The truth of what really happened between Paul and Lee and Wendy is told primarily through a series of interviews between Paul and Dr. Lisa Boyers, a forensic psychologist with her own troubled past. As Paul relates how he met both Lee and Wendy and shares the disturbing patterns that developed among them, Dr. Boyers must face not only the memories of her own difficult childhood and abusive marriage, a relationship that ended only with the death of her husband, but also the media attention that includes their delving into her past looking for dirt.

It seems that my reading has definitely veered towards the dark side lately, with this being my third review in a month that involves abuse issues or dysfunctional teenage relationships, or both. While I wouldn’t seek that out just for the sake of it, I have found all of them to be quite well written, each in their own way.

With Lovesick, I found myself squeezing in a few pages whenever I had a moment to spare, not wanting to wait any longer than absolutely necessary to find out the conclusion for both stories. This was definitely a psychological thrill ride worth taking!

Lovesick was published as an ebook in October 2011 and is coming out in hard copy this June. Right now, we have one galley copy to give away. Just leave a comment below to be entered to win – US & Canada only. We’ll announce the winner in our giveaway column on February 22nd.

Don’t miss a thing: Check out our current giveaways. Subscribe to our feed or video reviews on YouTube. Follow us @5M4B on Twitter or on Facebook.

Trish thanks Media Muscle and PublishingWorks, Inc. for the review copy of this book. When she can pull herself away from her reading, Trish blogs at In So Many Words.

Along the Maine Turnpike, there’s a rest stop at mile 81. Closed by the state to save money, it once housed a Burger King, gas station and other typical rest stop fare. 10 year old Pete Simmons, on his own for the day when his older brother won’t let him hang out with him and his friends, explores the rest stop and discovers among other things, a bottle of vodka. After partaking in some of the alcohol, Pete takes a nap, and while he’s asleep, a mud-covered vehicle that could be a Chevy or a Ford pulls up, and the door opens. If you’re a fan of King or just horror in general, it’s pretty clear what’s going to happen, but King’s masterful storytelling keeps the reader — listener in my case — enthralled by the story. The ending was a bit abrupt, but in hindsight, it was one I should have seen coming.

In addition to the title story, the audiobook also contains “The Dune,” a short story about a nonagenarian who’s been visiting a small island since his childhood. What he learns at the island horrifies him, but he can’t stop going back. He finally tells the story to his lawyer, for good reason, and the ending to this one is a bit more satisfying than to the ending of “Mile 81.”

Finally, the last segment on Mile 81 is an excerpt from 11/22/63. However, if you haven’t read the book, I wouldn’t recommend listening to the excerpt, as in my opinion it gives away a bit too much of the story. Entertainment Weekly published an excerpt from much earlier in the book and it’s a much better glimpse into the story.

Notes on the Audiobook: As mentioned above, the Mile 81 audiobook consists of a novella, a short story and an excerpt from 11/22/63, so the whole thing is only 2 discs. At a running time of 1:45, the “Mile 81″ novella is good for housecleaning or other chores, and “The Dune” is only 30 minutes. I listened to the whole thing over the course of a weekend.

Nancy doesn’t read much horror these days, but enjoys the occasional foray into the genre. She writes about her 2 boys, books and life in Colorado at Life With My Boys and Books.

Jolene Zarkades lost her parents in a car accident when she was 17. With no family and no money, she turned to the Army, where she found a different kind of family. 12 years later, she’s married to Michael, a successful lawyer, mother of two girls, and flying helicopters with her best friend for the National Guard. Jolene and Michael’s marriage has hit a rocky patch. Jolene is strong, self-reliant and refuses to ask for help. Michael, following in his father’s footsteps, spends too many hours at work and his family suffers for his seeming lack of interest in them. But when Jolene’s unit is deployed to Iraq, her family’s world is turned upside down. While she lives in constant fear of IEDs, attacks on the base and her Black Hawk getting shot down, Michael finally puts his family first and wonders how he can repair the marriage that’s broken partly (mostly) because of his selfish behavior.

In the year that Home Front covers, each member of the Zarkades family goes through major changes, which is what makes good character-driven fiction, in my book (no pun intended!). Most of them start out pretty unlikeable — even Jolene, the seemingly perfect mother, has her flaws — and while Jolene’s going to war is a less than ideal situation they all come out having grown and learned from the experience.

