Wolf Haven, by Lindsay McKenna

This is my entry for SuperWendy’s TBR Challenge this month–the theme is animals, and I’m just going with the title here. (Just kidding; there’s a wildlife refuge thing happening, mostly on the side.)

Reader beware: graphic descriptions of torture and heavy PTSD; glorification of the U.S. military; racism through the “model minority” stereotype for Native Americans and the “hellscape drug narco territory” for Latin America; autistic child as inspiration porn; sex on the page.

In Too Deep anthology (Brenda Jackson and Olivia Gates)

This month’s TBR Challenge theme is Blue Collar, but I’m throwing in the towel entirely when it comes to the theme. On the other hand, this has been sitting in my TBR print shelves over a dozen years, so at least that part of the challenge is working.

In Hope’s Shadow, by Janice Kay Johnson

Amazingly, I have managed to write a review! (I’m afraid to look back, and see how long since the last one–this has not been a good blogging/reading year for me so far)

I got an ARC for this novel a while back (like, over three months ago :wince:). When I realized that it’s the second in the Two Daughters duology, I stopped reading, and one-clicked the first title, Yesterday’s Gone.

After a lot of false starts with other books, and tons of re-reading, I finally grabbed In Hope’s Shadow a couple of days ago–and read it in one sitting.

Hoping that late is still better than never, here’s my review.

A caveat: I definitely recommend reading these two stories in order. A warning: there are references to child abuse, references to animal abuse, and an off-page murder. Reader, beware.

In Hope’s Shadow, by Janice Kay Johnson

The setup for the two novels is this: six year old Hope Lawson is kidnapped, snatched off the playground at school. A few years later, her parents, who have not given up on finding her alive, adopt a little girl her missing daughter’s age. A couple of decades after that, Hope miraculously, unexpectedly, turns up–alive, and willing to reconnect with her parents. And her adoptive sister, Eve.

Here’s the blurb, from amazon:

Yesterday’s Gone, by Janice Kay Johnson

This is Ms Bates’ fault (in the best possible way).

See, last week, she posted this lovely review of Ms Johnson’s To Love a Cop, which reminded me of how much I usually enjoy this author’s work.

So off I went to check, and found out that there’s a new book by her, coming out in October.

Since I’m still struggling to read (reading slumps suck big hairy donkey balls), I asked for, and received, an ARC for In Hope’s Shadow, but when I started to read it, I realized it was connected to a previously released title–Yesterday’s Gone. So, of course, I bought it so I could read in order.

I’m glad I did.

Yesterday’s Gone, by Janice Kay Johnson

This is the first of the Two Daughters duology by Ms Johnson. The premise is this: what happens when a girl, abducted long ago, turns up alive and well, now an adult with a different sense of self? How does someone who has survived isolation, and emotional and physical abuse, cope with familial relationships, memories, love? How does the family who lost that child, who has waited and searched, who has prayed and loved, for so many years, adapts to the reality of this new person?

Here is the blurb: