Chasing Amanda by Melissa Foster
Kindle Edition Published by Solstice Publishing
Good Reads Synopsis:
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.
* This book was purchased by me. All opinions are mine and mine alone.*
My turn:
I have often witnessed a child having a tantrum leaving a store or in the parking lot of a store, Chucky Cheese's Pizza, the zoo and various other fun places. I'm sure you have too. I have also been the parent or grandparent trying to get the child out of there. So when I read this book my mind went into overdrive. I flashed back on many of those incidents. I was trying to determine how I knew it was a parent or relative, babysitter, etc. who was taking the child. The sad truth is I have no way of really knowing. That was brought slamming home when I read of Amanda's abduction being witnessed by Molly. I was able to really fall into Molly's character and her world from the start of this book. Melissa Foster did an excellent job with this book. I do not have second sight. I do get creepy feelings in my stomach when something does not feel right to me. This does not always mean something is wrong - it is just my feelings. But it did make me able to understand Molly and her hesitation to further confront the "father". Melissa wrote this book in a way that you can really get involved in the story that unfolds. I appreciate the portrayal of Molly's husband and the problems in their marriage. I like that Melissa did not make him go along with Molly's visions with no hesitation. I think it would be difficult to come to terms with something that you don't have experience with. With him being a doctor, I imagine, it would be even harder to accept clairvoyance. While the main mystery is the disappearance of Tracey, there is a enough mysterious things to keep you guessing on how this will end. Enough so that I did not guess the ending. The characters were well developed and I could understand the psychological changes that a few of them were going through. Melissa Foster did an exceptional job with Chasing Amanda. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a good horror/mystery. The story line is complete and fascinating. The mystery was not easily solved for me even though I knew and understood the players. This is one of my favorite mysteries I have read this year. I can see why it won 2 awards in the Readers Favorite Award for Women's Fiction and Suspense/Mystery and also the Global eBook Award by Dan Poynter. A reader's guide is available on the author's website which makes this an excellent choice for reading groups.
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Comments Always Welcome!
1 comment:
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.
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