I will warn interested readers that the content in Home Front is not light or warm and fuzzy. A family torn apart by war is emotionally unstable and the language used in times of anger and frustration only added to the realism for me but others may disapprove.

Notes on the audiobook: Maggi-Meg Reed is becoming the narrator of choice for popular women’s fiction, and for good reason. She conveys emotions in ways that evoke a strong reaction from the listener. This is not a book to listen to while driving because tears caused by the many heartbreaking moments are not conducive to safe driving.

Macmillan Audio is providing us with an audio copy of Home Front for one winner, U.S. addresses only. Please leave a comment to enter to win. The winner will be announced on February 22.

• The winner of the A Wrinkle in Time 50th Anniversary giveaway is #14 Cindi
• The winner of the Four Letter Words giveaway is #3, Emily C.

Don’t miss a thing: Check out our current giveaways. Subscribe to our feed or video reviews on YouTube. Follow us @5M4B on Twitter or on Facebook.

Nancy couldn’t imagine leaving her family and going off to war, but is thankful to those who do serve their country. She writes about her 2 boys, books and life in Colorado at Life With My Boys and Books.

Hannah Benson fled her abusive home as a teenager and has worked hard to move past the pain and dysfunction that defined her early life. Now the owner of a small insurance company, she is surprised one day by a phone call informing her that her mother and sister are both dead, leaving a niece, Anna, to her care. Joe, her mentor and former boss, pushes her to return to a town she had planned never to see again and to at least meet Anna before making a decision, so Hannah reluctantly makes the trip back to Clearfield.

In Clearfield, we meet a cast of characters, featuring Anna and her best friends Cal and Lucy, children of Hannah’s first love, Grady Steadman. Grady’s mother is also a fixture in their lives – as she has helped raised his kids since their mother took off years ago. Although Hannah arrives with a plan to clean out the house and move Anna to Baltimore within two weeks, she finds herself torn between her need to escape the place where she endured so much pain and Anna’s evident desire not to miss out on her upcoming track meets, as well as the high school prom.

Even as she allows the present day drama to unfold, McComas artfully weaves in Hannah’s memories of her childhood and adolescence, often showing the same event from Grady’s perspective as well as Hannah’s. As they gradually come to trust each other again, the truth about the circumstances surrounding Hannah’s disappearance also begin to emerge from the shadows, testing their tenuous relationship.

I truly enjoyed this novel. Despite the serious subject matter, I found myself picking up the book at every opportunity to find out more of the story and see What Happened to Hannah.

A galley copy of this book was provided by William Morrow Publishing. See what else Trish has been reading at her blog, In So Many Words.

Kate Sanford lives on the hope that she will someday become a writer for the music magazine she adores. She knows music, and she’s fairly certain she’s got the writing chops to make it, but the puzzle pieces haven’t exactly fallen into place yet. But when the gods smile upon her and she lands the interview, she ends up sabotaging her own future with her partying ways. But, as a result of her drunken appearance at the interview, she is called back for an assignment… one that most people would consider dark and amoral. In her desperation, Kate accepts the assignment, not thinking it through, but only seeing the possibilities it could bring about. Little does she know that thirty days in rehab, supposedly there to get the scoop on a celeb best known for her appearances on the covers of gossip magazines, will really change her life in ways she never could have expected.

McKenzie presents these characters with all their flaws on full display, yet readers may find themselves liking Kate even as they want to shake some sense into her. Scenes that should be full of pain somehow manage to play to a dark sense of humor, so that I was laughing even while trying not to judge Kate too much. Personal transformation is a key theme here, and McKenzie also makes a fairly strong statement about how we all– celebrity or not– present ourselves in ways that may not be true to who we are.

Spin is a quick read, full of laughs and true heart, and even a little peek into the surreal world of celebrity.

Dawn’s lives in a world far from celebrity, but doesn’t mind a literary trip now and then. She can be found in her online world at my thoughts exactly.

For me, variety is good — both food wise and in my literary pursuits. I love reading fiction that makes me think, and feel, and cry. I return to deeply-drawn characters again and again in my mind. I also am affected by reading people’s true stories in memoir or biography form, learning from both their successes and failures. Interesting nonfiction presents information in a way that rewards my time with knowledge. Books help strengthen my faith or my knowledge of the things of God.

But sometimes I just want to be entertained. I want to read a page-turning suspense novel or a mindless romance. They are often formulaic and won’t likely stick with me for longer than the handful of hours that it might take me to finish it. But they are enjoyable. Like candy, they sometimes leave me craving more. Like candy, they are easy and pleasant to digest.

