The Elements of Counseling Children and Adolescents
Catherine P. Cook-Cottone, Linda S. Kane and Laura M. Anderson
Book
Tailored to the specific needs of the child and adolescent client, this concise, easy-to-read primer...
The Happy Birth Book: Your Trusted A-Z of Pregnancy, Birth and the Early Weeks
Book
'If you're having a baby this is a MUST READ. Get the birth you want whatever path you choose'...
FotoSprint - Print your Photos
Photo & Video and Shopping
App
FotoSprint is the fastest and easiest way you print your cell phone and social network photos. Place...
Viu – TV Shows, movies & more
Entertainment
App
Download the Viu app for free, and instantly access movies, TV shows and songs across various genres...
Strawberry Shortcake Puppy Palace – Pet Salon & Dress Up
Entertainment and Games
App
Budge Studios™ and American Greetings present STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE PUPPY PALACE! Have you ever...
CRM and sales tracking - Sellf
Business and Productivity
App
Sellf is the mobile CRM to bring your sales team’s performance to the next level. Manage...
MyTopFans - Social Tracker
Social Networking and Lifestyle
App
Analyzing your Facebook profile, this app reveals the identity of your fans and their level of...
The Distant Dead
8.0
Rate It
Book
A body burns in the high desert hills. A boy walks into a fire station, pale with the shock of a...
Kristy H (1252 KP) rated Best Intentions in Books
Feb 13, 2018
<i>This was an interesting novel, to say the least.</i> I was immediately drawn to it, as the author apparently lives in Charlottesville, my hometown. This book is set in Richmond, VA, and she certainly captures the area and the state quite well.
The book is told entirely from Marti's perspective and it takes a little while to fall into the pattern of reading, as present-tense and past-tense are presented together in the chapters without any break (at least they were in my ARC), leaving you a bit confused at first. The back and forth can be a little awkward and jarring in the beginning, though once you get used to it, it's a pretty compelling device. The novel isn't exactly exciting in a thriller-type way, but there's <i>a fascinating element to it that keeps you reading.</i>
There's a lot going on in this book--marital issues, a discussion on hospital policies, Marti juggling work and motherhood, investigative journalism, discussion into Richmond politics, etc. Sometimes it seems a little too much: did Marti really need to be the daughter of a Congressman, for instance?
Still, Raskin is a descriptive writer, and her prose is fairly easy to read, and again, as I mentioned, it's a hard-to-put down book. She had me from nearly the beginning, when she described one of the characters as "Tommy Lee Jones in his heyday cute." (She gets me, she really gets me, I thought!)
As the novel progresses, I found it almost Jodi Picoult-esque. There's a strong emphasis on character development, courtroom drama, and plot elements designed to make you think. Sure, the characters are drawn a bit black and white--Elliot bad, Marti good, but it works: Elliot is just so awful you cannot help but like Marti even more. Did I find the novel quite as persuasive and enjoyable as Picoult in her heyday? No. But that's pretty hard to do.
Overall, I enjoyed this one. It's descriptive, oddly compelling, and was a nice change of pace from the thrillers I've been reading lately. Definitely worth a read. I'd go with around 3.75 stars, rounded up to 4 here.
I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Netgalley (thank you!); it is available everywhere as of 08/15/2017.
<center><a href="http://justacatandabookatherside.blogspot.com/">Blog</a>; ~ <a href="https://twitter.com/mwcmoto">Twitter</a>; ~ <a href="https://www.facebook.com/justacatandabook/">Facebook</a>; ~ <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/+KristyHamiltonbooks">Google+</a>; ~ <a href="https://www.instagram.com/justacatandabook/">Instagram</a>; </center>