Secrets She Left Behind

After spending most of the summer not doing any leisure reading, I stupidly decided to pick up some books that I've had sitting around mid-August and start them--right around the same time school started back up. Terrible timing. I'm one of those readers where once I get in a book I don't want to set it down--not for work, not to eat, not for anything. The upside of this is that once I get to that point in a book it usually only takes me another day (or two at the most) to finish it so I manage to get back to my normal life pretty quickly.

This was one of those books that totally sucked me in. I foolishly brought it along when Darrell and I went camping over Labor Day, and spent the majority of one day in my hammock reading it. Great for relaxing--not great for spending time with my husband. I really loved the depth of characters in this book, and Chamberlain does a wonderful job telling the story through the eyes of the four main characters and staying true to their personality and way of talking. When she switched narrators I really felt like I was talking with a completely different person, sometimes forgetting that all the characters were penned by the same writer.

And of course, beyond just the characters themselves, the plot of the book was wonderfully paced. There were definite "I can't turn the page fast enough" moments, but mixed in with plenty of calmer "I could close the book after this chapter (if I really wanted to) and not be dying of suspense" moments. Plus, I've actually been to the place where the book was written, so it was really fun stumbling across familiar landmarks in the author's descriptions.

Hold the phone. I totally just learned that this book is (according to Amazon.com) a "follow up to Before the Storm that can stand alone as a fast-paced read". What?!?! I'm way upset I didn't know that before I read Secrets She Left Behind; now I feel like a lot of the things that were plot twists to me were actually giveaways to what happened in Before the Storm. Sigh. Guess I'll just have to read the first one to find out for sure.

And that, my friends, is the best accolade that I can give a book--not that I will read the same book again (there is too much great literature out there for that!), but that I will actively seek out other books by this author because I have been totally sucked in to her writing style.