GIVEAWAY & REVIEW: Rescue by Anita Shreve (AUDIO)

Description

A rookie paramedic pulls a young woman alive from her totaled car, a first rescue that begins a lifelong tangle of love and wreckage. Sheila Arsenault is a gorgeous enigma--streetwise and tough-talking, with haunted eyes, fierce desires, and a never-look-back determination. Peter Webster, as straight an arrow as they come, falls for her instantly and entirely. Soon Sheila and Peter are embroiled in an intense love affair, married, and parents to a baby daughter. Like the crash that brought them together, it all happened so fast.



Can you ever really save another person? Eighteen years later, Sheila is long gone and Peter is raising their daughter, Rowan, alone. But Rowan is veering dangerously off track, and for the first time in their ordered existence together, Webster fears for her future. His work shows him daily every danger the world contains, how wrong everything can go in a second. All the love a father can give a daughter is suddenly not enough.

Sheila's sudden return may be a godsend--or it may be exactly the wrong moment for a lifetime of questions and anger and longing to surface anew. What tore a young family apart? Is there even worse damage ahead? The questions lifted up in Anita Shreve's utterly enthralling new novel are deep and lasting, and this is a novel that could only have been written by a master of the human heart.

About the Author

Anita Shreve is the acclaimed author of 15 previous novels, including A Change in Altitude; Testimony; The Pilot's Wife, which was a selection of Oprah's Book Club; and The Weight of Water, which was a finalist for England's Orange prize. She lives in Massachusetts.

From AudioFile

Dennis Holland maintains a steady pace and distinctive subtle accents in the midst of the domestic drama and dramatic EMT rescues that fill this novel. The book opens on Vermont EMT and single father Peter Webster's struggles with his teenage daughter Rowan's drinking and other self-destructive behavior. The story then flashes back to an earlier time and his rescue of Sheila, a woman under the influence who has caused a car accident. Sheila's wild spirit and Boston accent exert a pull on Peter, and the couple falls in love--and marries. Soon enough, things begin to fall apart as Sheila's alcoholism escalates, and a dramatic incident that threatens the infant Rowan's safety brings the marriage to an end. Holland vocalizes the simplest scenarios with compassion as he deftly captures Peter's gentle soul and Sheila's destructive compulsions. A.W. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Hachette Audio; Unabridged edition (November 30, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1607886723
• ISBN-13: 978-1607886723

SOURCE:  PUBLISHER

MY THOUGHTS
ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!


Anita Shreve's stories are deceptively simple and this one is no different.  Her words will suck you in and you won't realize what you have read until after you have finished it.  In the end, you will reflect on her novels and always remember them, questioning the actions of her characters.  Did they do the right thing?  And of course, like life itself, there is no easy answer.  My book group always chooses her novels since they always spark intense discussion.

Her new novel, Rescue, is a cautionary tale about what happens when parents aren't completely honest with their children.  Peter Webster is raising his daughter Rowan after sending his alcoholic wife, Sheila, away when she has her second drunk driving accident with baby Rowan in the car.  Rowan grows up to be a responsible young adult, but as she enters her senior year, she starts to question her life and rebel.  Her rebellion includes lots of alcohol and risky behavior.

Peter becomes a clueless single father or rather he is so busy trying to make ends meet to realize that something is going wrong with his daughter.  He does try his best, but circumstances overwhelm him.  In the end a tragic twist brings Sheila back into her daughter's life.  Although there could have been a several ways this story could have ended, it took the path of least resistance.
I received this book at no charge from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.




WANT TO WIN A COPY OF THIS AUDIO BOOK?

Contest is open to anyone with a US or Canadian mailing addresses (no PO Boxes)

Contest ends on 2.19.11 Winner will be chosen by Random.org on  2.20.11
Winner will have 48 hours to respond to email or a new winner will be chosen.
This giveaway is sponsored by Hachette Book Group and up to 2 audio books will be available.
Only one winner per household address!

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