We were staying at my in-laws’ house at Christmas. They are both readers, and so there are newspapers and magazines, paperbacks, and library books all over the house. I noticed a Dean Koontz title in a stack of my father-in-law’s books. It looked interesting, and I used to enjoy his books, so I picked it up. Pretty soon I was immersed in The Good Guy.

It was suspenseful, interesting, and entertaining — perfect for sitting in the living room with the family and reading a chapter here or there.

My father-in-law’s mother is also a big reader, and usually gives books at Christmas. This year she gave me a Nicholas Sparks book, Safe Haven. I have read a few of his novels, but it’s been a while. I was actually pleasantly surprised by this one, because like Koontz’s novel, it had some danger and suspense and was a bit of a thriller, instead of 100% romance.

There was a time in my life that these types of books made up the vast majority of my reading diet. They became routine and expected. Can you eat too much candy? Maybe. All I know is that after not having read anything like these two in a while, I genuinely enjoyed them.

What’s more, just like the sweet and delicious chocolately goodness, they left me craving more.

Jennifer Donovan blogs at Snapshot about life in Houston in her house full of bookworms.

After Julia appears on a nationwide talk show – think The View – she catches the attention of Whole Foods, who wants to stock her muffets (as in Little Miss, who sat on her tuffet) on a trial basis. She starts spending more time and money trying to meet their demands and begins to wonder if she can really handle a large distribution. Her partnership with Whole Foods also gets her into an organic trade show where she’s approached by a corporation that purchases small brands with potential. Julia realizes it’s all or nothing – sell her business to this corporation, or throw in the towel.

Author Sarah Pinneo is also a cookbook author and certain chapters of Julia’s Child end with a recipe, usually one that’s related to what happened in the chapter. When the talk show host proclaims her daughter loves the apple and cheddar muffets, the recipe is provided. Instructions on how to make gingerbread play-doh follow Julia keeping her toddler busy while she made dinner. The recipes are easy to follow and are tailored to a mom trying to cook with a toddler underfoot, so include ways the toddler can help.

There are a few minor plots that have potential but kind of peter out – a hypocritical neighbor who has banned food in the playroom, the Italian man who rents Julia freezer space has more influence on the stores that carry her products than she realizes. While Julia is well developed, I’d have liked to learn more about Marta and how she came to be a welfare mom before Julia hired her. Luke is a bit too perfect and supportive of Julia, always ready with a glass of wine but not much in the way of helpful advice. Her kids are well aware that Julia works too much but when Jasper starts refusing to eat the muffets, Julia misses the obvious reason that he’d rather have his mom than the muffets.

Julia’s Child is a fun fictitious look into the life of a “mompreneur” and I think most moms will relate to her – if you don’t agree with her strict organic, natural attitudes toward food, I’m sure you know someone who does.

Nancy isn’t much of a cook but she sure likes to eat. She writes about her 2 boys, books and life in Colorado at Life With My Boys and Books.

Set against the tapestry of a changing China, All the Flowers in Shanghai is an epic story about love, forgiveness, choices, and consequences. Feng is a vulnerable girl, happy to be the second-born without the pressures of her older sister. Feng’s abrupt removal from her peaceful life drew me into the story, evoking my sympathy and capturing my attention. The narrative, which covers several decades, is touching and gripping, but the story is not without faults. The primary expectation of Feng is that she will produce a male heir. The details surrounding this responsibility were entirely too graphic. As many of you know, I often review Christian fiction titles for this site, so I feel I must warn you about the descriptive scenes found in this book. While I am glad I finished the story, I was close to putting the book down on multiple occasions. Although I could have done without these scenes, I appreciated the historical context and the real consequences that Feng faced because of her actions. While Feng’s bitterness is understandable, her heartless choices are devastating. As the years go by, Feng moves forward, finding a measure of happiness, but a reckoning awaits. In the end, Feng must learn to live with her choices, while searching for peace in the midst of a country engulfed in a fast-moving revolution.

All the Flowers in Shanghai is a fascinating novel, and one I enjoyed. Although I recommend it with caution, Duncan Jepson has created a moving story and a dramatic glimpse into a world that is far removed from our own.

Lauren is a wife, mother of two, and an avid reader. She thanks William Morrow for the review copy of this book. Lauren blogs at Baseballs and Bows.