Book Club - January: Shutter's Eye

Welcome to January's Book Club book!

Shutter's Eye, by author, Leigh Macfarlane, starts with a bang. Literally. The first chapter opens with Amy Callaghan, age fourteen, purchasing her first camera from Shad's Electronics store. Jamila Shad, also fourteen, is Amy's best friend, her sister-by-choice, and the Shads are Amy's second family.

The book opens with a gentle, family vibe as the excited teenage Amy spends savings from her job at McDonalds on a camera with all the bells and whistles. Amy is excited and nervous, and the moment is that much better because she is sharing it with the Shads. Wanting to celebrate this purchase with her friend, Jamila takes her lunch break, and the two girls leave the store with Amy snapping photos as they walk. Moments later, the store blows up behind them, and it is clear there are no survivors.

Fast forward twelve years, and Amy is now an award-winning photographer, Jamila is a social worker still living in their hometown of Abbotsford, BC. Although the story is set in Abbotsford, the location plays only nominally in the progression of the novel. Amy maintains a condo there, but she travels so frequently that she is more nomad than homebody. Home, to Amy, is where Jamila is. Well, Jamila is getting married, so Amy is headed home for the wedding. While she is shooting her last gig, though, she gets an emergency call -- Jamila has been attacked. She is in hospital, and Amy's return home is suddenly intense.

Visiting in the hospital, Amy is relieved that Jamila will be okay, but her unease with hospitals is a throwback to that life-changing day when the bombing happened. Although she doesn't know it yet, the cop who comes to question Amy was also part of that day. The Shad bombing occurred at the very beginning of Zander's career as a cop. That one event was pivotal in its way for all three of them.

Zander is also Jamila's fiance's best man. With Jamila healing in hospital, and Abe by her side, Amy and Zander are sent out to do all the last-minute wedding chores. Throwing the pair of them together leads to a lot of lusty moments in this spicy romance.

There is a lot going on in this story -- there is an assailant to arrest, a wedding to attend, and the smoking chemistry happening between Amy and Zander to navigate. Woven throughout all of that are moments of introspection as Amy considers the effects of losing the Shad family and what the short time having them added to her life. There are themes of racism, PTSD, the family you are born into and the family you choose, and the love between friends woven gently throughout this story. Mostly, though, this a slightly raunchy romance where, for Amy, finding Zander is part of finding herself.

Shutter's Eye is a fast-paced, enjoyable read. It's not a suspense, not really about solving a crime, it is a love story with a super sexy, utterly smitten hero and a heroine who is smart, sassy, talented, and is making deliberate choices for her own life. Definitely give this book a try. It was a quick and fun read.