Island of Lost Girls by Jennifer MacMahon

I read and really enjoyed Ms. MacMahon's first book, Promise Not To Tell, and when I heard that she had written a new book, decided to put it on hold. This was a chilling, and in some ways, depressing read that I still enjoyed. I give it a B+.

From Amazon:
While parked at a gas station, Rhonda sees something so incongruously surreal that at first she hardly recognizes it as a crime in progress. She watches, unmoving, as someone dressed in a rabbit costume kidnaps a young girl. Devastated over having done nothing, Rhonda joins the investigation. But the closer she comes to identifying the abductor, the nearer she gets to the troubling truth about another missing child: her best friend, Lizzy, who vanished years before.
From the author of the acclaimed Promise Not to Tell comes a chilling and mesmerizing tale of shattered innocence, guilt, and ultimate redemption.

I found that this book was somewhat predicitable, but there were some twists and turns that I wasn't expecting. The story was somewhat depressing, and I think it had a lot to do with the author's voice and her way of telling the story. With every chapter, we switch times to either present day or the past which I thought was handled well. I guess you could call the story a mystery, but it was much more than that. It deals with a lot of the characters and things that happened in their own lives and how it has shaped them to be the people they are now. I was kind of disappointed with the ending because I felt like the main character, Rhonda, doesn't get a happy ending, but I guess that isn't always what happens in real life. I think that is part of what is bothering me and I think part of it is because I am in somewhat of a funk in my own life, and the other part because I use reading as a means of escape. That all being said, I would recommend this book to others. I probably will read more in the future by this author, should she write anymore.

Well, we had to go buy a new fridge. It is so frustrating and seems like every month it is another unexpected expense. I am trying to not get upset, and repeating my mantra to not worry about things that I can't change. I am looking at the positive that we got a great deal, and while it does stretch our money and make things a bit tighter, we will not be in debt and we could be a lot worse off. I think that in these days with all of the economic crises, it is easy to get swept up with worry and I don't want to do that. Michigan has been in a one state recession for the longest time, so I think I am becoming more immune to everything. I am looking for the positives, one being that gas is down more than $1.00 from a month and half ago, and it helps me get through it. Our fridge had a mini fire which wrecked it, and I am thankful that it wasn't more serious and we could have lost much more. All right, enough with my ramblings... just trying to relieve some of my anxiety before I go to bed. I am not sure what I am going to read next, but it will be something off of my shelves. Happy Reading!