Exposure by Therese Fowler

This gripping read is dazzling in its ability to take a situation, grapple with the intricacies and still make it a page turner.
Essentially the story of Wilkes and Winter families and the very real but secret love shared between their children Amelia and Anthony, it is a modern day story that shows so clearly the impact that Modern Social Media has on the lives of all of us but especially the youth of today and how extremely dangerous the smallest push of a button can be. A book riven by behaviour, it takes you into choices and consequences, one ill advised action, one set of angry words in the wrong ears and life can combust in a second.
The author also shows us that Wealth and Influence can be used so cavalierly when reputation is at stake, equally she does a wonderful job of showing us how it can backfire. A wily and cunning prosecutor with his own agenda can make more trouble than is believable.
I really liked her characters, they were real to their experiences and their behaviour exemplified this, therefore they resonated especially Harlan Wilkes and Kim Winter whose backstories were defty painted into the story and heavily influenced it. Amelia and Anthony were a delight, so true to themselves and their love, I found myself walking every step of their journey with them, it takes an author well able to write, to Lead her book with such clearly defined yet work in progress characters such as Amelia and Anthony and their friends, I was struck by their Nobility, their decency, their chance taking and ultimately the importance of doing the right thing that ripped the book open in an amazing twist.
An exceptionally good book that shows us that even in such times where Social Media and the Internet are so powerful, old fashioned values can stand and people can change.
Available from the Auckland Library Service or via Special Order from your local Indie.

This Beautiful Life by Helen Schulman

The depth of the writing is this book is amazing. The layers are slowly peeled back to reveal the reality of one family's modern life and the fragility that it is built on. One error, one mistake and like dominoes the life so painstakingly crafted, topples, splinters, shatters leaving what could only be described as hollow survivors.
The Bergamots are the family that this story revolves around, they are its axis, new to New York, father Richard is a high flyer at prestigious University, Mum Liz is a stay at home busily propelling the lives of her children Jake and Coco and secretly consumed with the anxiety that she is not good enough, that some how she just doesn`t  fit in and of course she desperately wants to. Busy, rushing, enveloped in superficiality, the family manages to loose touch emotionally until disaster strikes and an email forward by Jake brings unimaginable consequences to all involved. We learn via the Bergamots that with today's social media there is no such thing as confidentiality. We also learn that at the simple touch of a button, all we hold dear, can be gone in an instant.
I particularly liked the way that the author so finely etched her characters and how realistically she made them, warts and all. Her descriptions of New York and its environs drew you in, so that you felt as if you were there and the people and places minor or not in this book resonated. I also felt that she built the most delicious tension, it was suttle and as it grew in momentum, I couldn't put the book down. A story that has consequences is not always sympathetic but this book was unique in that the author didn`t loose perspective but neither did she trample anyone into the ground and she was fair and even handed with her characters and while conveying that different characters would feel differently about situations, responsibility and consequences and that so ultimately would the readers, she kept it human and therefore real.
A thought provoking read, that is so relevant in today's minefield of social media, it will cause all who read it to hopefully think before they type, text or forward. I very much look forward to Helen Schulman`s next book.