20190414_132453.jpgWelcome to my stop on the Before She Was Found blog tour sponsored by TLC Book Tours! Thanks to TLC for the invitation! Also, this is my cat Hemingway’s first official pic on my blog!

About the Book:

A gripping thriller about three young girlfriends, a dark obsession and a chilling crime that shakes up a quiet Iowa town, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Weight of Silence .

For twelve-year-old Cora Landry and her friends Violet and Jordyn, it was supposed to be an ordinary sleepover–movies and Ouija and talking about boys. But when they decide to sneak out to go to the abandoned rail yard on the outskirts of town, little do they know that their innocent games will have dangerous consequences.

Later that night, Cora Landry is discovered on the tracks, bloody and clinging to life, her friends nowhere to be found. Soon their small rural town is thrust into a maelstrom. Who would want to hurt a young girl like Cora–and why? In an investigation that leaves no stone unturned, everyone is a suspect and no one can be trusted–not even those closest to Cora.

Before She Was Found is a timely and gripping thriller about friendship and betrayal, about the power of social pressure and the price of needing to fit in. It is about the great lengths a parent will go to protect their child and keep them safe–even if that means burying the truth, no matter the cost.

My Thoughts:

Before She Was Found is the first book I’ve read from Heather Gudenkauf! I am impressed! 

Violet, Cora, and Jordyn are twelve-years-old and attending a sleepover like tweens do. They get into mischief by leaving the house to go to an abandoned rail yard. 

Cora is found bloody and barely alive, and her friends have disappeared. Small town Iowa is up-in-arms and in the middle of this investigation wondering who could hurt this sweet, young girl, and everyone becomes a suspect. 

Before She Was Found feels timely. It reminds me of some incidents in the headlines in recent years where young girls have gotten into trouble. I loved that the book uses therapist’s notes, texts, and journal entries, along with the narrative to tell the story. It added so much interest and really rounded out what we knew. 

This book was planned well and came together masterfully. The ending is one I never could have predicted, and I love it when that happens! Before She Was Found is an impeccably-written thriller that kept me in its clutches from start to finish. It was addictive, surprising, and original; everything I want in a thriller! 

I received a complimentary copy. All opinions are my own. 

About the Author:

Heather Gudenkauf is the Edgar Award nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Weight of Silence, These Things Hidden and Not A Sound.

Heather was born in Wagner, South Dakota, the youngest of six children. At one month of age, her family returned to the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota where her father was employed as a guidance counselor and her mother as a school nurse. At the age of three, her family moved to Iowa, where she grew up. Having been born with a profound unilateral hearing loss (there were many evenings when Heather and her father made a trip to the bus barn to look around the school bus for her hearing aids that she often conveniently would forget on the seat beside her), Heather tended to use books as a retreat, would climb into the toy box that her father’s students from Rosebud made for the family with a pillow, blanket, and flashlight, close the lid, and escape the world around her. Heather became a voracious reader and the seed of becoming a writer was planted.

Heather Gudenkauf graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in elementary education, has spent her career working with students of all ages and continues to work in education as a Title I Reading Coordinator.

Heather lives in Iowa with her family and a very spoiled German Shorthaired Pointer named Lolo. In her free time Heather enjoys spending time with her family, reading and hiking. She is currently working on her next novel.

Have you read Before She Was Found, or is it on your TBR? Happy Reading! ~ Jennifer THR