Throwback Thursday – Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts

Throwback Thursday is a meme created by Renee at It’s Book Talk to share old favorite books rather than just the new shiny ones. This is a great idea to bring back to life some much-loved books. Please feel free to join in.

My choice for this week is:

 

Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts

Published December 20, 1995 by Grand Central Publishing

 

I loved this book!!!

Usually having read a book so long ago, I can’t remember much about it.  However, that is not the case with this book. I read it in 1999 when I was pregnant with my daughter, and it seems just like yesterday.

The main character,  Novalee Nation is a pregnant 17-year-old girl who is abandoned by her boyfriend in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart. Novalee is such a great character, so easy to love and root for.

This was such a unique and heartwarming read.  A gripping page-turner with so much heart!

This wonderful book has stayed with me all these years. I can’t wait to read it again.

Highly recommended!

Throwback Thursday – Night Road by Kristin Hannah

Throwback Thursday is a meme created by Renee at It’s Book Talk to share old favorite books rather than just the new shiny ones. This is a great idea to bring back to life some much-loved books. Please feel free to join in.

My choice for this week is:

 

Night Road by Kristin Hannah

Published March 22, 2011 by St. Martin’s Press

Goodreads Description:

For a mother, life comes down to a series of choices.

To hold on…
To let go…
To forget…
To forgive…

Which road will you take? For eighteen years, Jude Farraday has put her children’s needs above her own, and it shows—her twins, Mia and Zach—are bright and happy teenagers. When Lexi Baill moves into their small, close-knit community, no one is more welcoming than Jude.  Lexi, a former foster child with a dark past, quickly becomes Mia’s best friend. Then Zach falls in love with Lexi and the three become inseparable.Jude does everything to keep her kids on track for college and out of harm’s way. It has always been easy until senior year of high school. Suddenly she is at a loss. Nothing feels safe anymore; every time her kids leave the house, she worries about them.On a hot summer’s night her worst fears come true. One decision will change the course of their lives. In the blink of an eye, the Farraday family will be torn apart and Lexi will lose everything. In the years that follow, each must face the consequences of that single night and find a way to forget… or the courage to forgive.

Vivid, universal, and emotionally complex, NIGHT ROAD raises profound questions about motherhood, identity, love, and forgiveness. It is a luminous, heartbreaking novel that captures both the exquisite pain of loss and the stunning power of hope. This is Kristin Hannah at her very best, telling an unforgettable story about the longing for family, the resilience of the human heart, and the courage it takes to forgive the people we love.

My Thoughts:

Kristin Hannah is one of my favorite authors. I am always excited when I hear a new book is coming out (crossing my fingers we hear about one soon!). There are some that I would love to read again and this is definitely one of them.

“Night Road” did not disappoint.  I couldn’t put it down but at the same time, I didn’t want it to end.

Kristin Hannah writes books that many people can relate to in one way or another. This was a gripping and emotional read, painful at times, but so worth it.

An extremely well-written tale of love, friendship, loss, and forgiveness.

I can’t wait to read it again!

 

Have you read NIGHT ROAD? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Throwback Thursday – The Cry by Helen Fitzgerald

Throwback Thursday is a meme created by Renee at It’s Book Talk to share old favorite books rather than just the new shiny ones. This is a great idea to bring back to life some much-loved books. Please feel free to join in.

My choice for this week is: 

 

The Cry by Helen Fitzgerald 

Published September 5th, 2013 by Faber Faber

 

Goodreads Description:

He’s gone. And telling the truth won’t bring him back…

When a baby goes missing on a lonely roadside in Australia, it sets off a police investigation that will become a media sensation and dinner-table talk across the world.

Lies, rumours and guilt snowball, causing the parents, Joanna and Alistair, to slowly turn against each other.

Finally, Joanna starts thinking the unthinkable: could the truth be even more terrible than she suspected? And what will it take to make things right?

The Cry is a dark psychological thriller with a gripping moral dilemma at its heart and characters who will keep you guessing on every page.

 

 

My Thoughts:

I’ve recently started watching the BBC series based on this book.  I thought this was a great novel and I was really excited to see it was made into a TV series. I’ve watched the first two episodes and I am enjoying it so far.

I had a hard time getting anything done while reading this book. It grabbed me right from the first scene.

Every parent’s worst nightmare.

A baby has gone missing…. 

I thought this was a fantastic read, with many excellent twists and turns. Well written with a captivating plot that held my attention from start to finish.

This book is definitely one that I would read again.

I’m looking forward to watching the rest of the series too!

 

Have you read this novel or are you watching the series? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Throwback Thursday – Try Not to Breathe by Holly Seddon

Throwback Thursday is a meme created by Renee at It’s Book Talk to share old favorite books rather than just the new shiny ones. This is a great idea to bring back to life some much-loved books. Please feel free to join in.

My choice for this week is:

Try Not to Breathe by Holly Seddon

Published February 23rd, 2016 by Ballantine Books

Goodreads Description:

For fans of Lianne Moriarty, Paula Hawkins, and Tana French, an arresting debut novel of psychological suspense: a young journalist struggles to keep the demons of her alcoholism at bay as she finds her purpose again in tackling the mystery of a shocking headline-making crime, still unsolved after fifteen years.

Amy Stevenson was the biggest news story of 1995. Only fifteen years old, Amy disappeared walking home from school one day and was found in a coma three days later. Her attacker was never identified and her angelic face was plastered across every paper and nightly news segment.

Fifteen years later, Amy lies in the hospital, surrounded by 90’s Britpop posters, forgotten by the world until reporter Alex Dale stumbles across her while researching a routine story on vegetative patients.

Remembering Amy’s story like it was yesterday, she feels compelled to solve the long-cold case.

The only problem is, Alex is just as lost as Amy—her alcoholism has cost her everything including her marriage and her professional reputation.

In the hopes that finding Amy’s attacker will be her own salvation as well, Alex embarks on a dangerous investigation, suspecting someone close to Amy.

Told in the present by an increasingly fragile Alex and in dream-like flashbacks by Amy as she floats in a fog of memories, dreams, and music from 1995, Try Not to Breathe unfolds layer by layer to a breathtaking conclusion.

My Thoughts:

Alex Dale is a young journalist whose focus is mostly on trying to maintain her alcoholism. She rides the line between serious drinker and functioning alcoholic. After losing her job and her husband, she’s barely hanging on.

While writing an article about a doctor who is researching brain scans showing signs of communication from patients in a vegetative state, Alex visits a hospital ward where these patients live. Among these patients is Amy Stevenson. Amy has been in a coma since 1995 after being brutally attacked.

Alex feels a connection to Amy. They are the same age and Alex remembers when Amy was attacked. She becomes obsessed with wanting to find out what happened to Amy and wants to tell her story.

“Some secrets never die. They’re just locked away.”

“Try Not to Breathe” was a novel I really enjoyed. An interesting and entertaining psychological suspense novel that held my interest from start to finish.