What if your boyfriend and your best friend dumped you for each other, and you move 300 miles away for a change just to find an unstable friend, an insane roommate, three guys interested in you (one of which may be your new stalker), no jobs currently available in your field, and on top of that your psychic abilities have gone a bit haywire?  Oh, that’s just the beginning.
 
 Following My Toes’ starts out with our main character Faith Emerson in an awkward situation.  She and unknown others are tied up at a table seemingly being held hostage by an unnamed male, instantly throwing the reader into a state of mystery and intrigue.  But, before we delve in too far, Faith brings us back into her past—2 years ago to be exact, and that is where the main story starts. 

The beginning is only a tease, an antidote to keep the reader wary of any male character in the story from this point.  It makes you wonder, “is he the one holding her hostage?”    I found myself dissecting every action of each male character, even after I was pretty positive who the creep was, Laurel always managed to put a piece of doubt in my mind with a little action or fact introduced by another.

By the end of Chapter 1, Faith’s life is turned upside down.  She loses her longtime boyfriend and lifetime best friend in the same day and is crushed.  Deciding a change would be for the best, she makes the move from Duluth, Minnesota to Minneapolis, Minnesota where life goes from bad to worse to better, to the point where she just about doesn’t care anymore.  She gets strange calls from a man (the stalker), her roommate is eccentric to say the least, job hunting is not going anywhere…all the bad things one would worry about happening seem to happen to poor Faith. 

Laurel tells a wonderful story of learning to forgive yourself and others, trusting your instincts and not giving up when everything seems hopeless.  Her use of second person in the flashback scenes flows perfectly.  I honestly didn’t even notice the change until I read the questions in the reader’s guide.

Speaking of which--this book is great for reading groups because it includes a reader’s guide with eleven thought provoking discussion questions.

Oh, did I mention Faith is psychic.  There is one line in the book I thought described the title perfectly.  “Granted, my psychic abilities have never been incredibly potent, but it used to be I’d always know when something bad was about to happen because my skin would hurt.  In turn, when something good was about to happen, my toes would itch.”  For me, that explained everything.

Cindy Bergquist- The Muse Book Reviewer

                               *GREAT READ