These Things Hidden

These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauf

Allison Glenn, once the golden girl in her parents eyes, is being released from a women's correctional facility after serving 5 years for a horrific crime that she committed at the age of fifteen. Reluctantly, she enters a halfway house that her attorney has found for her and soon finds employment at a local book store. Allison so desperately wishes to put her past behind her, but the taunting behavior of her fellow halfway house occupants and the indifference that her family portrays leaves her heavy-hearted and doubtful.

Allison's younger sister, Brynn, has always hovered in the shadow of her near-perfect sister. Yet after her sister's arrest and conviction, she shoulders the burden of her sister's sin alone and soon self-destructs. Brynn is sent packing to her grandparents where she begins to thrive. She wants to forget Allison, yet is unable to do so.

Claire Kelby owns the local book store and hires Allison Glenn as a part-time employee. Claire and her husband, Jonathan have an adopted five-year-old son, Joshua. As an infant, Joshua had been left abandoned at the Linden Falls fire station.

Charm Tullia, a young woman in her early twenties, lives with her stepfather, Gus, a retired fireman who is terminally ill with lung cancer. She chose to stay with her stepfather after her mother decided to leave Gus. Charm continues to care for him as his illness progresses, all the while attending nurses' training courses.

A heart-wrenching read in which four female characters weave a tale of secrets, secrets that entwine and eventually unravel.

Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks

When a mysterious young woman named Katie appears in the small North Caroline town of Southport, her sudden arrival raises questions about her past. Beautiful yet self-effacing, Katie seems determined to avoid forming personal ties until a series of events draws her into two reluctant relationships; one with Alex, a widowed store owner with a kind heart and two young children; and another with her plainspoken single neighbor, Jo. Despite her reservations, Katie slowly begins to let down her guard, putting down roots in the close-knit community and becoming increasingly attached to Alex and his family.

But even as Katie begins to fall in love, she struggles with the dark secret that still haunts and terrifes her. With Jo's empathic and stubborn support, Katie eventually realizes that she must choose between a life of transient safety and one of riskier rewards and that in the darkest hour, love is the only true safe haven.

Nicholas Sparks has done it again, Safe Haven, is a well written book with several surprises along the way.

Little Princes

I can't rave enough about this true story of a man going to Nepal for a 3 month stint working with orphans and making it his lifetime mission to rescue trafficked children from evil people. Connor Grennan tells his story in Little Princes, a story that will pull your heartstrings. You will learn about the country of Nepal, it's inner wars, it's poverty, it's people, and it's children! You will love the children. This book is special and lets you see how one ordinary young man, who had no clue his heart would be captured and used to make a difference in so many young lives, can be used for extraordiany things. It gives us hope.