Now You See Her

Today was not a very auspicious beginning to a very busy and important week. Yesterday after Mia's dance recital, my body threw up the white flag and I took to the bed to try and rest. The pain was so terrible that I took an extra pain pill in hopes of getting a good night's sleep. Instead, I was up all night scratching, which is a side effect of oxycontin. I spent the entire night, until after 5 am this morning, in a daze. Every time I dozed off, I would wake up scratching my body frantically, even my face and nose itched. Finally I'd settle down, start to pray and drift off, only to wake up and repeat the pattern ad nauseum. I am exhausted, and I have far too much to do this week to have time to be sick.

Tomorrow I need to work in preparation for a huge meeting on Thursday that I organize and run. Wednesday night is Senior Banquet, Thursday morning is Senior Awards Ceremony, followed by my meeting. Saturday we're going up to my uncle's for a family cook-out and Sunday is Molly's graduation. It's a busy week with a lot of people depending on me. I'll be leaning on the Lord to get me through. He always does, and I trust in His unfailing love.

Today's pictures are of yesterday's recital. Mia danced in four different routines and did a terrific job. I'm so proud of my baby girl!

Now You See Her by Joy Fielding is a roller-coaster ride of duplicity, suspense, and pain. Marcy Taggart has taken her twenty-fifth anniversary trip to Ireland without her husband, Paul, who left her for a golf instructor from their country club. Their marriage had floundered for years, but their daughter Devon's seeming suicide killed their union as well. While Marcy is in a Irish pub, she is sure she sees Devon, and this sends her on a crazy trip through seedy nightclubs, the Irish countryside, and all over Cork as she searches to find her missing daughter. Paul and Marcy's sister, Judith, are certain that Marcy is having a breakdown, because she's been "sure" that she's found Devon several times before in the last two years, but this time, Marcy has Liam, a waiter at the pub, who is sure he can help her find Devon, and isn't deterred by the fifteen years between them. Fielding excels at writing suspense novels with female characters that are full of twists, turns, and jaw-dropping revelations, but she pushes the limits a bit much in Now You Can See Her. Readers will empathize with the police who question Marcy again and again and keep coming to the conclusion that this is a tortured woman at the brink of insanity. Marcy's actions aren't just those of a embattled mother searching for her child, but of a woman refusing to see anything but the logic of her own actions. Despite the flaws, I still couldn't put the book down, Fielding grabbed me and even though I knew what was coming, I wanted to see how she got me there. It's an entertaining read, even when it doesn't make sense.

Thank you to Atria Books for providing me with a copy of this book for review!