Michelle A. Hansen

It's adequately written, but by no means complete. The author begins by saying there are two kinds of reunions -- a destination reunion, like Disneyland, where you just reserve a block of rooms and call it done, and a rent-a-campground reunion, where you camp or stay in cabins, do all your own cooking, and play old fashioned games. If you are planning the latter, this is the book for you. There are lots of worksheets and menu ideas for planning midwestern meals (I'm betting the author is from some place like Ohio or Iowa,) craft projects, games, and chores. Unfortunately, this book does not cover...anything having to do with meeting in a city (like caterers or restaurant reservations,) technology (like reunion websites, Facebook pages or hashtags,) or appealing to teens and young adults (or frankly, I suspect, most kids and older adults.)… (mehr)

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I received a free copy from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you!

When she was eleven, Rebecca witnessed a horrible crime, that lead to a lot of commotion in her small community. Now, six years later, her best friend Ryan is wanted by the police as a terrorist. The two couldn't possibly be related, can they?

The book was OK. I enjoyed reading it and it was a faster read than I expected, but it was nothing special. The story didn't seem too realistic, but as it was enjoyable, I didn't mind too much. A lot of the story was more about the romance than the actual story, slowing the story down. I've never read/watched Twilight (and this book does not contain any vampires) but one of the MCs seems to take of his shirt for no particular reason, all book long...… (mehr)

You read the prologue and set that part aside. It will come back, but you have to wait for it. Unlike some prologues, this one makes the reader intensely interested to know more. The story begins with Rebecca (Beck) as our protagonist. She’s seventeen and has already learned not to take any guff from anybody. Her story suggests that she lived through a type of hell when she was only eleven. Like the prologue, the author keeps you waiting for this one too. Beck, living in Wyoming, begins receiving threatening text messages. At first, she’s in denial. Someone must have dialed a wrong number. But the texts continue. In parallel, her best friend, Ryan, going to school in Las Vegas, was being questioned by the police. Someone had told them that Ryan was threatening to kill people at his school.

The next day, a bomb goes off at Ryan’s school leaving a few fatalities. Beck is beside herself with worry. Where is Ryan and is he safe? He surprises her by arriving in Wyoming, but he needs to keep a low profile. The police are looking for him. In light of what they were asking him the day before, he’s their prime suspect. She hides him up in their loft. But, with police now poking around Beck’s house, they travel back to Las Vegas to do their own investigating. They have to get to the bottom of this.

This is such an intriguing story geared toward YA readers. The reader gets a feeling rather early in the book that the friendship between Ryan and Beck may just turn into something more. Both characters are developed well and the reader really begins to care what happens to them. I loved her loyalty to Ryan and I loved the dialogue between the two. I did have an issue with believability, but even still, the story line and the mystery were enjoyable. Rating: 4 out of 5.… (mehr)

Before They Find Us by Michelle Hansen jumped full force into a story line where I felt like I’d missed the first half. The characters were well developed but there were a lot of them so it took me time to sort them out.


In meeting Wade in the prologue Mary thought “The truck could have driven right out of her best & worst memories. She wondered if it smelled like chewing tobacco & pine tree air freshener the way Kyle’s used to.”


They were in the parking lot of an IHOP “‘Mary,’ he said when he saw her. She nodded, & he held out his arms.


“Never seen the guy before, & she walked right into his arms. He hugged her tight--in a real bear hug--like he missed her his whole life.”


In the locker room of the high school Becca was working with a member of the football team: “Drake Yancey hopped onto the table next to Brandon. He kicked off his shoes. Drake had the hairiest feet I’d ever seen. The guys called him Sasquatch."


Becca’s phone buzzed with a text. “‘It’s a death threat’, Drake said. ‘And, you know, it’s Rebecca.’


Bam! There it was--the crime out of nowhere, & totally not forgotten. Drake might as well have said, ‘half the town still hates her because she killed Kyle Rasmussen’.”


“Even if he [Brandon] agreed, it’s the unwritten rule that you never said it aloud. It was the kind of thing people said behind my back, never to my face.”

Becca is interacting on the phone with Ryan who had been questioned by the Las Vegas Police & the FBI after a bombing at his school. “They wanted to know if I was depressed. Did I think about harming myself? Do I feel bullied at school?’


“I burst out laughing. Ryan was a homecoming prince last fall. Girls were always leaving flirty little notes on his facebook wall, which I teased him about. Plus, he was like the Old Faithful of optimism, which kind of made you wonder why he was friends with me.” Becca thought.


Could Becca & Jordan help clear Ryan’s name before whoever was hunting them down to kill them found them? Could they avoid the police & the FBI? It was an interesting young adult suspense filled thriller & I gave it four stars because it kept me guessing.

I would like to thank Priest Rapids Press & NetGalley for the free kindle copy. That did not influence my opinion of this review.… (mehr)