I was really excited to read Still Missing by Chevy Stevens. All I knew is that you get the story doled out to you while the main character is talking to her therapist. I was sold.

Annie, a real estate agent, is closing down her open house when someone pulls up and wants to take a look inside the house she’s showing. This man abducts her and takes her to a remote cabin where he holds her hostage, rapes her, and terrorizes her. The reader is doled out the story as Annie goes to therapy sessions, so you know she escaped or was released, but how that happened you won’t know until Annie gets to that part of the story with her therapist. Parallel to this, Annie is also dealing with the investigation that’s going on. She didn’t know who her captor was, where she was being held, or why she was abducted.

I couldn’t put this book down.

Could.

Not.

Put.

It.

Down.

Still Missing is such an engrossing book that I found myself up late at night wanting to read one more chapter. I love books that suck me in and won’t let me go until the last page, which this book definitely did.

I sympathized with Annie most of the time, but was put off by her attitude towards her therapist. I imagine that to get through something as horrific as an abduction and rape, you have to shut a part of yourself off, but her attitude was still grating:

But don’t get me wrong, just because you look like someone’s grandmother — you should be knitting, not taking notes — doesn’t mean I like being here. And telling me to call you Nadine? Not sure what that’s all about, but let me guess, I have your first name, so now I’m supposed to feel like we’re buddies and it’s okay for me to tell you stuff I don’t want to remember, let alone talk about? Sorry, I’m not paying you to be my friend, so if it’s all the same to you I’ll just stick with Doc.

And while we’re getting shit straight here, let’s lay down some ground rules before we start this joyride. If we’re going to do this, it’s going to be done my way. That means no questions from you. Not even one sneaky little “How did that make you fell when…” I’ll tell the story from the beginning, and when I’m interested in hearing what you have to say, I’ll let you know.

Annie loses a little of that chip on her shoulder as the book progresses, and I know why she’s so bitter and angry, but this attitude didn’t do anything to endear me to her in the beginning.

This is a very plot driven novel, as many mystery/thriller/suspense books are. I liked the pace with which the plot progressed, and I especially liked the WTF twist that the plot took towards the end. It wasn’t something I was expecting, and while it was a little out there in the believability realm, it was actually something that I could see happening.

When Annie escapes from her abductor and there’s an ongoing investigation, Annie naturally becomes attracted to one of the investigators on her case. I was disappointed that the author let them strike up a…rendezvous. I know these things happen, but I was hoping for a little more moral fiber from the investigator (even though my heart was like Heck yes! Get it on!).

Still Missing is an extremely impressive debut, and I look forward to Chevy Stevens’ next book (who I hope can write FAST).

Rating: 92 for plot, 85 for characters and how I felt about them, so…88.5.

Chevy Stevens’ website: www.chevystevens.com.

I’ve got FIVE copies of Still Missing to giveaway! Just leave a comment telling me your favorite mystery/suspense/thriller book, and you’re entered to win! Contest closes on Saturday, August 5th at 11:59pm PST. Contest is open worldwide.

I have a theory but I can’t figure out what it means.

Have you noticed that the titles of The Hunger Games trilogy go from three words, to two words, to one word?

The Hunger Games

Catching Fire

Mockingjay

I like to think that it has something to do with Katniss and Gale getting together. Perhaps the first title represents Katniss, Gale, and Peeta all being separate, but aware, of each other, Catching Fire represents that only one can be with Katniss (we all know that’s Gale), and Mockingjay represents that only Gale survives (note the ‘g’ and ‘a’ in the word mockingjay).

I know. I’m stretching.

All of you know how much I love the Hunger Games series and how fiercely I defend Gale and how quickly I’d cast off Peeta.

(I’d cast Peeta off so fast that his loaf of bread would go flying. Huh huh. His…bread stick would go flying. His…croutons would fall off.)

Sidebar: did you know The Hunger Games has an official Facebook page? Like it! Love it!

So when I was asked to be the sixth stop on the Official Mockingjay 13 District Blog Tour, I squealed like the teenage girl I really am.

I’ll be posting on:

Friday, August 13th

Oh yes. And there will be an exclusive giveaway.

And what I’ll be posting about is oh so very close to my heart.

I.

CAN’T.

WAIT.

This is the third post I’ve done this week! I don’t remember the last time I was this regular. In blog posting, I mean.

And there will be more!

I’m curious to see the response to this question.

Would you rather be known as nice or honest?

I don’t mean this to imply that if you’re nice you can’t be honest. But I mean, what would you rather be known for?

Somehow I’ve acquired the reputation of being honest. I think it’s because I, uh, can’t keep my mouth shut. And you know, I’m totally cool with it. In fact, if I had to choose, I’d choose honest.

Which would you choose?

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Psst! There’s a giveaway at the end of this post!

Today I’m interviewing Helen Murdoch. She was a teacher for 14 years and is now the librarian. Be sure to check out Helen’s blog, Helen’s Book Blog! She’s in two book clubs and has been kind enough to answer the questions for both book clubs! Woohoo!

Well let’s do some snooping, shall we?

(The A and B answers are for her two different book clubs, respectively.)

How long has your book club been in existence?

