synopsis:  A woman uncovers earth-shattering secrets about her husband’s family in this chilling page-turner from New York Times bestselling author Heather Gudenkauf 

Sarah Quinlan’s husband, Jack, has been haunted for decades by the untimely death of his mother when he was just a teenager, her body found in the cellar of their family farm, the circumstances a mystery. The case rocked the small farm town of Penny Gate, Iowa, where Jack was raised, and for years Jack avoided returning home. But when his beloved aunt Julia is in an accident, hospitalized in a coma, Jack and Sarah are forced to confront the past that they have long evaded.

Upon arriving in Penny Gate, Sarah and Jack are welcomed by the family Jack left behind all those years ago—barely a trace of the wounds that had once devastated them all. But as facts about Julia’s accident begin to surface, Sarah realizes that nothing about the Quinlans is what it seems. Caught in a flurry of unanswered questions, Sarah dives deep into the puzzling rabbit hole of Jack’s past. But the farther in she climbs, the harder it is for her to get out. And soon she is faced with a deadly truth she may not be prepared for.

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What do you think?  Would you keep reading?  I know that I have loved every book I’ve read by this author.

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