WHEN SHE WAS GONE: MY REVIEW AND BONUS GIVEAWAY ENTRIES

 GIVEAWAY ENDED 
WHEN SHE WAS GONE

BY GWENDOLEN GROSS

REMINDER ABOUT THE BOOK:

What happened to Linsey Hart? When the Cornell-bound teenager disappears into the steamy blue of a late-summer morning, her quiet neighborhood is left to pick apart the threads of their own lives and assumptions.

Linsey’s neighbors are just ordinary people—but even ordinary people can keep terrible secrets hidden close. There’s Linsey’s mother, Abigail, whose door-to-door searching makes her social-outcast status painfully obvious; Mr. Leonard, the quiet, retired piano teacher with insomnia, who saw Linsey leave; Reeva, the queen bee of a clique of mothers, now obsessed with a secret interest; Timmy, Linsey’s lovelorn ex-boyfriend; and George, an eleven-year-old loner who is determined to find out what happened to his missing neighbor. 

As the days of Linsey’s absence tick by, dread and hope threaten to tear a community apart. This luminous new novel by the acclaimed author of The Orphan Sister explores coming of age in the shadows of a suburban life, and what is revealed when the light suddenly shines in. . . 

MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Gwendolen Gross is the author of five critically acclaimed novels, including The Orphan Sister and The Other Mother. She lives in Northern New Jersey with her husband, daughter, and son.

In the "Author Revealed" section of her bio for Simon & Schuster, the following interesting facts about Gross were revealed:

Q. What is your motto or maxim? 
A. fall in love with revision

Q. How would you describe your life in only 8 words? 

A. hatched, ran about, love, make things, write, more

OTHER BOOKS FROM GWENDOLEN GROSS:

                     

                        

MY THOUGHTS/REVIEW:
WHEN SHE WAS GONE by Gwendolen Gross is a story we first think is about the disappearance of a girl who is about to head off to college. While Linsey Hart does indeed walk out one morning and totally disappears, the story then goes on to be about the people in her community that she left behind. The narrative is told from the viewpoints of the neighbors instead of from Linsey. I found myself getting caught up in the people behind the nearby front doors as the drama and angst of their own lives is revealed. How they each deal with Linsey’s disappearance is interesting as it plays out from their own perspective.

Some of them are easy to like while a few were just not the kind of people I would want to have around me especially at a time like this. Linsey’s mother, Abigal, is beside herself and seeks any help she can get and yet some people literally close the door in her face. While the story is supposedly taking only a week, it seemed much longer. I did get a bit tired of not knowing anything about what happened to Linsey for so long. Gross does eventually take readers back to the original premise but by that time, I had almost forgotten the reason for the book to begin with. WHEN SHE WAS GONE was a different kind of story but it held my interest and was an easy read.

   GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO STEPHANIE AND THE GOOD FOLKS

AT GALLERY AND SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS, I 

HAVE ONE COPY OF THIS THRILLER, WHEN SHE

WAS GONE, TO GIVE AWAY TO A FOLLOWER

 
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GIVEAWAY ENDS AT 
6 PM, EST, MARCH 28 

GOOD LUCK!