I got this hardcover from a local Savers thrift shop, for another release copy.

I really enjoyed this, in part for its behind-the-scenes-of-reality-show aspect and multiple viewpoints, but also for the depth of the main characters. There's the husband and wife who've each come through a "pray away the gay" experience - their internal monologues reveal the extent of the lies they've told themselves, but they each had different reasons for doing as they did, and different ways of adapting to change as the pressures of the game unfold); the mother-and-daughter, whose relationship could be an ordinary strained teen-and-mom situation but is complicated by several factors, including the daughter's surprise pregnancy - and the reveal that the girl's gay and only went with her boyfriend due to social pressure; there's a fading celebrity who's angling to use the show to get back in the public eye, and isn't fussy about how to get there; and other characters, including contestants and key members of the production staff.

I enjoyed the mechanics of the game, too, though I wouldn't want to play it; "Amazing Race" is tough enough, and this one throws in some increasingly obscure riddles that I know I couldn't do under pressure. But the ways in which the teams reacted, the manipulation behind the scenes, the developing and changing relationships - it was all a very entertaining read. (Though I wish Justin had had a better outcome...)

I should add that bits of it are very funny, not least because its scavenger-hunt aspect forces the competitors to carry around an increasing number of weird items, from a single ski pole to a live parrot. (The parrots are swapped out regularly, to save the birds from too much stress. Yes, I worried about this; yes, the producers planned for it {wry grin}.)

I left this book, bagged against the elements, in the little gazebo on the common; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

Easy read! Will leave at town sharing library box near Sawmill tennis courts!

I was pleased to find this hardcover, one of my own releases, in this Little Free Library in Litchfield NH while dropping off some books of my own. I retrieved it to release elsewhere.

I left this book in the Little Free Library; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in MA here.]