Book Launch – Fran Veal and “Finding My Way Back”

A couple of months ago, I read and reviewed a great Young Adult book by Fran Veal called “Finding My Escape”.  It’s the story of Hannah Jordan, a teenaged girl who walks in on the brutal murder of her parents.  She awakens in the hospital a month later, and…

Anyway, I loved it, and I’m thrilled to tell you that it was only the first book of a trilogy, and the second book is out today!  Fran’s hosting an event on Facebook to celebrate the launch of “Finding My Way Back” (that link takes you to Amazon; it’s available on Smashwords as well)

Three weeks ago I walked in while my parents were being murdered. I escaped, but I need to put my life back together again. There’s just one problem – I don’t know where to begin.

My parents weren’t who I thought they were.
My best friend isn’t who I thought he was.
The killer isn’t who I thought he was.
And scariest of all, I’m not who I thought I was.

FINDING MY WAY BACK is a Young Adult tale of adventure, self-discovery and romance, with a twist of the paranormal. It’s the sequel to the Kindle bestseller FINDING MY ESCAPE.

You should definitely check out Fran’s event on Facebook, and you should absolutely check out her new book (and the first one, if you haven’t yet).  Here’s my review of it…

Fran Veal’s “Finding My Escape” is the story of Hannah Jordan. She’s a high-school senior who comes home one night to the worst nightmare imaginable – the murder of her parents, in progress. In the chaos, she’s knocked unconscious and she wakes up two weeks later, in the hospital, with very little recollection of what happened to her, or what she saw. Hannah goes to live with her aunt in a small town in Tennessee, where she tries to piece her life back together, and she struggles to cope with the trauma of her parents’ murder. She’s aided in these efforts by her aunt, her best friend Matt, and a strange boy who keeps showing up in her dreams…

There’s mystery and suspense as Hannah fights to remember what she saw, and uncovers clues to the reasons behind her parents’ murder; there’s romance as Hannah figures out her feelings for both Matt and for the boy she keeps dreaming about; and there’s an emotional journey as Hannah simply tries to go on with her life in the wake of an unimaginable loss. Fran Veal handles all of this with great care, and great skill.

The book is wonderfully written, and Hannah is an engaging and completely relateable narrator (the book is told in first person, from Hannah’s point of view). The prose is clean and clear, the world is well described, and Hannah’s feelings and actions are believable every step of the way. The story takes some unexpected twists and turns, which I won’t spoil at all. I’ll just say that the author surprised me more than once, even when I was sure I knew what was coming next, but at the same time I never felt that the surprises didn’t make sense.

I would VERY HIGHLY recommend this book, and I’m looking forward to the sequel.

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