I wanted to share

 what's on my bookshelf this month -  

Let's get started - 

 "Years ago, in the town of Saxon Falls, young Kelsey Willard disappeared and was presumed dead. The tragedy left her family with a fractured life--a mother out to numb the pain, a father losing a battle with his own private demons, and a sister desperate for closure. But now another teenage girl has gone missing. It's ripping open old wounds for the Willards, dragging them back into a painful past, and leaving them unprepared for where it will take them next." **

I've finished this book and thought it was a wonderful [ albeit, sad] mystery.

It kept me guessing all the way through  and I was surprised by the outcome. 

[The best kind of mystery, right?]

There's language and situations, but I was blat to overlook that for an intriguing story -

 "Are you a follower of Jesus? Don't answer too quickly. In fact, you may want to read this book before you answer at all. Consider it a “Define the Relationship” conversation to determine exactly where you stand. You may indeed be a passionate, fully devoted follower of Jesus. Or, you may be just a fan who admires Jesus but isn't ready to let him cramp your style. Then again, maybe you're not into Jesus, period. In any case, don't take the question—Are you a follower of Jesus?—lightly. Some people don't know what they've said yes to and other people don't realize what they've said no to, says Pastor Kyle Idleman. But Jesus is ready to clearly define the relationship he wants with his followers. Not a Fan calls you to consider the demands and rewards of being a true disciple. With frankness sprinkled with humor, Idleman invites you to live the way Jesus lived, love the way he loved, pray the way he prayed, and never give up living for the One who gave his all for you." **

I'm smack in the middle of this one - and I'm enjoying it. This pastor has a fun way of writing and making our relationship with Jesus real. 

"It's the last day of 1984, and 85-year-old Lillian Boxfish is about to take a walk. As she crosses the unsafe landscape of a run-down Manhattan, a city anxious after an attack by a still-at-large subway vigilante, she encounters bartenders, bodega clerks, chauffeurs, security guards, bohemians, criminals, children, parents, and parents-to-be-in surprising moments of generosity and grace. As she strolls, she recalls a long and eventful life that included a brief reign as the highest-paid advertising woman in America, cut short by marriage, motherhood, divorce, and a breakdown. A love letter to city life no matter how shiny or sleazy, Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney paints a portrait of a remarkable woman across the canvas of a changing America: from the Jazz Age to the onset of the AIDS epidemic, from the Great Depression to the birth of hip-hop." ** 

I've just started this one and am loving it as a bit of reading before bed. 

It's not a stay-up-all-night to read kind of book for me, but I'm enjoying reading and seeing how life was for a woman in teh work force, waaaaay back when...

"Beauty, like truth, is enduring. But only one can set you free. MAGGIE BLACK CAME OF AGE in the lush, fragrant lowcountry of South Carolina—spending her days with her beloved brother and the boy she would grow up to marry. But when a stranger arrived one summer, Maggie couldn’t imagine the evil he would bring with him. And though she escaped with her life, the ramifications of that fateful summer would alter all of their lives forever. Now, some eighty years later, Maggie and her husband George are spending their remaining days in a nursing home, helpless as age slowly robs Maggie of her ability to communicate. When a mysterious package arrives, followed closely by a stranger whose identity haunts them, Maggie and George are hemmed in by a history they’d rather forget. As the truth reveals itself, George knows he must face the past and its lifetime of  repercussions. It’s the only way to free himself and his precious wife—if it’s not too late. The Inheritance of Beauty is a rich and enchanting story about age and beauty and the ability of true beauty to transcend one's life." **
I've just picked this on up today - but the from the excerpts I've read, I'm pretty sure it will be a non-stop reading once I get started - I'll let you know how it goes - 

Share the books you're reading so I can add them to my 'want to read' list on GoodReads.

*** ALL descriptions are from Amazon -