A: A friend and I formed our book club in July 1991, after our 26th Birthday party had wound down for the evening.
B: My second book group just formed a year ago when my daughter’s friend’s mom got a group of us moms together.

Does your book club have a name?

A: We don’t have a name. We’ve joked about naming ourselves, but just get silly when we try and nothing has stuck so far.
B: No name; the idea hasn’t even come up

How many people are in your book club?

A: There are 8 of us: 1 public librarian; 1 high school librarian (me); a retired teacher; a caterer; 1 junior high teacher; 1 high school teacher; 1 University professor; a high school library assistant.
B: There are 12 to 14 of us, all moms with kids at the same elementary school though about 7 show up each month. We have a varied list of jobs from teachers to stay at home moms to members of the military.

Is your book club open to new members? How do new members end up in your book club?

A: We are kinda’ open to new members. We have 8 of us, which seems like a nice number; no one gets left out of the discussion. So, when someone moves away we tend to bring in someone new. If someone has an idea for a new member we bring it up to the group and let them know about the person to see if everyone seems open to her. Yes, I said her. We started out as a co-ed group but the men kept moving away so now we’re all women and we really like it that way!
B: We haven’t added any new members since we started.

When do you meet? Is it a set day every month, or do you work it out so it’s on a different day but convenient for everyone?

A: We meet on the third Thursday of each month, September through June. Most of us are in education so we don’t meet during the summer since we tend to travel (lucky us!).
B: We meet every 6 weeks on a Wednesday and have the year planned out ahead of time so we all know when the night is approaching. We meet at the same house each time as well.

What kind of books do you read?

A: We tend to read contemporary fiction, but sometimes do stray from that.
B: We read non-fiction (a nice complement to my other book group).

How do you choose books?

A: Each month we meet at a different person’s house. Actually, we’re pretty regimented about that: we rotate in alphabetical order by first name so we can remember who comes next. The person who hosts provides dinner of pizza and salad and has a stack of books for us to choose from. We read the book descriptions aloud and sometimes even passages from the books. Then we do an informal vote to choose which one we’ll read.
B: Anyone can bring a book that they want us to read and we do a little “book talk” of our book. After an informal vote we’re good to go with one and sometimes two books for the next meeting

Which book generated the best discussion?

A: Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi; Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver (we even reread it years later); and the Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
B: Three books have generated the most intense discussions: Along Way Home: memoirs of a boy soldier by Ishmael Beah (outrage, sadness, heartbreak, triumph, etc); Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (because we had such mixed emotions and reactions to it); and Loving Frank by Nancy Horan.

Do you invite authors to join your discussion when you discuss their book? How do you handle having the author in on your discussion if some or all of the members didn’t absolutely love the book?

A: We’ve only invited one author to a discussion, Val Hobbs, and that’s because she is local. I also work with her husband so know her a little. We had read The Gift and most of us liked it so it was a comfortable situation.
B: We haven’t had any authors invited.

Do you have one person who moderates the discussion?

A: Honestly, we’ve all been together for so long that we do a lot of “life” talking in addition to the book. No one person moderates; we all just jump in to talk about the book. Sometimes some of us haven’t read the book or haven’t finished it so that can limit the discussion as well.
B: We have one or two members that are more outspoken and they tend to determine the discussion just by their presence. We did start out with the person who chose the book bringing in questions to guide the discussion, but after a couple months realized we didn’t really need that.

Have you ever had a professional moderator moderate one of your meetings?

A and B: No

How long does the discussion last?

A and B: We meet from 6:30 to 8:00 or so. Honestly, the book usually isn’t the only topic of conversation

Do you eat food at your book club meeting?

A: Pizza and salad. Except when we’re at the caterer’s house when we get yummy left overs.
B: Usually just snacky foods like fruit, cheese and crackers. Sometimes something more substantial like sandwiches

How do you decide where the meeting will be held?

A and B: Oops, I kinda’ already answered that above…

Is there anything else about your book club you’d like to share?

I love going to my book group meetings, even if I haven’t enjoyed the book. Getting together with other women who love books and are fun to be with is a wonderful break from the regular routine of life. It is great to have a group (or 2) of women who catch up with one another on a regular basis. My mom is in a women’s group that has met every 2 weeks for 35 years so I have been the beneficiary of that inner-circle. It is great for a group to last so long that we see each other’s children grow up and we can support each other through triumphs and difficult times.

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Thanks for answering all my questions, Helen! Your clubs sound like a lot of fun, and I know there’ll be a lot of jealous foks out there who can’t be in your book clubs!

If you would like to talk about your book club, send me an email at trish(at)heylady(dot)net. No blog necessary! You just have to be in a book club.

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Previous interviews:

Leslie, my friend from high school
Ti from Book Chatter and her Valencia Library Book Group
Michelle
Kelly from Yannabe and her OPRA Book Club
Heather from A Lifetime of Books and her book club Storie delle Sorrelle

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I’ve got four copies of the Reading Group Choices 2010 booklet. It’s got great suggestions for book club picks, and I loved going through it and writing down books I wanted to read, whether or not I end up suggesting them to my book club!

To enter, leave a comment that has to do with something Helen said in her interview. The contest is open until Saturday, July 31st at 11:59pm PT. I’ll pick a winner on Sunday, August 1st. Good luck! One entry per person. Open internationally.