Post Reading: What We Saw - Aaron Hartzler

ABOUT THE BOOK

Title: What We Saw
Author:  Aaron Hartzler 
Published: September 22nd 2015 by Harper Teen
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Kate Weston can piece together most of the bash at John Doone’s house: shots with Stacey Stallard, Ben Cody taking her keys and getting her home early—the feeling that maybe he’s becoming more than just the guy she’s known since they were kids.

But when a picture of Stacey passed out over Deacon Mills’s shoulder appears online the next morning, Kate suspects she doesn’t have all the details. When Stacey levels charges against four of Kate’s classmates, the whole town erupts into controversy. Facts that can’t be ignored begin to surface, and every answer Kate finds leads back to the same question: Where was Ben when a terrible crime was committed?

This story—inspired by real events—from debut novelist Aaron Hartzler takes an unflinching look at silence as a form of complicity. It’s a book about the high stakes of speaking up, and the razor thin line between guilt and innocence that so often gets blurred, one hundred and forty characters at a time.

THE REVIEW

If you read one book this year, let it be this one.

I have always gravitated towards the very books that make me uncomfortable. The ones that make me question everything that society has deemed acceptable. The ones  that take root in my mind. The ones that drive me to think.

Aaron Hartzler's debut succeeds on all of these accounts. 

Post Reading: The Moment of Letting Go - J.A. Redmerski

ABOUT THE BOOK

Title: The Moment of Letting Go 
Author: J.A. Redmerski 
Published: August 11th 2015 by Piatkus
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You can follow the rules or you can follow your heart...

Sienna Murphy never does anything without a plan. And so far her plans have been working. Right after college, she got a prestigious job and gained the stability she'd always craved - until work takes her to the sun-drenched shores of Oahu and places her in the path of sexy surfer Luke Everett. For the first time, she lets her heart take control. Drawn to his carefree charm, she makes a spontaneous and very un-Sienna-like decision to drop everything and stay in Hawaii for two more weeks.

Luke lives fast and wild. When he meets Sienna, he's convinced that some no-strings-attached fun is just what she needs. As their nights quickly turn from playful to passionate, Luke can't deny the deep connection he feels. But there's a reason Luke doesn't do long-term. He can't promise Sienna forever, when the enormity of his past has shown him just how fragile the future can be . . .

THE REVIEW

I hated it. I loved it.