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Shadow and Light

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Shadow and Light is a novel about a photographer who loses her eight-year-old daughter in a tragic accident then chances across an opportunity to help another parent save her own daughter.
With her marriage strained and her business on the verge of failure, the novel’s protagonist, thirty-four-year-old Maggie Miller, seeks emotional refuge from the death of her daughter in the solitary activity of taking pictures of families at rest stops on the Florida Turnpike. When she finds she has inadvertently taken a picture of a missing child, Maggie’s near-obsessional quest to find the missing girl further imperils her marriage, her business and, to the concern of those closest to her, her already-fragile psyche.

Her decisions and the actions that follow her search could save or endanger the child’s life, and Maggie realizes she has been attempting to do what she could not do for her own child. In the process of facing the subjectivity of perception and the fallibility of human nature, she brings herself to the first stirrings of self-forgiveness, acceptance, and growth.

266 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 5, 2015

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213 people want to read

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Carol Koris

3 books95 followers

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
Profile Image for Elizabeth of Silver's Reviews.
1,315 reviews1,626 followers
October 13, 2020
If Maggie wouldn't have been in her dark room, could she have prevented the accident that took her daughter's life?

Maggie is a photographer and in deep depression since her daughter's death which she blames on herself.

To cope with her loss, she goes to rest stops on the Florida Turnpike and takes photos of families.

A photo she had taken one day could be something that may help or hinder a family whose daughter was kidnapped. Could this really be the same girl? No one believes her.

Maggie had an obsession about the girl who had been kidnapped and insisted that it was her and that she needed to help find her.

Ms. Koris's writing is pull-you-in and enjoyable even though the book's content is heartbreaking. You can feel Maggie’s gut wrenching pain as she grieves. You can also feel her husband’s frustration as he tries to help her cope.

Along with the grief we have a mystery to solve and another decision for Maggie to make. Whose story should she believe about the kidnapping?

SHADOW AND LIGHT is very well written with a high level of interest because of the subject matter and the author's writing style.

SHADOW AND LIGHT has an excellent twist that took the theme from domestic problems and loss to suspense.

It is an excellent book for those who enjoy mystery and those who enjoy twists and turns.

You will need some tissues for the tender and sad moments that happen. 5/5

This book was given to me by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Profile Image for Kathy Maresca.
Author 3 books90 followers
March 14, 2023
Author Carol Koris dives deep in this novel, quickly bathing readers in the shadows of grief and the light of second chances. No detail is left unturned as Maggie, a childless mother, sorts through parental lies and an a detective's apathy.

One of the many things the author does brilliantly is show how a marriage can crumble after the death of a child. I found myself identifying with Maggie in her perceived aloneness and in her compulsion to help a kidnapped child she had never met.

If you like to read books that SHOW not tell, you will like Shadow and Light. I must admit I raced through the final pages, desperate to know who dunnit. Great suspense and descriptions. You'll root for Maggie.

For my CF friends, this book contains some profanity but not loaded with it.

1,129 reviews32 followers
April 12, 2020
A real page-turner, this book held my attention all the way through. Packed with emotion. Heart-breaking.

Koris masterfully portrays the characters with realistic responses to loss and grief. In real life, when parents have to deal with the death of a child, their marriages are tested. Some marriages survive and some don’t.

Maggie is struggling to hold her marriage and her photography business together after the sudden death of her eight-year-old daughter Lilly. In her search for inner peace, she often goes alone, with her camera, to places where she can people watch. But one day she finds that she has inadvertently captured a photo of a missing child and her abductor. Her guilt over the death of Lilly leads to her quest to reunite the child and parents. But this quest comes with a very high price. She could lose her marriage, her business, and even her life. The suspense is perfectly timed.

I highly recommend this book.
618 reviews15 followers
July 18, 2021
Grief is a fact of life, and everyone handles it differently. In this novel, the author does a marvelous job of helping the reader see how a husband and wife make their way through the grief of losing their only child to a tragedy. The characters are all very realistic. This is an emotional and heart-felt book that will keep you on the edge of your seat. There are lots of expected twists but with unexpected endings. I can’t recommend this book enough to everyone.
Profile Image for Bambi Rathman.
358 reviews80 followers
February 23, 2021
Shadows and light....a photographer's medium they use to create their works of art. Shadows and light....also how sometimes life experiences can be. Shadows and light....something secret or something known. "Shadow and Light" the perfect title for this book I couldn't put down once I started it. Ms. Koris has taken all those possibilities of what shadows and light can be and combined them into a novel that captured me from the very tragic beginning. This is the story of Maggie Miller and how her life changes in the blink of an eye when she loses her eight-year-old daughter from a terrible accident. My heart broke for Maggie. "The ache followed her like a shadow, larger sometimes than others, but always a part of her. .....she realized that shadows don't really disappear in the dark; you just can't see them."

