Happy Release Day!
Rolling Toward Clear Skies by Catherine Ryan Hyde
Friendship Fiction, 293 pages
Published November 12, 2024 by Lake Union Publishing
A foster mother must contend with the emotional turmoil of her new blended family in a heartfelt novel of hope and second chances by New York Times bestselling author Catherine Ryan Hyde.
Maggie Blount, divorced mother of two and California physician, puts her private practice on hold when disaster strikes. Doctors on Wheels takes her and Alex—Maggie’s professional and romantic partner—wherever they’re needed. After rolling into rural Louisiana in the wake of a category five hurricane, Maggie immediately bonds with two sisters and their puppy, all orphaned by the storm. It’s enough to break Maggie’s heart, and she’s not leaving them behind.
Feeling blessed and looking forward to their new foster home in affluent Vista del Mar—a world apart from the one they’ve known—Jean and Rose are polite, appreciative, and humble. Frankly, polar opposite of Maggie’s own self-involved teenage daughters, Willa and Gemma, who resist this intrusion by strangers into their privileged lives. Soon enough, Maggie’s new blended family is in chaos.
Teaching Willa and Gemma about gratitude and empathy will be hard enough. Maggie must also admit her own role in their entitled upbringing, undo the damage, and anticipate the needs of all four girls and a puppy, all amid faraway natural disasters and those closer to home.
My thoughts about Rolling Toward Clear Skies ~~
(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—"Maggie stuck her head into the kitchen to see her two daughters sitting at the island-style table, glued to their phones."
Catherine Ryan Hyde is an author who is a must-read for me. Most of time I don't even know what her latest book is about, I just know I'm going to want to read it. Her stories are always uplifting—although sometimes it take awhile to get to the uplifting part—with life lessons for all of us to learn and practice.
Rolling Toward Clear Skies did not disappoint. Maggie and Alex are two people out there doing good and find themselves opening their hearts to two girls and a dog who have no home or families. Getting Maggie's daughters to accept these three is where the road gets rocky and hard to navigate. Watching the turmoil of all involved as they reach acceptance is the life lesson we can take from this story.
As with all of Catherine's books, this is another one that I devoured and it is one I will remember for a long time. I loved all of the characters, even Willa and Gemma when they were not at their best.
I highly recommend Rolling Toward Clear Skies. I loved it! If you haven't read any of CRH's books yet, you really need to add her books to you TBR list. They are all wonderful!
I received Rolling Toward Clear Skies 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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