January's Pick - Review

-Anna
Sometimes when I read, I am a part of the story. I am there with the hero or heroine, fighting the fight, or winning my true love's heart, or making my best friend laugh hilarously at a joke only the two of us get. But then there are times, when I am a viewer only, watching the tale unfold.

Reading The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, I was a viewer only. And I liked it. I let this sad tale, with a dark premise and a somewhat surprising end (even though when you get to the suprise end, you somehow knew it all along) carry me along. I watched the story devolop and deepen with mixed feelings of sadness and horror and approval. And when I got to the end, I was satisfied. This, friends, was a good story.

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January's Pick

-Anna

This month's pick was easy to choose. My bestest friend from way back when (who also has a book club in the eastern part of the country where she lives) sent me The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox as a Christmas present. Before it arrived it was also preceded by this email:

So part of your present is a book. I ordered it before I finished reading it myself because I found it totally engrossing. However, I know you aren't too much a fan of sad stories and this one is sad (says so right on the cover, but for some reason I still wasn't prepared for what happened). So, if you want to return it and get something else, go ahead. It's definitely a good book. Well
written, great for conversation. But not happy.

Sad or not, this peaked my curiosity. And I couldn't return a book, that would be unheard of. So to ensure that I would actually read it and not let it linger on my desk, I picked it for book club. Now it was mandatory reading. And well, you'll just have to find out later what I thought.

P.S. Thanks bestest friend from way back when!

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