Maggie is devasted from the loss of her daughter, Lilly. She finds comfort in taking photos of random people from the "shadows" of her car. She captures the image of a little girl who resembles her beloved Lilly and also resembles a missing little girl. If this is actually the missing girl, what should Maggie do with this information and who will believe her? This is where the mystery and suspense begins. I was dropped right into the pages and couldn't come out. Ms. Koris has a writing talent that took me through the gamut of emotions with Maggie. This book is filled with "hold my breath" moments as well as the anquish of a mother's loss. Ms. Koris creates characters in this story with realisic emotions, struggles, and soul searching challenges. The writing is vivid and superb! I became invested in Maggie's search for truth, justice and acceptance of what the shadows and light of life gave her. I could feel how Ms. Koris's heart was poured into the story through her characters.

This book is a page-turning, hard-to-put-down read. I want to thank Ms. Koris for the honor of reading such a thrilling, compelling, and suspense filled novel. All opinions and thoughts in this review are my heartfelt own. I definitely recommend this five star for me read.
Profile Image for JoAnna McGarvie.
87 reviews10 followers
May 18, 2021
Wow !! What a ride of emotions ! I read this amazing book on my Kindle in 4 hours ! I could not put it down !! What a great Thriller full of mystery and intrigue! You will not be disappointed !
Great cast of characters my favorite chatacter is Donovan .

Favorite quote :
" I will miss you my skinny white Buddha with the long flowing ponytale" "
Profile Image for Beatrice Followill.
1,626 reviews41 followers
October 17, 2020
Great storyline , though the beginning is very sad and heart breaking , what comes from the rest of the story is hopeful and intriguing .It makes you think about Fate and the hand it plays in everyday life ,and to what extent would you be willing to save a life .
Profile Image for Holly Marie.
61 reviews12 followers
October 20, 2020
This book was superb and well written, it will take you on roller coaster rides of emotions, with so many twists and turns, the author did a wonderful job of questioning who to trust and you may find yourself questioning your own questions. If you lost a loved one, and had a chance to save another life, would you? If so, how far would you go?
Author 3 books95 followers
July 12, 2022
I am the author of this book so I am biased. I gave it five stars from feedback of those who have read my book. While there is mystery to this book, many readers respond to Maggie’s, the main character’s, emotions as she navigates through her grief and the realization that life will never be the same. Readers who have had a loss have asked me how I knew how it felt. As they say, write what you know. No spoilers...this is where the story begins.

Merged review:

I am the author of this book so I am biased. I gave it five stars from feedback of those who have read my book. While there is mystery to this book, many readers respond to Maggie’s, the main character’s, emotions as she navigates through her grief and the realization that life will never be the same. Readers who have had a loss have asked me how I knew how it felt. As they say, write what you know. No spoilers...this is where the story begins.
Profile Image for Annette.
Author 22 books101 followers
November 23, 2020
Shadow and Light is an amazing book!
Carol Koris' beautiful writing style and vivid descriptions pulled me into the story on the first page. She has the gift of making the reader experience every feeling the protagonist goes through. The book is at times very emotional (understandably, given the tragic events), which adds to the reading pleasure.
I would recommend Shadow and Light to everyone who is looking for a fast-paced, well-written book about loss, love, and hope.
Profile Image for Sharon Friedman.
Author 3 books68 followers
October 17, 2020
Loss and grief are front and center in this masterfully written thriller. In Shadow and Light, author Carol Koris artfully depicts the heartbreak that follows the death of a child, while deftly crafting an edge-of-the-seat mystery filled with unexpected turns. I highly recommend this page-turner.
Profile Image for Annmarie Kuyath.
437 reviews20 followers
September 14, 2022
I have had this book on my kindle for a couple of months now. I do not know why it took so long for me to open it up and read it, but I am glad that I finally did. It was a page turner and I could not put it down once I started reading it!

Maggie struggles with the guilt she feels after her 8 year old daughterś death. Her husband is dealing with grief in his own way and they are finding that they are on different pages and their marriage is put through a test. Will their marriage survive the pain and anguish of losing their only child?

Maggie is a photographer and while she is having a hard time taking photos for her business, she finds herself taking photos of random people. She believes she has captured a picture of a missing girl and possibly the girlś abductor. The police dismiss her, thinking she is a mother consumed with grief. Maggie is not giving up, and will do anything to find out who has this child, including going to the father, who also dismisses her. Maggie is not giving up that easily and will stop at nothing to find the truth, even going against her husband and keeping secrets.

