Published: Harlequin: Mira
Date: 5th April 2022
Source: Publicist via NetGalley
“Anna McNichol knows how to take charge. Raised by a single mother, she’s worked to ensure her three children have every advantage she didn’t. And while her marriage has its problems, she values commitment and believes in “till death do us part.” Now an empty nester, she’s at the peak of her career and ready to seize the opportunity to focus on her future.
But life can change in an instant, and when her husband dies suddenly, Anna’s carefully constructed world falls apart. The mysterious young woman at the memorial service confirms her husband had been keeping secrets, and Anna is determined to get to the truth.
For once, she doesn’t have the answers. Her kids are struggling with their grief, her mother’s health is in decline and Anna needs closure. Faced with one challenge after another, she finds support from an unexpected source. And as she puts her life back together, Anna realizes the McNichols may not be perfect but they’ll always be family, and family is forever.”
In the aftermath of Chad McNicol’s death, his wife and three adult children go into free fall. It’s a difficult time as they all try to make sense of what is happening in their lives. It’s a shake up time, how will they all deal with it and come through it?
Anna is sorting through her life, what was good and not so good. Most of the story centres on her and the way she gradually comes to terms with all that has happened. Especially as she unearths some secrets.
Jess the eldest daughter, a doctor, is in a relationship crisis, as she expects certain things from others. Are those expectations realistic or do they stem from somewhere else?
Michael has a lovely girlfriend who wants more, but is he capable of meeting her in that good place. Seems not, at least to begin with.
Bess, who needs everything to be in order and seems to be coping until she isn’t.
It explores the whole aftermath of a family in grief at the loss of someone they have loved. What kept this book from being a winner for me, was that I felt it could have benefited from some tighter editing. Also I felt many of the characters were not developed enough for my taste.
The way the family deals with the loss of Chad comes to a satisfactory conclusion at the end of the year and each person has made sense of where they are at and are ready to be a family.
Author Bio:
Robyn Carr is an award-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than sixty novels, including highly praised women’s fiction such as Four Friends, The Summer That Made Us and The View from Alameda Island, as well as the critically acclaimed Virgin River, Thunder Point and Sullivan’s Crossing series. Virgin River is now a Netflix original series. Robyn lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. You can visit her website at robyncarr.com.
Social Links:
Author Website
Twitter: @RCarrWriter
Facebook: Robyn Carr
Instagram: @robyncarrwriter
Goodreads
Buy Links:
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Long before Virgin River became a Netflix series I had read Virgin River and… all the books that followed. Quite a few as three came out every year for awhile. Robyn Carr writes a good story and there was lots of romance along the way.
I loved all Judith McNaught’s books, and this is one of her contemporary romances. It’s been sitting on my shelf for years along with a number of others written by her. I have no idea now about it so should really reread it to see if I still love it.
This one is more recent and is YA and contemporary romance. K. A. Tucker has hooked me with a number of her books and I loved this one when I read it in 2019. I have to admit I could easily read it again now, and its why I saved it on my shelf.
I have read all the Outlander books and will read another if or when it publishes. I have the first two DVD’s of the screen version and its on TV too at the moment. And… so far I haven’t been able to be a fan of the screen version. I know of many who love it on screen, I know Diana Gabaldon is closely linked to the screen version, but I just prefer the book world.
I am in process of reading Pride and Prejudice but have previously viewed a couple of on screen versions. I have really enjoyed both and would watch again. I think a screen version done really well can lead me to a book and in this case that’s how it worked.
This is a middle grade book I read to my class when I was teaching and we all loved it. Well I gave it five stars anyway! So when I heard there was a movie out for it I wanted to see it. But I never got to the movie theatre for it. However one day it was on TV and I was there for sure. I thought it was done well, held to the spirit and theme of the book and I’d watch it again and re-read the book – I did leave my copy behind in the classroom when I left but can always get another!
Lastly one book I read a while back that I don’t remember that well, set around WW2 and in letter form. I didn’t fall for it as much as many other readers have, but when the movie was on TV I thought I’ll give this a go. I haven’t yet viewed it but have it recorded. I am anticipating that it will be good and will help me visualise how this all worked out and I suspect and hope it may lead me to re read the book.
In Beach Read we have January – a romance author who just can’t get the deadline book written. She has lost her father in the last year and has had another nasty shock as well and she really isn’t dealing. She goes to the beach house her father has left her, and finds out her neighbour is Gus, a literary fiction writer and they went to writing college together. And so the tango begins. Emily Henry will eventually get January to the place where she can write, but how she does that… well I can’t give that away. I don’t think this book is a beach read, or an out and out romance, more a mash up of sorts!
Another book I’ve just recently read also has a romance author struggling to write. Kaylee has just recently experienced a loss and takes off to Virgin River to write in a quiet spot where she can hopefully write. Will Virgin River be able to work that kind of magic for her?
Another by Robyn Carr, this time a stand alone from quite awhile back -1999. One of my keepers. This has just not one author in the book but a group of friends who are authors and all struggling in one way or another, but especially over the death of a friend. I feel a reread coming along.
I really enjoyed this book, it was excellent. Again it is about four writers. One of them has her life fall apart and the other three come to her rescue. To help her they co author her book that must be written to meet a deadline. Of course no one else knows that. Each chapter starts with a wonderful little quote that are gems in themselves. It is extremely well written and once started fully engages the reader. As I was reading I found plenty to enjoy and ponder on. Another keeper on my bookshelf from 2009 and I need a reread of this one too.
This one is published October 29th, although I do have a NetGalley review copy, so all set there. Women’s Fiction by an Australian author I tend to auto-read.
And lastly an author I haven’t read for quite awhile but I do enjoy some of her historical fiction so I am putting this on the list and it does come out earlier than the others on September 1st. Set in 1853 in Oregon and has to do with women’s rights and suffrage. A fictionalised story of a real life person Abigail Scott Dunniway. It is a possible.
Well I am reading this one at present. In this one we have a competent woman neurosurgeon, who is dealing with anxiety attacks and a past that haunts her dreams. As she comes apart, she decides to go back and see if see can find those missing memories and heal. It’s set in London, New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina and the Great Barrier Island off the coast of New Zealand.
This is the first book I read by Kimberly Martin. In this book we have a female urologist who comes up against some discrimination of the LGBTQ community patients that has her standing up for what she believes. At some point I want to read her previous book. The author is actually a doctor herself.
Robyn Carr presents us with a much loved character in Maggie Sullivan in her first book of Sullivan’s Crossing. She too is a neurosurgeon. She is under pressure and in danger of burnout so she returns to Sullivan’s Crossing to recuperate. This is a romance, so she finds someone who just might help with that recovery.
The Gilded Hour is historical fiction set back in 1883 in the USA. It has as its central characters Dr. Anna Savard and her cousin Sophie an obstetrician. They doctor to the poor and this is a book that highlights terrible discrimination. It’s pretty bleak! There is a second book that carries their lives on further but I haven’t read that one.
To round off the list, the last one is a medical thriller. I read this back in 2014 so its somewhat hazy compared to the other four. Dr. Abbey Matteo is on a cardiac team that do heart transplants. She finds herself confronted with someone who receives a heart, who wasn’t in line for one. A rich one. Where did the heart come from? She investigates! Grisly and horrifying. Not my usual read!
The Book Date 