Review and Giveaway - The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf

The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf







rating: 4.5/5.0









From Paperbackswap.com:

It happens quietly one August morning. As dawn's shimmering light drenches the humid Iowa air, two families awaken to find their little girls have gone missing in the night.

Seven-year-old Calli Clark is sweet, gentle, a dreamer who suffers from selective mutism brought on by a tragedy that pulled her deep into silence as a toddler. Calli's mother, Antonia, tried to be the best mother she could within the confines of marriage to a mostly absent, often angry husband. Now, though she denies that her husband could be involved in the possible abductions, she fears her decision to stay in her marriage has cost her more than her daughter's voice.

Petra Gregory is Calli's best friend, her soul mate and her voice. But neither Petra nor Calli has been heard from since their disappearance was discovered. Desperate to find his child, Martin Gregory is forced to confront a side of himself he did not know existed beneath his intellectual, professorial demeanor.

Now these families are tied by the question of what happened to their children. And the answer is trapped in the silence of unspoken family secrets.

With the push of Borders and others reading this, The Weight of Silence is currently 5th on the NY Times Bestseller list - how awesome is that for a debut author.

I can completely see why. I started this book, not quite knowing what to expect except that it sounded like a great story. I was correct there, but it is so much more. Told from various perspectives of those affected on the day of the girls' disappearance I slowly learned what happened, but also got a deeper look into each of the characters. I was kept in suspense the entire time, never quite figuring out who did it. While suspense is usually what entices me the most, the storytelling from all the points of view really sells the book. Getting into the characters heads and seeing all the different characters from other points of view made this book fascinating. Add in the excellent suspense and this book is a complete winner in my book.

So give this first time author a chance, you won't regret it. The Weight of Silence will suck you in from the first page and as the lives of the main characters unravel in front of your eyes you won't want to put this one donw.

Binding: Paperback
On-sale Date: August 1, 2009
Publisher: Mira
Pages: 202

Thanks to the publisher for my ARC. Also I would like to give away my ARC. I will open the contest today through September 12th. US and Canada residents only please. Please enter by:

1. Commenting on my blog, make sure I have a way to contact you. (+1)
   
2. Become a blog follower or let me know if you are already a follower (+1)
3. Tell me what makes you give a new author a try (book cover, back of the book, word of mouth, etc.) (+1)
4. Tweet about this review and giveaway, use @cfulcher in the tweet so I can find it (+1)
5. Follow me on Twitter (or let me know if you are a current follower) (+1)
6. Blog about this contest and let me know the link (sidebar or post is fine) (+1)

So there you go - 6 ways to get an entry into this contest. You can leave them in separate posts or one post, it doesn't matter, I will make sure you get your entries, just make sure to let me know what you do.