LEAVING TIME: A REVIEW AND DOUBLE BOOK GIVEAWAY

GIVEAWAY ENDED
LEAVING TIME

BY JODI PICOULT

A Double Picoult Giveaway
Your Choice: Audio Book or Hardback

REMINDER ABOUT THE BOOK:
Throughout her blockbuster career, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult has seamlessly blended nuanced characters, riveting plots, and rich prose, brilliantly creating stories that “not only provoke the mind but touch the flawed souls in all of us” (The Boston Globe). Now, in her highly anticipated new book, she has delivered her most affecting novel yet—and one unlike anything she’s written before.

For more than a decade, Jenna Metcalf has never stopped thinking about her mother, Alice, who mysteriously disappeared in the wake of a tragic accident. Refusing to believe that she would be abandoned as a young child, Jenna searches for her mother regularly online and pores over the pages of Alice’s old journals. A scientist who studied grief among elephants, Alice wrote mostly of her research among the animals she loved, yet Jenna hopes the entries will provide a clue to her mother’s whereabouts.

Desperate to find the truth, Jenna enlists two unlikely allies in her quest. The first is Serenity Jones, a psychic who rose to fame finding missing persons—only to later doubt her gifts. The second is Virgil Stanhope, a jaded private detective who originally investigated Alice’s case along with the strange, possibly linked death of one of her colleagues. As the three work together to uncover what happened to Alice, they realize that in asking hard questions, they’ll have to face even harder answers.

As Jenna’s memories dovetail with the events in her mother’s journals, the story races to a mesmerizing finish. A deeply moving, gripping, and intelligent page-turner, Leaving Time is Jodi Picoult at the height of her powers.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jodi Picoult is the author of twenty-two novels, including the #1 New York Times bestsellers The Storyteller, Lone Wolf, Between the Lines, Sing You Home, House Rules, Handle with Care, Change of Heart, Nineteen Minutes, and My Sister’s Keeper. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband and three children.

To find out more about this amazing author, please visit her website "Bio" HERE!

SOME OTHER BOOKS BY JODI PICOULT:

                     

                     

MY THOUGHTS/REVIEW:

Talk about icing on the cake! Hearing Jodi Picoult talk about her latest bestseller, LEAVING TIME, just hours after I had finished reading the book was only outdone by personally meeting her. As one of my contemporary literary idols, I am happy to report that she did not disappoint in any way. LEAVING TIME just may be my new favorite Jodi Picoult novel in which I still found her attention getting, fully developed characters embroiled in a richly woven plot. However, I was entranced by her far from usual storyline and extremely surprising ending. Picoult still deals with important social issues to the point that you can’t wait to discuss the book when you finish reading it, and will have characters that stay with you long after you turn that last page.

Told from the point of view of several key characters, LEAVING TIME centers on a mother-daughter relationship in which Jenna, the 13-year old daughter is searching for her mother Alice Metcalf. Alice's story is that of a scientist devoted to studying elephants and in particular, researching their emotions and the impact that loss and grieving has not only on themselves, but also on all the other elephants in their pack. Her work becomes her life, and it is filled with several deep and intriguing relationships, both with humans and with elephants. Through Alice's story and flashbacks, readers learn so much about the role baby Jenna played in Alice's life, as well as the almost obsessive life she leads with the amazing elephants. Their story is one that makes you want to learn even more about them. I never thought I would become so drawn into a story of how elephants behave and live as I did. Picoult's research of the species was fascinating to hear and read about. 

Jenna was abandoned by her mother ten years before but she knows that Alice is out there somewhere, and so makes it her goal to find, and be reunited with, her mother. Jenna is very clever and an easy to like character who realizes she can't find Alice on her own. Enlisting the help of Serenity Jones, a once famous psychic who has fallen from grace, and a former policeman and current private investigator, Virgil Stanhope, the three become very close as they work on the case.  Jenna knows Alice disappeared from an elephant sanctuary the same night there was a death there when someone was supposedly trampled by an elephant. Virgil had actually been there working on the crime when it happened. He always regretted not finding an answer to the mystery of what happened that night. Several other key characters at the sanctuary include Alice's husband, Thomas, and a faithful worker, Gideon, who play into the mystery of Alice's disappearance. 

How the story of Jenna and Alice plays out will keep you turning pages, or listening to audio, far into the night. Just when this supposedly savvy reader thought she had it all figured out, Jodi Picoult showed me why she is the fabulous writer that she is. The twists and turns, and especially the ending humbled me. I realized that I have a lot to learn before I can outguess Ms. Picoult! But what a joy it is trying to do that and looking toward to more of her work in the future. I strongly recommend you read the novella of LARGER THAN LIFE before reading LEAVING TIME. While LEAVING TIME stands quite well on its own, LARGER THAN LIFE just adds that extra insight to make it even more interesting.

GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO MY FRIENDS AT RANDOM HOUSE

I HAVE ONE COPY OF JODI PICOULT'S NEW

BEST SELLING BOOK, OR AUDIO BOOK, 

LEAVING TIME (Choose the format you want)

TO GIVE AWAY TO ONE LUCKY WINNER 
ALONG WITH A COPY OF LARGER THAN LIFE

 

--U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY 
--NO P. O. BOXES
---INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
IN CASE YOU WIN!
--ALL COMMENTS MUST BE SEPARATE TO 
COUNT AS MORE THAN ONE!
 

HOW TO ENTER:

+1 ENTRY: COMMENT ON WHAT YOU READ ABOVE IN MY REVIEW AND WHY THAT HOPEFULLY MADE YOU WANT TO WIN LEAVING TIME. REMIND ME ABOUT THE FORMAT YOU WOULD LIKE IF YOU WIN: HARDBACK OR AUDIO BOOK?

+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON SOMETHING YOU FOUND INTERESTING WHEN YOU VISIT JODI PICOULT'S WEBSITE HERE

+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON ONE WAY YOU FOLLOW MY BLOG. IF YOU FOLLOW MORE THAN ONE WAY, YOU CAN COMMENT SEPARATELY AND EACH WILL COUNT AS AN ENTRY

+1 MORE ENTRY: BE SURE AND GO COMMENT ON THE LARGER THAN LIFE REVIEW HERE SO THAT YOU CAN ALSO HAVE THOSE COMMENTS COUNT...THE MORE COMMENTS, THE BETTER YOUR CHANCE OF WINNING

+1 MORE ENTRY: ALSO, BE SURE AND GO COMMENT ON THE LEAVING TIME PREVIEW AND HOW I MET JODI PICOULT POST HERE SO THAT YOU CAN ALSO HAVE THOSE COMMENTS COUNT! YES, THE MORE YOU COMMENT, THE BETTER YOUR CHANCE OF WINNING!

GIVEAWAY ENDS AT

6 PM, EST, NOVEMBER 21!