Blurb Blitz + Review + #Giveaway: MacKenzie's Last Run by Gayle Rosengren @GayleRosengren @GoddessFish

MacKenzie's Last Run 

by Gayle Rosengren

GENRE: Middle Grade Fiction

BLURB:

Thirteen-year-old MacKenzie (Mac) Lawrence secretly blames himself for his father’s death. In his grief and guilt, he has pulled away from everyone, even his twin sister Tessa. When their mother announces her plans to remarry barely 18 months after Dad’s death, Mac is furious and runs away in an attempt to force her to break off the engagement.

Unfortunately, nothing goes as Mac plans. He ends up seriously injured, miles from home, unable to reach out for help, while clues he inadvertently left behind suggest he’s been kidnapped—possibly by Mom’s fiancé—and set his twin sister Tessa on a desperate search to find him. But she’d better hurry, because the clock is ticking, and Mac is running out of time.

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Excerpt:

Mac hooked his right arm around the slim trunk of a birch tree. One more break before going the rest of the way. He sagged against the tree and closed his eyes. His head was a snare drum, crashing, crashing. Something was definitely wrong. He was sick. Or the infection in his hand was worse than he’d thought. Or he was dehydrated. Maybe all of the above. Whatever. It was going to take everything he had to make it up this miserable hill.

He gritted his teeth and loosened his hold on the birch. Up and over, he told himself, pushing off from the trunk. But for every bit of progress he made, he slid back at least half of it. The ground was mud to the tops of his shoes—his good, expensive, running shoes. He tried to find toe holds in the muck but nothing was solid. The ground kept shifting under him, sucking at his feet.

His chest heaved. For the first time he worried that he might not be able to make it to the top. And it was so close. Just a few feet away. But he couldn’t get any traction, and he didn’t have the strength to keep climbing in place much longer.

Desperate, he grabbed onto a low shrub with his good hand and used it to haul himself a foot higher. That worked so well he looked for another shrub to grab onto. No shrub, but a sapling a few feet ahead that looked sturdy enough. He sprang forward and grasped a low branch. Straining hard, he hauled himself up. For one triumphant moment he could see over the hill. He glimpsed the road on the other side.

Then the branch snapped. He started to fall. Backwards. Head first.

My Review:

MacKenzie's Last Run is probably, no, it is the best book I have read in a long, long time. MacKenzie's Last Run pulled me in from the very beginning. It took a hold of my heart and did not let go but you know what, I don’t think it ever will. I was rooting for Mackenzie from the start.

MacKenzie's Last Run had my heart in turmoil as I followed Mac on his journey. Mac’s mom and sister Tessa had a hold on me as well. Mac kept me on my toes from the moment he left home. Mac had a ghost hot on his tail that he was running from. Mac blamed himself for something that wasn’t his fault and dealt with it the only way he knew how. He lashed out at the ones he loved the most.

Mac lashed out at the ones he loved the most because he could as he knew they would allow it. In most cases, the ones who know us best will allow someone in pain to lash out at them hoping that it will help them as they know no other way at the time. And in some cases, love is never having to say you're sorry. Because love already knows you are sorry before you ever speak.

Mac decides to run away from home when his mother tells him that she is going to remarry. This upsets Mac because it has only been two years since his father passed. Mac thinks that he has to show his mom how serious he is about her getting remarried. He thinks the only way to show her is to run away.

But things don’t go as he plans. His troubles start before he even leaves his house and it keeps haunting him long after. With all the evidence he left behind the police are beginning to suspect that Mac was kidnapped. This throws Tessa in turmoil herself as she starts to spend all her time looking for her twin brother.

MacKenzie's Last Run is a heart-wrenching read which is what held my attention. By the time I reached the end, I was squalling like a baby. My heart was overflowing for Mac. I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out. I was so afraid for Mac and Tessa. I think, no I know that MacKenzie's Last Run needs to be made into a TV show or movie like now.

I highly recommend MacKenzie's Last Run to anyone who loves to read! One-click your copy of MacKenzie's Last Run today! Trust me you will not regret reading this one! 

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

As a girl, books were among Gayle’s best friends and inspired her dream of writing for children someday. It was a dream that only grew stronger over the years. Gayle majored in Creative Writing in college. Her first book, What the Moon Said (Putnam 2014) was a Jr. Library Guild selection and CCBC title, and her second, Cold War on Maplewood Street (Putnam 2015) won the Tofte-Wright Award for Children’s Literature. She has worked as an advertising copywriter, a pre-school teacher, a youth services assistant in her local public library; and a research assistant in the American Girl library. Gayle is a lover of stories whether she’s writing them or reading them.

Visit her website to learn more about Gayle and her books.

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Giveaway:

$100 Amazon/BN GC

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