A semi-recent giveaway win, I'm not sure I would have picked up Be Ready for the Lightning by Grace O'Connell on my own otherwise, but I was intrigued enough by the synopsis–plus, it's a Canadian author–to give the book a try. This is the story of Veda, who finds herself on a bus in a hostage situation. The story then switches to her childhood in Vancouver, to the bond she had with her brother, despite his violent tendencies, and to the situations that lead to her being on that bus in the first place.

Despite the intensity of the opening scene, Be Ready for the Lightning is definitely a slow-moving story, and the pace meant it took me much longer to read than it should have. I can also be a bit frustrated by books that switch between tenses, I always spend one waiting for what happens in the other, and that was the case here as I waited to find out what happened on the bus. Plus, when I did find out, any "twist" was just disappointing to me. Ultimately, even though the book is well-written and has some lovely imagery, I just wasn't very committed or enthralled by the story.