Friday Linkups: No River Too Wide

It's Friday linkup time!  I'm linking up with the Book Blogger Hop hosted by Coffee Addicted Writer, Book Beginnings of Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, and the Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice

This Week's Book Blogger Hop Question:
Name a book that changed you life.

My Answer:
There are a lot of possible answers to this question.  There's the first book that really pulled me into reading as a child or my first mystery or first romance or first grown up book.  All of those qualify as life changing.  However, I'm going to go with 2 I've read in the last 10 years or so that changed how I think or act.  The first book is The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom which is a heartbreaking book about a woman who survived her time at a concentration camp during World War II.  There's so much hope and love in the face of such stunning loss and cruelty.  It's wonderful perspective and reminds me to be kind and to look for the best.  The other book, The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, is a bit more self involved but it helped me focus on the things that make me happy which is something I tend to forget in my endless piles of to do lists.

Earlier this month I read The Swallow's Nest by Emilie Richards and it reminded me just how much I enjoy this author's work.  She tackles some really rough topics but manages to bring the characters to life and not trivialize what ever issue is happening but never becoming to grim or angsty.  I went on a bit of a library binge of her books and this week's is No River Too Wide from 2014 involving the reunion of a mohter and daughter under some difficult circumstances.   So far I'm loving it which is pretty much what I expect when I read a book from Emilie Richards.

The Beginning:
In an Oscar-worthy performance, Harmony Stoddard put all the enthusiasm she could muster into her voice, "I just know you're going to love spending time with your grandma, Lotttie."

My Thoughts:
Since the child Harmony is speaking too is 9 months old I'm thinking that Oscar-worthy performance is mostly for herself which I think is something we can all relate to doing when we have to visit someone we're supposed to see but really aren't looking forward to visiting.

The 56:
"No, I don't." Janine bit her lip.  "Because if he had figured out I was going to leave him..." She didn't have to finish.

My Thoughts:
Janine is the grandma mentioned in the beginning.  Too say she's in a rough spot is a serious understatement.

So what do you think?  Keep reading?