Book ~ "Before He Finds Her" (2015) Michael Kardos

From Goodreads ~ Everyone in the quiet Jersey Shore town of Silver Bay knows the story: on a Sunday evening in September 1991, Ramsey Miller threw a blowout block party, then murdered his beautiful wife and three-year old daughter. 

But everyone is wrong, the daughter got away. Now she is nearly eighteen and tired of living in secrecy. Under the name Melanie Denison, she has spent the last fifteen years in small-town West Virginia as part of the Witness Protection Program. She has never been allowed to travel, go to a school dance or even have internet at home. Precautions must be taken at every turn because Ramsey Miller was never caught and might still be looking for his daughter. 

Yet despite strict house rules, Melanie has entered into a relationship with a young teacher at the local high school and is now ten weeks pregnant. She doesn't want her child to live in hiding as she has had to. Defying her guardians and taking matters into her own hands, Melanie returns to Silver Bay in hopes of doing what the authorities failed to do: find her father before he finds her. 

It's September 1991 and Ramsey is throwing a big blow party and has invited his friends and even his Silver Bay neighbours, who he doesn't really know. The reason he's throwing the party eventually comes out and I thought "seriously?!?!". Anyway, by the end of the night, Allison, Ramsey's wife is dead and Meg, their three-year-old daughter, is missing and presumed to be dead. Ramsey has disappeared and it's assumed that he murdered them and then took off.

Fifteen years later, Meg is now Melanie and has been living under a witness protection program, hiding out in rural West Virginia with Uncle Wayne and Aunt Kendra. To keep her protected in case Ramsey ever comes looking for her, Wayne and Kendra have ensured she's led a very sheltered life ... she was homeschooled until grade 12, they have no Internet and she's not even allowed to have a library card as it will leave a record. As she gets closer to age 18, she's tired of living scared and protected and heads back to Silver Bay to look for clues to find her father so she can live a normal life.

This is the first book I've read by this author and I thought it was okay. The book bounces back and forth in time, mainly to 1991 and 2006 (the chapters are labeled). It is written in third person perspective in various characters' voices including Melanie, Ramsey and Allison. I found Melanie a bit unbelievable ... considering how sheltered and naïve she was, there's no way she could venture off to the big city and get along as well as she did. As the story progresses, we learn what happened on the night of the party and the ramifications. I was okay with the whodunnit but wasn't buying the ending which comes together with a tidy bow. As a head's up, there is swearing.

Local Public Eatery, Toronto, ON

Gord and I had a late lunch today at the Local Public Eatery in Liberty Village.

He had The LOCAL Burger (two grilled patties, melted american cheese, caramelized onions, shredded lettuce and secret house sauce) and a salad.

Book ~ "As Close As Sisters" (2014) Colleen Faulkner

From Goodreads ~ Since the age of twelve, McKenzie Arnold has spent every summer at Albany Beach, Delaware, with her best friends Aurora, Janine and Lilly. The seaside house teems with thirty years of memories - some wonderful, others painful - and secrets never divulged beyond its walls. This summer may be the last they spend together, as Janine contemplates selling her family cottage. 

For now, all four enjoy morning beach walks and lazy evenings on the porch, celebrating Lilly's longed-for pregnancy and offering support during McKenzie's greatest crisis. It's a time for laughter and recriminations, a time to forge a new understanding of a long-ago night when Aurora sealed their bond with one devastating act. And as the days gradually shorten, events will unfold in ways that none of them could have predicted, to make this the most momentous summer of all.

Aurora, Janine, Lilly and McKenzie are in their early 40s and have been best friends since they were 12. Aurora is single and a successful but unhappy artist; Janine is a gay police officer; Lilly is married and pregnant with her first child; and McKenzie is divorced, with teenage twin daughters and has terminal cancer. 

Every summer the four spend a month at Janine's family cottage on the beach and this will probably be the last one the four will be there together. Since it's the only time the cottage is used, Janine is thinking about selling it. As the friends enjoy their time together, they deal with tragic events from the past along with coming to terms with having to say good-bye to McKenzie.

This is the first book I've read by this author and I thought it was okay. Because the friends are dealing with McKenzie's cancer, it is a bit of a downer at times (though McKenzie usually deals with her cancer with humour) and some of the backstories were a bit extreme. It is written in first person perspective in each of the friends' voices (the chapters are labeled). I wasn't crazy with the ending and would have liked it to have ended differently for one of the friends. As a head's up, there is swearing.

Happy New Year!

I wish you health ... so you may enjoy each day in comfort.

I wish you the love of friends and family ... and peace within your heart.

I wish you the beauty of nature ... that you may enjoy the work of Mother Nature.

I wish you wisdom to choose priorities ... for those things that really matter in life.

I wish you generosity so you may share ... all good things that come to you.

I wish you happiness and joy ... and blessings for the New Year.

I wish you the best of everything ... that you so well deserve.