Book Profile and Giveaway: The Stormchasers by Jenna Blum

Giveaway now closed as of July 6, 2011.

With all the crazy weather we're having across the country and the world, this book couldn't be more timely. As a therapist, it also raised my interest level. The Stormchasers by Jenna Blum follows the saga of fraternal twins Karena and her brother Charles as their lives takes a deadly and devastating turn.

How far would you go to protect a sibling-and at what cost to yourself?

As a teenager, Karena Jorge had always been the one to look out for her twin brother Charles, who suffers from bipolar disorder. But as Charles begins to refuse medication and his manic tendencies worsen, Karena finds herself caught between her loyalty to her brother and her fear for his life. Always obsessed with the weather-enraptured by its magical unpredictability that seemed to mirror his own impulses- Charles starts chasing storms, and his behavior grows increasingly erratic . . . until a terrifying storm chase with Karena ends with deadly consequences, tearing the twins apart and changing both of their lives forever.

Two decades later, Karena gets a call from a psychiatric ward in Wichita, Kansas, to come pick up her brother, whom she hasn't seen or spoken to for twenty years. She soon discovers that Charles has lied to the doctors, taken medication that could make him dangerously manic, and disappeared again. Having exhausted every resource to try and track him down, Karena realizes she has only one last chance of finding him: the storms. Wherever the tornadoes are, that's where he'll be. Karena joins a team of professional stormchasers-passionate adventurers who will transform her life and give her a chance at love and redemption- and embarks on an odyssey to find her brother before he reveals the violent secret from their past and does more damage to himself . . . or to someone else.

If you'd like a chance to receive this book, just leave a comment that answers this question: Do you know anyone who suffers from a mental illness? Don't forget your email. That is all. The giveaway ends July 5, 2011. Giveaway open to residents of the US only at publishers request.

Toodles!