Thursday, April 24, 2014

Fly Away by Kristin Hannah

Reviewed by Charlotte Lynn  
   
Firefly Lane #2
Publish Date April 23, 2013 by St. Martin’s Press

From Goodreads:  

Tully Hart has always been larger than life, a woman fueled by big dreams and driven by memories of a painful past. She thinks she can overcome anything until her best friend, Kate Ryan, dies. Tully tries to fulfill her deathbed promise to Kate--to be there for Kate’s children--but Tully knows nothing about family or motherhood or taking care of people.

Sixteen-year-old Marah Ryan is devastated by her mother’s death. Her father, Johnny, strives to hold the family together, but even with his best efforts, Marah becomes unreachable in her grief. Nothing and no one seems to matter to her . . . until she falls in love with a young man who makes her smile again and leads her into his dangerous, shadowy world.

Dorothy Hart--the woman who once called herself Cloud--is at the center of Tully’s tragic past. She repeatedly abandoned her daughter, Tully, as a child, but now she comes back, drawn to her daughter’s side at a time when Tully is most alone. At long last, Dorothy must face her darkest fear: Only by revealing the ugly secrets of her past can she hope to become the mother her daughter needs.

A single, tragic choice and a middle-of-the-night phone call will bring these women together and set them on a poignant, powerful journey of redemption. Each has lost her way, and they will need one another--and maybe a miracle--to transform their lives.

My Review:

Fly Away is not a light and easy read.   It deals with some very difficult and taboo subjects.  There is death, depression, addiction, abuse, and grief.   It also shows that some friendships are made to last a lifetime and beyond.  That even when friends have arguments and fights when the going gets tough nothing else matters but each other.  When a person is at their lowest there is still hope and their friends can pull them through whatever they are struggling with.  

Just as with other Kristin Hannah books I have read, Fly Away was a book that I could not put down.   I loved that it flashed back and forth from the past to the present.  I felt that this was the perfect way to get enough history on the characters without it being repetitive or slow.   It was important for the reader to get to know “TullyandKate” and to understand the depth of their friendship even without Kate being present in the real world. 

Cloud intrigued me the most, but also frustrated me the most.   She was the character that started the downfall of Tully and just kept piling it on.  It was hard to feel sympathy for her rough life when so much of it was brought on by herself.  I certainly was cheering for her to get herself together and to make amends with her daughter.  I felt that Tully really needed to have her mom in her life in order to get her world set back right.  

Fly Away confirmed to me exactly why I love Kristin Hannah’s books so much.   I was unable to stop reading and was constantly thinking of the characters.   They effected my life and my thoughts the entire time I was reading this book.  I highly recommend you check out Fly Away and the rest of Kristin’s books. 

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