Friend Me by John Faubion Blog Tour & Book Review + Enter to win a Kindle Fire HDX!

About the book:

 When a lonely wife and her frustrated husband each secretly pursue companionship online, neither dreams that a real woman is behind their virtual creations, threatening their marriage---and their lives.

Scott and Rachel's marriage is on the brink of disaster. Scott, a businessman with a high-pressure job, just wants Rachel to understand him and accept his flaws. Rachel is a lonely housewife, desperate for attention and friendship. So she decides to create a virtual friend online, unaware that Scott is doing the exact same thing. As Rachel desperately tries to re-create a friendship with a friend who has passed, Scott becomes unfaithful and is torn between the love for his wife and the perfection of his cyber-girlfriend. But neither realizes that there's a much larger problem looming . . .

Behind both of their online creations is Melissa, a woman who is brilliant---and totally insane. Masquerading as both friend and lover, Melissa programmed a search parameter into the virtual friend software to find her perfect man, but along the way she forgot to specify his marriage status. And Scott is her ideal match. Now Melissa is determined to have it all---Scott, his family, and Rachel's life.

As Melissa grows bolder and her online manipulations transition into the real world, Scott and Rachel figure out they are being played. Now it's a race against time as Scott and Rachel fight to save their marriage, and their lives, before it's too late.

In today's digital age, the Internet presents all kinds of opportunities to test our personal boundaries, and this exciting and suspenseful story raises important questions about the ethics of virtual relationships. Friend Me will open your eyes to a new-and terrifying-moral dimensions and how they play out in the real world.

My thoughts:

I have always been a huge fan of suspense novels, but for some reason in the last few years I have mostly set them aside in favor of historical romance or other love stories. I am glad that the plot to Friend Me sounded so intriguing, it definitely reminded me why I have always loved suspense novels to begin with.  The plot to this novel is a nod to modern technology, the age of Facebook and Twitter, Instagram and everything else that keeps us connected online. A company creates a service called VirtualFriendMe where you can create your own customized friend. It can be a person completely from your imagination, or someone that actually does (or did) exist if that is what you prefer. Rachel chooses to create a friend that she has been missing. Her husband also creates friend of his own, one he doesn't want to tell anyone about. What Rachel and Scott don't know, is there is a real person behind both of their friends and she will stop at nothing to get what she wants...

I really enjoyed this book. It was definitely a page turner for me. I read it in just a few short days. I felt that I could really relate to Rachel, as a stay at home mom to 3 children, most of the things she goes through or feels are things that I have gone through or felt myself. It was nice also to peek into the husband/male prospective as well, to be reminded that they have their own problems and worries. I thought the prologue at the beginning of the book was the perfect way to get the reader enticed and ready to get on with the story and find out what is going to happen. The build up to the end of the story is gradual, but gets intense at the end. I really enjoyed Friend Me and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys page turning suspense novels.

About the author:

About the author: John Faubion has spent many years in Asia as a missionary with his family. Since returning to the United States, John has worked as a senior software developer for a large appliance chain. He teaches an adult Sunday school class and enjoys writing and driving his 1949 Packard automobile. John lives near Indianapolis with his wife, Beth, and their daughter.

Learn more about John at: http://christiansuspense.com

Read an excerpt and purchase a copy at ChristianSuspense.com.


John Faubion is celebrating his debut novel, Friend Me, with a Kindle HDX giveaway!

One winner will receive:

• A brand new Kindle Fire HDX
• Friend Me by John Faubion

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on February 22nd. Winner will be announced February 24th on John Faubion's blog.

Don't miss a moment of the fun; enter today and be sure to stop by John's blog on the 24th to see if you won.

Gemini by Carol Cassella (Book Review)

*Disclosure of material connection- I received a copy of the book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest thoughts. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions stated are 100% my own.

About the book:

 

A stranger’s life hangs in the balance. What if you had the power to decide if she lives or dies? Dr. Charlotte Reese works in the intensive care unit of Seattle’s Beacon Hospital, tending to patients with the most life-threatening illnesses and injuries. Her job is to battle death—to monitor erratic heartbeats, worry over low oxygen levels, defend against infection and demise.

One night a Jane Doe is transferred to her care from a rural hospital on the Olympic Peninsula. This unidentified patient remains unconscious, the victim of a hit and run. As Charlotte and her team struggle to stabilize her, the police search for the driver who fled the scene.

Days pass, Jane’s condition worsens, and her identity remains a mystery. As Charlotte finds herself making increasingly complicated medical decisions that will tie her forever to Jane’s fate, her usual professional distance evaporates. She’s plagued by questions: Who is Jane Doe? Why will no one claim her? Who should decide her fate if she doesn’t regain consciousness—and when?

Perhaps most troubling, Charlotte wonders if a life locked in a coma is a life worth living.

Enlisting the help of her boyfriend, Eric, a science journalist, Charlotte impulsively sets out to uncover Jane Doe’s past. But the closer they get to the truth, the more their relationship is put to the test. It is only when they open their hearts to their own feelings toward each other—and toward life itself—that Charlotte and Eric will unlock Jane Doe’s shocking secret, and prepare themselves for a miracle.

Filled with intricate medical detail and set in the breathtaking Pacific Northwest, Gemini is a riveting and heartbreaking novel of moral com­plexity and emotional depth.

 

 

My thoughts:

 

My husband is a nurse practitioner in the emergency room so that was part of the reason that I was initially drawn to reading this novel. The bigger reason was that this just sounded like an interesting plot. The description above does not even begin to tough on the intricate story that Gemini is.  This book goes back and forth between time periods and the reader gets to know "Jane Doe" pretty intricately. We learn of her all the way back through her childhood days and for me, that kept me on edge through the entire book waiting to know what would become of her and if there would be anyone to claim her. I love how her backstory interweaved with Charlotte's present life, which makes complete sense to me because it feels almost like Charlotte begins to feel like "Jane Doe" is her family, or at least begins feeling very protective of her, contemplating what this unknown woman might want done in her situation. The parts I enjoyed the most were the bits set in the past. The characters were fun to get acquainted with and the author's great attention to detail make you feel like you are almost there with them.  I also felt the parts of the book when Charlotte is dealing with "Jane Doe's" medical condition are extremely interesting. You can tell that she is really knowledgeable, in the way that only someone who works in that specific field could be. I felt more than once that I could see this story becoming a movie someday.  Gemini is essential about love- young love, unrequited love, missed love and even love for someone that is barely known. Between all that love, there is a great interweaving of stories, filled with mysteries and interesting surprises throughout. Gemini would make a fantastic book club pick, I plan to suggest it to my own club. I read it in just a few short days because I absolutely couldn't put it down. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in suspense novels or just great contemporary fiction.

 

About the author:

 

(From the author's website)-Carol Cassella, M.D. is a practicing physician and national bestselling author of two novels, Oxygen (2008) and Healer (2010), published by Simon & Schuster and translated into multiple foreign languages. Both novels were Indie Next Picks and finalists for the Washington State Book Award in fiction. She has been Writer in Residence at Peninsula College in Port Angeles, Washington, and the recipient of a writing residency at Hedgebrook retreat.

 

 

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Gemini will be available on March 4, 2014. You can pre-order it on Amazon.com.