This suspense thriller is so good. It pits parent against parent, and Maggie needs to figure out who she can trust, who is telling the truth, and how to gain her husbandś trust and get him to understand the seriousness of what she has discovered. She will stop at nothing to find the answers and keep the girl in the picture safe.

If you are looking for a page turner, I would highly recommend this book!
Profile Image for Tina hogan Grant.
Author 22 books731 followers
September 9, 2021
I finished this book over two weeks ago and still, it remains in my head. Koris knows how to write a story that captivated me immediately and she tells it with such raw emotions that I could truly feel the heartache of Maggie who lost her eight-year-old daughter. Something Maggie at times blames herself for.

A gut-wrenching novel that shows the heartache, anguish, and guilt parents go through when experiencing the loss of a child. Their marriage is also put to the test. Maggie wants to talk to her husband about their daughter and lean on him for support. He has no words and is angered by her grief. Will their marriage survive?

But this is not only a book about grief. It is a suspense thriller that involves a kidnapped child. Maggie believed she captured a picture of the girl and is determined to find out the truth at any cost. Even when the police turned her away, believing she was a grieving mother who was seeing things. Anxious to see what Maggie will discover, I could not turn the pages fast enough. What unfolded was a battle of “he said”, “she said”. Maggie needed to find a way to know who was telling the truth. What she discovers is mind-blowing.

This book was beautifully written. Koris is a brilliant writer who pays attention to detail and paints an amazing story with her words.
Profile Image for Denise Marie.
Author 1 book25 followers
November 19, 2020
Book Review: Shadow and Light by author, Carol Koris

Shadow and Light will wring out your emotions until nothing is left, with its intent to tug at the heartstrings along with a twist of the mysterious that will have you turning the pages vehemently.

This is the story of one mother's journey through the stages of profound loss of the very one she can't possibly live without. With heart-stopping fear, sadness, and yes, hope, love and tenderness, Ms. Koris has crafted a narrative of true emotion that gives the reader exactly what she meant for them to experience~ a journey down the heartrending path as to just how far one will go to save the life of a child, while simultaneously mourning the loss of their own.

Shadow and Light is an 'edge of your seat' read that keeps you engrossed throughout each and every characters offering to the story as they pull you into their lives with their most unique and telling way as to the delicate balance between grief and love.

I thank Ms. Koris for bringing this breathtaking story to life, one I know will stay with me for a very long time, and one I most highly recommend.

5 Stars

#ShadowAndLight
#CarolKoris

Wild Sage Book Blog
Profile Image for Freida Cameron.
58 reviews4 followers
February 10, 2021
This book was impossible to put down!!

I knew the basic storyline- a mother loses her child to death and then inadvertently captures the image of a kidnapped child while taking photos beside the road. I could not have anticipated how much of a roller coaster of emotions this book would begin! From the beginning, I felt as if I was riding in Maggie's skin, experiencing the ups and downs in her emotions.

Ms. Koris has a deft, skillful hand at making the emotions and the internal thought processes so organic to the story that they seamlessly flow as though you are watching the actions unfold before you. Nothing worked out in a pat manner, but the reader is kept bouncing from one possibility to another throughout the book. In the end, you want to cheer- and cry- all at the same time.

This is a story I will remember for a long time, and will be worthy of a re-read. If you like psychological thrillers that keep you guessing, and move quickly from emotion to emotion- you will not go wrong with this book.
179 reviews4 followers
July 3, 2020
This was my first read by this new author to me and I am so happy I got the opportunity to read this book. What a heart wrenching, page turner, hard to put down book. Maggie, a photographer and her husband, Brian, a pilot, lost their sweet little daughter due to an accident. Throughout their grieving you feel like you are right there with them experiencing the ups and downs of a tragedy and how it can pull a family apart. Maggie's biggest joy is taking photos and then finds out one of the photos she has may be that of an abducted child. She is determined at any cost to find this child so no parent has to go thru the loss she did. There are lots of twists and turns to this captivating story so you will have to read this to find out if Maggie was able to help another family. Can Maggie and Brian come back from disaster and rebuild their marriage. I highly recommend this book.
Profile Image for Renee Simmons.
534 reviews61 followers
June 22, 2022
I loved Shadow and Light, heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. Maggie is a professional photographer, but when her daughter dies in a rollerblading accident, her life is turned upside down. To cope she begins taking pictures of unsuspecting people to capture their expressions. When a prominent attorney’s daughter is abducted, she realizes, she has a picture of the girl and her abductor. She holds the answers and can save the girl’s life. But things are not so cut and dry. Decisions have to be made and that requires investigating the situation. Is Maggie putting the girl’s life in more danger, and herself as well. Can Maggie put her own feelings aside, and make the right decision? And can Maggie put her life back together, and start the healing to so desperately needs. I highly recommend this book.
Profile Image for Reena G.
188 reviews7 followers
June 9, 2020

