3-3.5s for Your Reading Pleasure

I've got 3 books that I've read in the last couple of months that are all 3.5/4.  I'm going to give you the synopsis for each in a couple of sentences.  I highly recommend all of them.

The Closer You Get - Mary Torjussen:
Coworkers Ruby and Harry are in love-but they're married to other people.  They decide to tell their spouses that their marriages are over and to start a new life together.  Ruby has wanted to leave her controlling husband for a while, so she tells him she's leaving and waits at the hotel where she and Harry are to meet.  But Harry never shows up.
Suddenly, Ruby has lost everything.  Harry won't answer her calls, and she's fired from her job.  She finds a cheap apartment in a rundown part of town, all the while wondering what happened to Harry.
Just as Ruby thinks she's hit rock bottom, strange and menacing things start to happen-someone is sneaking into her apartment, and someone is following her home late at night-and she is going to have to fight for her survival.

This is a thriller/mystery, pure and simple.  The story is told in the voices of Ruby and Emma, Harry's wife.  Great storyline.

The Two Lila Bennetts - Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke:
Lila Bennett's bad choices have finally caught up with her.  And one of those decisions has split her life in two.  Literally.
In one life, she's taken hostage by someone who appears to be a stranger but knows too much.  As she's trapped in a concrete cell, her kidnapper forces her to face what she's done or be killed.  In an alternate life, she eludes her captor but is hunted by someone who is dismantling her happiness, exposing one secret at a time.
Lila's decorated career as a criminal defense attorney, her marriage, and her life are on the line.  She must make a list of those she's wronged-both in and out of the courtroom-to determine who is out to get her before it's too late.  But even if she can pinpoint her assailant, will she survive?  And if she does, which parts of her life are worth saving, and which parts must die?  Because one thing's for certain-life as Lila Bennett knew it is over.

Here's another thriller for you.  And I have to tell you that both alternate stories in TTLB are equally plausible and gripping.  There's even a reference to one of my favorite John Cusack movies!

The Yellow Bird Sings - Jennifer Rosner
As Nazi soldiers round up the Jews in their town, Roza and her five-year-old daughter, Shira, flee, seeking shelter in a neighbor's barn.  Hidden in the hayloft day and night, Shira struggles to stay still and quiet as music pulses through her and the farmyard outside beckons.  To soothe her daughter and pass the time, Roza tells her a story about a girl in an enchanted garden:
The girl is forbidden from making a sound, so the yellow bird sings.  He sings whatever the girl composes in her head:  high-pitched trills of piccolo; low-throated growls of contrabassoon.  Music helps the flowers bloom.
In this make-believe world, Roza can shield Shira from the horrors that surround them.  But the day comes when their haven is no longer safe and Roza must make an impossible choice:  whether to keep Shira by her side or give her the chance to survive apart.
Inspired by the true stories of Jewish children hidden during World War II, Jennifer Rosner's debut is a breathtaking novel about the unbreakable bond between a mother and a daughter.  Beautiful and riveting, The Yellow Bird Sings is a testament to the triumph of hope-a whispered story, a bird's song-in even the darkest times.

This one, like many of the historical novels I have read about WWII, invoked a lot of emotional responses from me.  In particular, I had a bunch of chills.  I think I am most impressed by the fact that this is a debut novel for Jennifer.