The Long Way Home By Andrew Klavan

Charlie West is back in Andrew Klavan's The Long Way Home. The sequel to the first book, The Last Thing I Remember, follows Charlie West as he runs from not only the cops, but a group of terrorists known as The Homelanders.

Charlie is desperate to clear his name and get answers to an entire year of lost memories. He heads back to his home town, where it all began. There he runs into some old friends as well as a girlfriend that he can't remember. Believing he's innocent, they try to help him get the answers he wants and the memories he lost.

This action-packed book is also full of Christian and conservative themes. I didn't find it to be overly preachy, but could definitely tell it was there. If you want to give your teenager an exciting book with good morals instead of the sexuality and violence being fed to our kids this is the book for you.

Disclaimer: I received a free book through Thomas Nelson Publishing's Book Sneeze program for bloggers. My opinions are my own and I was not compensated in any other way

Saving Cicadas by Nicole Seitz

"It was about four years ago, the last trip we ever took together--my mother, sister, grandparents and me. Course, we didn't know it at the time. You never know something like that, like it's the last one you'll ever get, till it's just a memory, hanging like mist. This is what happened that summer, true as I can tell it. Not a one of us was ever the same."

Saving Cicadas is a book unlike any book that I've ever read. It's the story of a single mother, Priscilla Macy, who learns she has become pregnant with a third child. She packs her family, 8 year old Janie, 17 year old Rainey who has Down Syndrome, Mom Mona, and Father Poppy, into the car and begins a journey of searching for answers, and for the father of her children who got on his motorcycle one day and left them alone.

The story is told by Priscilla's youngest daughter, 8 year old Janie, who is wise beyond her years and Grandmother Mona, who is Priscilla's mother. It's a little bit difficult at times to differentiate between the two narrators, but it didn't take away from the story for me.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book. It was a very quick read for me, mostly because I couldn't put it down. There's a bit of a surprise twist at the end that you'll have to read to find out.

Thomas Nelson Publishers provided me with a free copy of this book to review. All opinions are solely mine and are not influenced in any way.