Missing Max

This summer it feels like Mia has just grown up so much. Her body has become so long and lanky, it seems like she's all legs. Her hair has grown out from last year's cut and is brushing her back again, but now it's so thick that I can't keep clips or headbands in it. Just a year or so ago it was so thin that clips slid right out. Now I have the opposite problem. She's always been a girly-girl but now her nails are always painted, and she wants to wear jewelry. I feel like she is crossing the line between little girl and tween, and I don't know if I'm ready for that yet.

Yesterday she went shopping with my mom and came home in this beautiful maxi-dress. When she jumped out of the car, my heart skipped a full beat, because all of the changes I've been seeing were suddenly right in front of my eyes. I wanted to take some pictures, so she struck some "model" poses for me in her new dress. I know that I'm a bit biased, but I think that she is just gorgeous, so I had to share these pix.

Missing Max by Karen Young is the story of every mother's worst nightmare. While watching the parade at Mardi Gras, Jane Madison asked stepdaughter, sixteen-year-old Melanie, to watch Max, her six-month-old son, for just a few moments. The boy disappeared while Mellie was talking to some of her friends. Police eventually find his stroller with only one shoe left behind. Seven months later, the family is falling apart in the wake of Max's disappearance. Jane has been spending all of her time at a missing child center, leaving husband Kyle and Melanie feeling abandoned and angry. When Jane starts receiving strange phone calls with a baby crying in the background, she at first dismisses them as crank calls, but she is soon being stalked by someone deranged who just may know what happened to Max. Young has crafted a taut and frightening story. When I first started reading the book, I only intended to read a few pages before bed, but the next thing I knew it was 2 am. I just couldn't put it down. Young takes care for the reader to empathize with all of the major characters and includes a faith element without shoving it down the reader's throat. It's a haunting story that will linger with readers.

Thank you to Glass Road Publicity for providing me with a copy of this book for review.