Blue Moon Mystery Saloon

Home Field

A Novel by Hannah Gersen, William Morrow, July 2016.

* An e-galley was provided by William Morrow and Edelweiss for an honest review.

 

Home Field: A Novel by Hannah Gersen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

HOME FIELD by Hannah Gersen is a book about the suicide of a loved one and how the survivors come to terms with the death. Dean is the celebrated high school football coach in a tiny rural community in western Maryland. He's the husband to an extremely depressed Nicole, stepfather to 19-year-old Stephanie, and father to 11-year-old Robbie and 8-year-old Bryan. After Nicole commits suicide, Dean is left searching for his place within his family and with his football team. Football is his life, and the reason he moved to such a small town.

As Dean becomes immersed in the start of Fall football, his family takes a back seat while they struggle to make sense of their mother's death. Ronnie becomes belligerent, talking back and acting out at school. Bry tries to placate everyone and becomes mesmerized by his aunt's fanatical religion. Stephanie battles with wanting to stay at home, to ensure her brothers aren't overshadowed by their dad's focus on his team, and with her need to leave town and enjoy her independence as a college freshman. Though Dean encourages Stephanie to follow her dream of going away to school, he doesn't know how to help himself or his kids work through their pain. He's guilty that he had no clue that Nicole was ready to kill herself and sad that they had grown so far apart.

If you're looking for a lighthearted story, this isn't the book for you, as it teems with unhappiness. However, if you are a character-driven reader, you'll enjoy the fully-developed characters and many subplots woven throughout the book. Situations and character reactions are realistic and somewhat poignant and reveal how each person hopes to break through their despair. The ending is a little weak, but overall the story is a good one.

I would recommend HOME FIELD to book clubs that enjoy discussing themed or emotional topics and to readers who prefer the same.

If You Like This, You May Also Like: THE OTHER WIDOW by Susan Crawford, TRULY MADLY GUILTY by Liane Moriarty, ALL IS NOT FORGOTTEN by Wendy Walker, LISTEN TO ME by Hannah Pittard, THE LAKE SEASON by Hannah McKinnon

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Lost Along the Way

A Novel by Erin Duffy, William Morrow, July 2016

* An e-galley was provided by William Morrow and Edelweiss for an honest review.

Lost Along the Way by Erin Duffy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

LOST ALONG THE WAY is a story about three best friends growing apart and still being able to depend on one another when their lives begin to crumble. Jane, Cara and Meg have been best friends since the third grade and have remained close throughout their teens and twenties. The story begins the day after Jane elopes with Doug, a wealth manager on Wall Street. She can't wait to share the news with her married friends, thinking they'll be just as excited as she is. But when Cara and Meg hear about Jane's wedding, they're anything but. They think she's jumped into marriage with Doug too quickly and worried it's the wrong decision.

Seven years later, Jane's living her dream life flitting through NYC high society. She and Doug live in an elegant apartment one block from Central Park West filled with lovely antiques, and she's feeling stressed about planning for the upcoming Christmas holiday. When Doug is arrested for scamming his clients, Jane is left with nothing but her memories and her beautiful apartment. Reporters and paparazzi constantly crowd around the entrance to her building, and the co-op residents are ready to have her evicted. Her society friends have dropped her like a fake Jimmy Choo shoe. No one else will help her. So she finally decides to reconnect with her former best friends to try and salvage something from her former life.

Cara's mom just died, but her husband Reed continues to belittle her, only caring about himself and impressing his friends and coworkers. She's drowning in regret about her awful marriage and is less than thrilled when Jane reappears in her life. However when Jane leaves to try and find Meg, Cara decides it's time for her to escape her self-imposed emotional prison and get away from Reed.

Meg is a successful writer who thinks her husband Steve would be better off without her. She's lived in their second home in Montauk for a year without any contact with him. Though he's worried sick about her, he also loves her enough to let her go. Jane and Cara track her down and refuse to leave her. They need each other now more than ever to overcome their problems and discover a better future for themselves and each other.

The story is in third person and the point of view varies depending on whose story is being told. The narrative occasionally reverts to memories of how a situation came about, but the break in the story is fairly flawless and delineated by italics to prevent confusion.

Each character is well-developed and is easily identifiable from the others. Though I didn't feel an affinity for any of the best friends at first, once Jane starts her journey to reconnect with Cara and Meg, I began to root for all of them.

LOST ALONG THE WAY is light enough for a beach read and compelling enough for a book club discussion. It speaks to the choices we make and the friendships we need to see us through those choices. I'm giving this book 4 stars because it's entertaining, well-written and a satisfying book overall.

If You Like This, You May Like: ON THE ROCKS and BOND GIRL by Erin Duffy, HERE'S TO US by Elin Hilderbrand, SO CLOSE by Emma McLaughlin, THE ISLAND HOUSE and THE GUEST COTTAGE by Nancy Thayer, THE LAKE SEASON and MYSTIC SUMMER by Hannah McKinnon, SUMMER WITH MY SISTERS by Holly Chamberlain


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