Jodi Picoult

Jack St. Bride was once a beloved teacher and soccer coach at a girls' private school - until a student's crush sparked a powder keg of accusation and robbed him of his career and reputation. Now, after a devastatingly public ordeal that left him with an eight-month jail sentence and no job, Jack resolves to pick up the pieces of his life. He takes a job washing dishes at Addie Peabody's diner and slowly starts to form a relationship with her in the quiet New England village of Salem Falls. But just when Jack thinks he has outrun his past, a quartet of teenage girls with a secret turn his world upside down once again, triggering a modern-day witch hunt in a town haunted by its own history...

Salem Falls

Robbed of his teaching career and reputation by a student's false accusations, Jack St. Bride is struggling to rebuild his life in the wake of an eight-month jail sentence by taking a job washing dishes at Addie Peabody's diner, but fresh accusations of rape by teenage girls from his former school threaten to destroy him once again. Reader's Guide available.

Lacy W

3.5 stars!

 tw:  slut shaming, attempted rape, fat shaming, use of word r*tard, sexual assault, self harm, use of word *ndian, rape

This book made me so mad. Although, a lot of Picoult's books make me mad. I consider this a good thing. I was mad at what Jack was put through because he most certainly did NOT deserve it at all. I was mad at the town of Salem Falls for being horrible and judgey because, sadly, small towns seem to be that way with a newcomer, especially a newcome with a past. I was just plain mad and my anger remained throughout the book.

Salem Falls talks about the horrible repercussions of false rape accusations and how they could honestly ruin someone's life. Talking about subjects like this is always difficult no matter what you say, you step on someone's toes or end up completely offending someone when that wasn't your intent at all. But that is the beauty of this book. We need to talk about things like this. We need to talk about things that makes uncomfortable because what this book talks about-false rape accusations- happens in real life. 

Okay, I'll hop down from my soap box and talk about the actual book. I did enjoy it. But it got to be a bit wordy like when the lawyers were talking to the DNA expert about DNA. A lot of that flew right over my head and I was just so confused. I couldn't even pronounce half the words that were on the page. Picoult doesn't miss a single detail, especially in the trial, but my eyes did glaze over at certain parts. I understand that she wants to capture everything from every angle but a little editing wouldn't have hurt the story at all. 

Overall, I cannot recommend this book and for that matter, Jodi Picoult, enough. I have yet to rate one of her books lower than 3 (three) stars. Despite my average rating, this book was great and the topic was great; not something that is usually talked about. I highly recommend to anyone looking for taboo subjects to read.

Jaymie Lemke

One of her more predictable books. Would love to read a "departure" book from Jodi. I know that she has it in her!

Salem Falls

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