Author:  Steena Holmes
Publisher:  Lake Union Publishing
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction                     
Source:  Booksparks

Goodreads:  After losing her son in an elementary school shooting that devastates the tight-knit community of Stillwater Bay, Jennifer Crowne finds herself unable to settle back into her role of perfect stay-at-home mom and committee organizer. Meanwhile, her best friend, Mayor Charlotte Stone, struggles to keep the town together, and Charlotte s husband, the school principal, may not be the hero everyone thinks him to be.

As they try to heal from this irrevocable trauma, Jenn and Charlotte find themselves at a crossroads within the town and within their friendship. For Jenn, broken and grieving, there is no going back, and she demands that the school be closed so that she can bury the past. Yet Charlotte is equally desperate to hold the town together, fighting the school closure and helping the shooter s mother regain her place in the community. Jenn and Charlotte s relationship is put to the ultimate test as each weighs her own interests against the bonds of their friendship.”

Ope’s Opinion:  Oh, my this book is amazing, wonderful, awesome … not enough positive adjectives to describe it.  It is a stop time, all I want to do is read book.

Yes, there are several books about school shootings, the devastation and the aftermath.  But this book is very different.  Steena Holmes writes in such a way that her characters are your neighbors, your friends or even maybe you.  You feel for each person who is struggling to deal with what happened and their part in it.

This book made me think about how I might react if I had been put into this situation?  How would I treat the mother of the shooter?  Would I be able to reach out to other parents grieving or would I be swallowed whole and not be able to manage my own grief, let alone help someone else?  I really enjoy books that make me think…

I am anxiously looking forward to her next book Stillwater Deep.

Rating:  Five Chairs – This book is so good it will be passed on and on and on…..