Book Review & Giveaway: The Midwife's Confession by Diane Chamberlain

The Midwife's Confession by Diane Chamberlain

Publisher: MIRA books

Publish Date: April 26, 2011

Paperback, 432 pages 
Fiction, Women's Fiction
 ISBN: 978-0778329862

My Review:
Why I read this: I find this sad to admit but I have not read Diane Chamberlain before, though I have been meaning to for several years, so when Tricia Carr offered me this book I jumped at the chance.



My thoughts:  The Midwife's Confession is a deeply moving book full of secrets and the lives of normal people.  I love how the book starts with Noelle and then layer by layer seems to unpeel the lives of Noelle, Tara, Sam and Emerson who were all friends in college.  I also like how the story goes back and forth in point-of-view from all of the main characters so the reader gets to see the story unfold from all sides.

I was drawn in from the first page, but will fully admit after 100 pages it was hard to put down, after 200 pages it was almost impossible to put down and after 300 I only put it down because it was late and I was about to fall asleep.  That is how much this book grabbed me.  Then I jumped up the next morning and as soon as I got my kids off to school finished the book up.  When I finished I felt so many emotions.  This book was not what I expected, it was so much more.  Tara, Emerson and Noelle were all easy to relate to and I thought Ms. Chamberlain did a marvelous job with their development.  Their stories and secrets led the book along at a pace that was amazing.

I don't want to go into much more detail, just know if you are a fan of women's fiction and authors like Jodi Picoult, Kristin Hannah, Elizabeth Berg, Heather Gudenkauf and others like them, and you haven't checked out Ms.Chamberlain's books, then you must and I can highly recommend that you start with The Midwife's Confession.  I now must go and hunt down some of her other books - great for summer reads.

My Rating: 5.0/5.0


About the Book:

When Noelle Downie is found dead of an apparent overdose, her best friends Tara and Emerson are left blindsided by her death and struggling with burning questions. Everything they knew about their longtime friend—her natural calling as a midwife, her passion for causes, her love for her friends and family—portrayed a woman who completely embraced life, not someone suicidal.

Clearing out Noelle’s small home, Tara and Emerson encounter old photos, handwritten birth records, and sincere thank you notes from Noelle’s former patients—no hint that Noelle had been unstable during the years leading to her suicide. But among Noelle’s belongings, an unfinished letter is discovered—a clue to a disturbing past and an unbearable secret. With just one piece to the puzzle, Tara and Emerson commit to digging deeper for clues, slowly peeling back years of hidden deception that had been silently tearing apart their best friend. 

About the Author: 
Bestselling author of The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes and The Lies We Told, Diane Chamberlain returns with her twentieth and most gripping novel to date, THE MIDWIFE’S CONFESSION (Mira Books; May 2011, $15.95), about two women who embark on a investigation of their best friend’s untimely death, ultimately revealing a powerful secret that threatens to destroy everything they thought they knew about her.

Website
Twitter
Facebook
Blog

Giveaway:

Thanks to Tricia Carr at Meryl L. Moss Media Relations I have one copy of The Midwife's Confession by Diane Chamberlain.  Open to US/Canada.  Ends 6/4/2011.  Simply fill out the form below.  For an extra entry, comment below and tell me if you have ever read a Diane Chamberlain book or not (and if you have which one).  Thanks!

FTC Information: I received this book from the Tricia Carr at Meryl L. Moss Media Relations for an honest review.  I have Amazon links on my review pages but I do not make any money from these because of NC laws.  I put them solely for people to check out the books on a retail site.