Karen McQuestion

This was one absolutely captivating, intense, intriguing, and memorable story. It raises the question; how well do you know your neighbors? Sharon thought that she knew hers very well but when questioned they declared they absolutely didn’t have…nor had they ever had a daughter or any other female child…only a teenage boy. For Sharon the question now became how far would/should she go and what would she risk saving someone else’s child? A child that the neighbors say doesn’t even show more exist. If you love a real mystery that is deeply human with a host of secrets and outright lies as well as a truly harrowing, with issues ripped from the daily newspapers… this is your book. It will keep you awake right to the so satisfying ending. show less

Karen McQuestion's first novel. A SCATTERED LIFE (2010), was a library sale find that I bought for my wife. It looked like her kind of book. And I still think that, but I was surprised how quickly the story engaged ME. Set in small town Wisconsin, the novel seems at first to be a pretty straightforward story about a close friendship that develops between a couple women with very different lives. Skyla Plinka, married to a high school math teacher ten years her senior, has one child and what show more seems a pretty perfect, traditional sort of life. Then she meets the new neighbor, Roxanne Bear, who has a messy, cluttered home life, with five boys, and she wants even more kids. And there's also Audrey, Skyla"s controlling mother-in-law, who disapproves of the Bears, as well as Skyla's new job at a local bookstore. All three women will face problems and challenges in the course of one year that will bring profound changes. And the casual reader, like me, will suddenly take a gut punch, and realize just how much he's come to care for these women when tragedy intervenes.

Enough said. A very good book about marriage and close female friendships. Very highly recommended. Passing it along to my wife now.

P.S. I researched the author and learned this book was originally self-published, and sold nearly 30,000 copies due to word-of-mouth and book bloggers, before. It was reprinted by Amazon Encore. Since then McQuestion has written nearly two dozen more books and continues to write. Good onya, Karen!

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER show less

Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my review or rating.

What a really good book. You will find yourself caught up in the life of Logan and everyone that is connected to him in some way. McQuestion does a good job of handling multiple points of view (you get Logan, his grandmother, a speech therapist, an elderly woman, and a married couple) while keeping the main story of Logan and his plight front and center. I really enjoyed the ending and I hope that show more if McQuestion does a follow-up book that maybe we can turn our attentions on the married couple (Paul and Laura).

"Half a Heart" is about 9 year old Logan Weber who runs away from his abusive father. We find out that Logan's life has been a virtual hell since his mother passed away. Unable to speak, he is forced to use his hands or write down what is going on with him. His father is often drunk and abusive. Logan and his father are living with a woman and her young daughter who does her best to ensure that Logan is on the receiving end of his father's violence. When Logan stows away in a moving van, he ends up in Wisconsin and finds a tree house that just seems to be waiting for him.

The story follows several people, but for the most part you are going to follow Logan and read his sad story about what became of his mother and how terrible his home life has become with his father. He's very smart and does what he can to survive when he realizes that being in Wisconsin and homeless is still better than returning home to his father and his rages.

Joanne is an elderly widow who is hesitant to go and live with her son and his family in Seattle. She wants to stay in her home with her dog Samson and continue to be part of the community. I did find Joanne to be a bit much at times since she definitely comes across as nosy (with regards to her new neighbors) but she was such a great character to find out more about. Joanne comes into contact with Logan when she spots a young boy who she thinks stole one of her towels and possibly threw a tomato at her dog. She eventually seeks out her new neighbors to warn them that they may have a thief in the neighborhood.

Laura and Paul are happily married though Laura feels like something is missing due to them not having children. Laura is an artist and should be thrilled she got asked to do a really cool installation, but she wants to go forward with being a foster parent. Problem is her husband is not so keen on trying to foster.

Logan's speech therapist even gets a scene here and there and you find out that she did what she could to look out for him, but still worries about what became of him.

Logan's grandmother ends up coming into the story when she finally is able to track down the last place he lived via the help of a private investigator she hires.

The writing was really good. As I said, McQuestion did a great job with moving the main story-line forward with shifting points of view. I was worried the whole time for Logan and how the ending would be handled. The flow was great too and I didn't have any trouble keeping the different characters straight in my head. You don't need a chapter heading or anything to call out who is speaking. I think writing it in third person definitely helped with that.

The setting of this book is Chicago and Wisconsin. McQuestion does a great job of showing Wisconsin and you can see why Logan falls in love with the nearby creek, the tree house, and just the general area.

The ending will definitely make you smile. All parties seem to be on the start of something new/good. show less

This book hooked me right from the start. When Dana, a famous author, disappears, her best friend Courtney is the only one who seems to care…and that mystery alone kept me turning the pages. As Courtney digs deeper, she discovers that Dana’s world is full of secrets and fake smiles, and nothing is as it seems.

I loved how the tension build and the story comes together bit by bit. The twists were great, and the ending totally surprised me. If you like psychological thrillers about show more friendship, fame, and betrayal, Written Off is definitely worth reading. show less