A wonderful thriller not to be missed!! This is the first book I have read by Carl Koris and certainly won’t be the last one. The author is a fantastic story teller and has created such relatable characters who portray real emotions and reactions to loss and grief. The main character Maggie a photographer risks her life as well as her marriage to unite a child with her parents as she herself had lost her daughter Lillie. In order to fight her own loss and find some inner peace she ventures out to find out the truth. There are a lot of twists and turns throughout the story and its hard to put the book down. Thank you Carol for the giveaway, looking forward to more books written by you.
Profile Image for Patti Procopi.
Author 9 books66 followers
September 1, 2024
This book touches on so many heartbreaking events - the death of a child, the loss of a child, a marriage in crisis and to top it off - a mystery! Maggie Miller's eight year old daughter dies in a senseless accident and of course, Maggie blames herself. As often happens, she and her husband deal with the tragedy in different ways. Maggie is a photographer and to take her mind off her grief she sometimes sits in random parking lots and takes pictures of people from her car. One photo looks like a young girl who has recently been kidnapped. Maggie gets tangled up in the family drama of the parents and has no idea who is telling her the truth. It's up in the air until the end. Recommended.
7 reviews
December 17, 2020
The author pulls you in to this story from the very beginning, through a mother’s eyes. She does an excellent job of pulling you through an unimaginable experience of grief, with all of the emotions that grief can bring. In the midst of trying to deal with her grief, the mother is drawn into a possible kidnapping. She may have what is needed to resolve the crime, but will she lose her marriage along the way? The author keeps you turning the pages to find out what is going to happen to the mother, to her marriage, and to those involved in the kidnapping.
44 reviews4 followers
April 14, 2021
I received an e-book from the author and initially put it down because a child died almost immediately. When I picked it back up and read further, I realized that the main storyline was about the child’s mother becoming involved in the hunt for an abducted child while working through her grief. This is a fast paced mystery driven by the mother’s loss and her desire to help another family avoid the tragedy of losing a child by helping them find their daughter. I had to suspend disbelief a few times as the story unfolded, but found the ending to be very satisfying.
22 reviews37 followers
January 26, 2021
"Shadow and Light" by Carol Koris is about a professional photographer who is grieving the tragic loss of her only child. She finds out she photographed a child that was kidnapped, so she makes it her mission to find the little girls that was kidnapped because she want to return her to her parents. This book is full of suspense and twists and turns. I loved this book because it kept me on the edge of my seat. This is a hard to put down book and I highly recommend it.
Profile Image for Carolyn Dowler.
3 reviews1 follower
April 7, 2021
Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2021
What I liked most about this book is it kept me guessing. Just when I was sure I had it figured out there would be a twist causing me to question everyone’s motives again. It’s a book filled with the raw emotion of a mother who has lost her only child and her struggle to cope with her overwhelming grief.
Profile Image for Marcia.
313 reviews6 followers
November 9, 2020
Wow what a rollercoaster of emotions! This mom goes through a horrible loss. Feels guilty, lost and angry at herself and her husband. This book reminds you of how fast things can happen! Such a quick read!
Profile Image for Teresa.
679 reviews
November 25, 2020
I received this ebook copy from the author. The story grabbed me from the 1st chapter. A couple’s daughter dies tragically. The mother becomes involved in a race to save another child from one of the parents, but which one? A seriously keep-you-on-your toes to figure it out!
194 reviews20 followers
March 26, 2021
Absolutely loved the book. When one woman looses a child due to developing pictures in dark room she looses her child in an accident. She then starts to take pictures randomly and came across a little girl that was missing. She went through great lengths to save the little girl.
Profile Image for Maria Henriksen.
42 reviews1 follower
March 16, 2022
This novel pulled at the heartstrings while navigating who to trust. The use of photography to assist in the story telling demonstrates that things are not always what they seem. Sometimes you have to trust your intuition to foster the good in this world. I highly recommend Shadow and Light.
Profile Image for Savannah Hendricks.
Author 30 books371 followers
July 11, 2022
While this is an emotional read, it was well written and very moving, causing readers to think about their own lives in many ways. This story makes me feel grateful for all I have and that I'm able to read such wonderful books. If you're looking for a story to tug at your heart, this is the one.
Profile Image for Robin.
652 reviews23 followers
December 22, 2020
Wow, what an emotional read. Heartbreaking emotions,grief and a mystery that will keep you hooked till the end. Well done,Carol!
35 reviews4 followers
January 20, 2021
Grief, drama, conflict, dilemma, and life altering decisions fill the pages of this page turner novel. Gripping is an understatement.

Get your copy now and fasten your seatbelt.
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