About The Face of the Earth:
When Mitchell Brannon’s beloved wife of twenty years kisses him goodbye one autumn morning, he has little idea that his life is about to change forever. Mitch returns from work early that evening, surprised Jill’s car isn’t in the garage. Her conference in Kansas City is only a few hours’ drive from their little town of Sylvia, Missouri. But her voice on the answering machine makes him smile. “Hey, babe, I’m just now checking out of the hotel, but I’ll stop and pick up something for dinner. Love you.”

Mitch sets the table with their best china and lights some candles, looking forward to their first weekend as empty nesters.

But at eight o’clock, the candles have burned to stubs and Jill still hasn’t shown up. Mitch tries her cell phone only to get her voice mail over and over again. Their two college kids haven’t heard from their mom either.
At midnight, Mitch’s irritation turns to dread. And later, when the police and Missouri Highway Patrol have turned up nothing, the Kansas City hotel calls to say they’ve found property belonging to Jill in a hotel maid’s possession.

Mitch enlists the help of their next-door neighbor, Jill’s best friend, Shelley, and together they search for clues to Jill’s disappearance. As days turn into weeks and weeks into months, Mitch and Shelley’s friendship grows ever closer–and decidedly complicated with Jill as the tie that binds them together. Just when Shelley decides to finally reveal her feelings for Mitch, a clue to Jill’s whereabouts is uncovered. But every lead seems to be a dead end, and Mitch wonders how he can honor the vows he made to a woman who has seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth.

Purchase a copy: http://ow.ly/kFdwM

Meet Deb:
Deborah Raney is the award-winning author of several novels, including “A Nest of Sparrows” and the RITA award winning “Beneath a Southern Sky” and its sequel, “After the Rains”. Deborah’s first novel, “A Vow to Cherish”, was the inspiration for World Wide Pictures’ highly acclaimed film of the same title, which in December 2004 aired on prime time network TV for the second time. Deb’s novella, “Playing by Heart”, was a National Readers Choice Award winner and a 2004 Christy Award finalist. Her novel for Howard/Simon & Schuster, “Yesterday’s Embers”, appeared on the ECPA Christian fiction bestseller list. Known for her sensitive portrayal of family struggles and relationships, Deb has also written nonfiction books and articles and often speaks at women’s retreats and writers’ conferences around the country. She and her husband, illustrator/author Ken Raney, have four children and make their home in Kansas.

Find out more at DeborahRaney.com

My Thoughts:
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I read the back cover of this book.  It sounded interesting and quite different from books I usually read.  It was the first book I read by Deborah Raney and I really enjoyed it.  I finished it in just a few days because it was one of those books that you don’t want to put down for long…you want to find out what happens next!

Mitch Brannon comes home one Friday and starts to prepare for his wife coming home from a work conference.  He tries calling her to find out how close she is so that he can get dinner started.  But, for some reason she isn’t answering or returning his phone calls.  Except for a message she left him that afternoon – nobody has heard from her.  After several hours, he starts to get really concerned.

He finally calls their next door neighbor, Shelley, who is also Jill’s best friend, to see if maybe she has heard from Jill.  Jill has completely vanished.  And the police have nothing to go off of.  They are searching for her, but with no clues, they don’t even really know where to search.

Shelley, is there for Mitch as a friend, not only to help find Jill, but also provide comfort to Mitch and the kids.  After being so close, the lines are eventually blurred and their friendship starts to bloom into more in their hearts.  Mitch wants to honor his wife and their marrige vow, but as time goes on, he’s not sure what to do…

I really enjoyed this book and especially the ending (which you will have to read to find out).  I can’t wait to pick up another book by Deborah Raney!

Check more reviews of The Face of the Earth at http://litfusegroup.com/author/draney

Enter Today – 5/7 – 5/30!

Disclosure: This book was given to me for free by Litfuse Publicity in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

{ 0 comments }