Rebecca A. Demarest

When Benjamin Grant’s son disappeared a year ago, he threw himself into the search, and his obsession left him without a home, wife, or job. Now, he’s managed to find work at the United States Postal Service’s Mail Recovery Center, which he hopes will prove an invaluable tool in his investigation. With the help of his coworker, Sylvia—a kleptomaniac artist—Ben learns the ins and outs of a warehouse full of lost mail, and explores every lead in his son’s case. But when it all points towards the monstrous Leonard Moscovich, Ben fears the worst

For information: Undeliverable is being produced in cooperation with the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children and $1 of the cover price from each sale goes to the center to help fund their efforts.

Free ebook copy from the author in exchange for a review.

I was in two minds about reading this book - it's a hard topic to confront, even for those who dont have children. How far would you go and what are you prepared to lose when a child of yours disappears? It's a brave subject matter that the author has confronted - a parent (a father no less, not a mother) who is confronted with the guilt of his only child disappearing whilst on his "watch", and attempting to confront the feelings of guilt and inadequacy in not being able to protect, find or rescue his child.

The story starts a year after Bennie disappears, a month or so after Ben's wife has kicked him out of their house and business, and Ben starts a new job at the Mail Recovery Centre - the place where the undeliverable letters (addressed to Santa, Jesus or just plain illegible) end up. Ben believes that this job can help him track down Bennie (using DMV etc), but he doesn't count on the workers such as Sylvia interrupting his daily routine. He also doesn't count on the auditors preventing his investigations.

[slight spoiler alert]

This is not a story that ties everything up in pretty bows. It doesn't necessarily have the happy ending you want. It has an ending that some people will find positive, or at least upbeat. I suspect it will be an ending that more people than we like to believe are confronted with on a regular basis. The story is written well, with the two main protagonists (Ben , Sylvia) being decent if flawed individuals.

For more information, please check out the author website here

www.rebeccademarest.com… (més)

Less Than Charming follows the story of literary character Sophia. Sophia is the twelfth princess in The Dancing Princesses fairytale. Sophia lives in a world where all the characters in every book ever written exist together. Whenever an author creates a new character they’re released into this fairytale world.

Sophia works as an investigative journalist for Geppetto’s newspaper. She manages to snag the assignment of covering Prince Charming’s upcoming party, but once she arrives she’s approached by The Storyteller himself to investigate something much darker – Prince Charming has been manipulating and editing characters’ stories, which could mean the end of their storybook world as they all know it.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book from the description. And to be perfectly honest, when I began reading I was confused at first. There's a lot of information right at the start and I found it a bit difficult to follow. The author adds so much exhaustive detail and I found it tended to bog the story down. However, as I continued reading things began to fall into place and I was able to settle into the story.

There’s no denying that Less Than Charming is a truly unique book. The author certainly has quite an imagination. Any bookworm like myself is sure to appreciate the literary references throughout. Plenty of well-known characters are mentioned – there’s even a snarky quip about Edward and Bella early on (not sure how true Twilight fans might feel about that).

This book is less than three hundred pages, but it’s incredibly detailed and the font in the print version is super small. Therefore, it seemed a bit longer than it really was. Yet, I did appreciate the creative storyline. The author's writing is clever and appealing. This book is geared toward teens, but I’m sure adults will enjoy it as well.… (més)