Book Review Thursday - 5/30

More books ready to review... I really need to start writing up my reviews as soon as I read the books. lol

Cover of Snow is Jenny Milchman's debut novel and another one that I found via my library's website. The chapters were short and it made the book feel like a quick read, but I think it took me a couple of weeks to read through it.

Nora wakes up late and to an empty bed and things just feel more and more off to her until she finds her husband's body hanging at the top of a stairwell in an apparent suicide. She feels alone in the town where he grew up where they made their life together after college when he decided to move home to be on the police force. Everyone in the police department and the town seem content to believe that Brendan committed suicide, but Nora won't accept it.

As Nora starts asking questions, odd things start happening and then more people die.

I think that it took me about 100 pages to get into the book, but there were quite a f ew things that happened that gave me serious chills and made me continue. The first being Brendan's body falling from the ceiling and landing on Nora at the end of chapter one. Just the thought of that made me cringe! And the snow and weather in the town seemed like it's own character as well - Adirondack Mountains in New York in January is not a place that I would like to visit anytime soon. I can't wait to see what Milchman comes up with for her follow up novel!

The Thorn is the first book in another series by Beverly Lewis. I can remember the first series of Lewis' that I read - Abram's daughters - and I absolutely loved it. I enjoyed reading about the Amish way of life and how drama plays out. I think that I have been trying to find another series that was just as good as Abram's Daughters and I have been so disappointed with many of the books that I have read. I think that this Rose series was just about the closest that I have come. I might just need to stop listening to the Amish books altogether to avoid any other disappointments.

Hen and Rose are sisters. Hen ran off and married an Englisher and Rose joined the church at 15 to make up for Hen's running off. After several years, Hen is starting to regret her choice to leave. Rose is being courted by an Amish fellow and is good friends with the preacher's English foster son, Nick. There is an apparent connection between Rose and Nick, but he doesn't seem to have any inclination to join the Amish church.

I never quite understood why the preacher decided to foster an English boy. It was sort of explained, but not very clearly. I wonder if Amish would foster children and whether they would meet approval through the necessary agencies to be approved for fostering. I think this was the only thing that really stuck out, but as with a lot of books, you have to take most with a grain of salt and suspend reality or belief for a time. Overall, I was pleased with the first installment in the series.

What are you reading? Also, I know that Judy was doing a link up post and she hasn't been doing that lately. Anyone interested in linking up with what they are reading? Just a thought....