Happy Release Day!
Congrats Catherine
on the release today of
Just a Regular Boy!
Just a Regular Boy by Catherine Ryan Hyde
Women's Fiction, Family, 316 pages
Published May 2, 2023 by Lake Union Publishing
An orphaned boy raised by a survivalist wends his way into the real world in an emotional novel about hope, fears, and found family by New York Times bestselling author Catherine Ryan Hyde.
Out there is chaos, the collapse of society, and so much to be afraid of. All that matters is freedom.
That’s what Remy Blake has been taught by his survivalist father. Raised off the grid in the middle of nowhere, his own survival skills not yet honed, Remy is days shy of his eighth birthday when his father unexpectedly dies. As seasons pass, supplies run out, and fending for himself grows more desperate, Remy sets out on foot, unprepared for the great unknown of civilization.
He is found—near feral, silent, and terrified—in the small rural town of Blaire. To Anne, a nurturing mother of two adopted teenagers who’s still dealing with her own childhood rejections, Remy is not a lost cause. Just a challenging one. As Remy cautiously adapts to his new foster home, his family wants nothing more than to reassure him that he can trust the world. But to do so, they must first reexamine how much they trust the world themselves, and how much they should. As Remy’s journey into the real world begins, figuring out how to navigate it becomes a path they will have to learn to walk together.
My thoughts about Just a Regular Boy ~~
(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first lines.)
First lines—""Remy Blake was five years old when his father drove him away from Pocatello for the last time. Remy didn't deep-down believe it really was for the last time."
As always, when I start one of Catherine's books, I immediately feel connected to her wonderful characters and want to make them a part of my life.
Remy is five years old when his father, who is afraid of what the world is coming to, takes him away from the only life he has ever known as they live isolated from the rest of the world. I can't even imagine what that would be like for a five year old. But he's with his father, who will protect him, right? Until he is no longer there. The life that Remy had to live on his own is unimaginable. My heart hurt for him but what a brave little soul he was.
Then Anne and her family enter the picture. Can they take this feral little boy and make him feel safe and loved again? While Remy is learning all about the new world that he has been thrown into, Anne and her family have to learn how to live their new life as well. The growth, acceptance, and love of all of them was a wonderful thing to see,
Catherine Ryan Hyde has taken a heartbreaking situation and turned it into a beautiful, heartwarming story. She is one of my must-read authors. I know after reading one of her books, I want to be a better person from the lessons I learned from the story. I highly recommend Just a Regular Boy. I loved it!
I received Just a Regular Boy via NetGalley and this is my honest opinion of the book.
About the author
Catherine Ryan Hyde is the author of 44 published and forthcoming books.
Her newer releases are Dreaming of Flight, Boy Underground, Seven Perfect Things, My Name is Anton, Brave Girl, Quiet Girl, Stay, Have You Seen Luis Velez?, Just After Midnight, Heaven Adjacent, The Wake Up, Allie and Bea, Say Goodbye for Now, Leaving Blythe River, Ask Him Why, Worthy, The Language of Hoofbeats, Take Me With You, Walk Me Home, and When I Found You.
Forthcoming are So Long, Chester Wheeler, and Just a Regular Boy.
Other novels include When You Were Older, Where We Belong, Don’t Let Me Go, Second Hand Heart, Jumpstart the World, Becoming Chloe, Love in the Present Tense, The Year of My Miraculous Reappearance, Chasing Windmills, The Day I Killed James, and Diary of a Witness.
She is co-author, with publishing industry blogger Anne R. Allen, of How to be a Writer in the E-Age: a Self-Help Guide.
Her bestselling 1999 novel Pay It Forward was made into a major Warner Brothers motion picture. It was chosen by the American Library Association for its Best Books for Young Adults list, and translated into more than two dozen languages for distribution in over 30 countries. Simon & Schuster released a special 15th anniversary edition in December of ’14.
Pay It Forward: Young Readers Edition, an age-appropriate edited edition of the original novel, was released by Simon & Schuster in August of ‘14. It is suitable for children as young as eight.
You can learn much more about Catherine at www.catherineryanhyde.com ~ Goodreads
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