Book Review: The Ones Who Matter Most By Rachael Herron

THE ONES WHO MATTER MOST

By: Rachael Herron

Published: April 5, 2016

Publisher: NAL

Fiction



This is my second Rachael Herron book and I'm becoming quite the fan. The first book of Herron’s I read, SPLINTERS OF LIGHT, was one I really enjoyed, covering the delicate topic of Early Onset Alzheimers. See my review, HERE.

THE ONES WHO MATTER MOST will likely be a favorite of 2016 for me. Herron takes a story with an interesting plot and engages the reader from nearly the first page. This tale of friendship didn’t happen easily but the end result will have you grabbing a Kleenex and wishing you could have friends like Abby and Fern.

After her doctor lets it slip that her husband got a vasectomy behind her back, Abby decides it is time to get a divorce.  Abby feels betrayed after months of trying to have a baby with no results. When Scott returns home from work, Abby tells him their marriage is over. He seems to be unaffected and goes upstairs to get ready for bed. What Abby finds instead, is her husband lying dead on the floor. In the ensuing days and weeks, Abby tries to understand her grief and despair over a husband she no longer wanted. She tries to grasp the idea of a lonely life ahead for her. With both her parents gone and a sister who died before she was even born, she truly has no family. Even though she has plenty of friends and her mom’s best friend, Kathleen, as an amazing mother figure, she feels alone. While going through her deceased husband’s desk, she finds a box full of photos of a woman and child she does not know. Her search reveals something so shocking about her husband that she must find the woman and child to know the whole truth.

Fern has been doing everything she can to get by while raising her son, Matty, and taking care of Elva and her father-in-law, Wyatt. Her salary as a city bus driver barely covers their expenses and she is one disaster away from losing everything she has worked so hard to establish. Then Abby shows up on her doorstep and Fern's life is turned upside down. Fern is a stubborn, independent, Hispanic single mother who isn't about to let a rich, skinny, white girl into her family's life. Herron creates conversations and characters so vividly that you can picture them in your mind while reading. There is a vast difference in the community that Fern lives in and Abby’s much more posh lifestyle. Their complete separation of class and culture makes it nearly impossible for them to see each other as anything but the enemy. But, as fate intervenes and walls crumble, Fern sees that keeping Abby out of their life isn’t in any of their best interests. Forces beyond her control show her that the definition of family isn't as narrow as she originally thought.

I haven’t read a story where I felt this engaged and invested in some time. I found myself truly frustrated over the character’s choices and emotional over others. I was a little put off by Herron’s racy details and felt they were unnecessary, but it seems that the explicit descriptions are the trend for today’s readers.

As you can imagine, Herron creates multi-dimensional characters that struggle, have fears, make bad decisions, have regrets, and forgive. They love hard and are hard to love. Both Abby and Fern are successful, strong, and independent in many ways, while weak and needy in others. Their friendship builds and crashes and rebuilds over the chapters and what develops is truly something I didn't predict. Even the secondary characters of Matty, Wyatt, and Fern’s brother, Diego, give depth to the story with compelling and honest reactions to Abby and Fern's choices. Herron's novel cultivates a friendship between two very unlikely sources. It’s messy and awkward and scary, but it will change your view of what it truly means to be part of a family.

Favorite Quote:

"It ached so much, opening like this. 

Her chest creaked with it, and it was hard to remember the combination 

to open the locks she'd put around her heart."

Rachael Herron - source

Rachael Herron is the internationally bestselling author of the novel PACK UP THE MOON, the five book Cypress Hollow romance series, and the memoir, A LIFE IN STITCHES. She received her MFA in writing from Mills College, and when she's not busy writing, she's a 911 fire/medical dispatcher for a Bay Area fire department.  She lives with her wife, Lala, in Oakland, California, where they have more animals and instruments than are probably advisable. Rachael is struggling to learn the accordion and can probably play along with you on the ukulele. She's a New Zealander as well as an American. She's been known to knit.  For more on Rachael Herron, check out her website, HERE. You can also find her on Facebook, HERE and Twitter,HERE. 

To purchase a copy of THE ONES WHO MATTER MOST, click the photo below:

A post from today, 6 years ago - Kids Take Charge

A post from today, 3 years ago - Reagan's Fairy Garden 

Thanks to the publisher for sending an eBook copy of the book for the purpose of this review. This review is my honest opinion. I was not compensated in any way for this review. If you choose to purchase the book through the above link, I may receive a small commission without you having to pay a cent more for your purchase. Thanks for supporting SincerelyStacie.com. 

Book Review: Splinters of Light By Rachael Herron

SPLINTERS OF LIGHT

By: Rachael Herron

Published: March 3, 2015

Publisher: Penguin Random House NAL

Fiction/Women's Fiction



Imagine you are a successful 44-year-old woman. You have overcome raising your daughter alone after your husband left you for a younger woman and started a new family.  Your newspaper columns have become syndicated and you have authored best-selling books. Your twin sister is finally becoming successful in her own right and your next door neighbor is a "friend with benefits". Life is grand until you realize things have started becoming fuzzy. You often find yourself "getting stuck" and can't figure out why. After numerous tests, the doctor reveals your diagnosis, EOAD or Early Onset Alzheimer's Disease.  This can't be happening to Nora. She is the Martha Stewart of organization. She is the one who handles everything. She has a 16-year-old daughter who needs her. Nora can't understand why this is happening to her. She can't trace it back to anyone in her family since she doesn't know her father and her mother died young. She can't imagine telling her twin sister, Mariana and her daughter, Ellie. What if they have it too? What will happen to her family, her career, and all of their futures?

EOAD is a horrible disease that wrecks the minds of people still in the prime of their life. As you follow Nora through her early stages of diagnosis, you realize this isn't going to be a happy story. We know there possibly can't be a happy ending. Even though there have been advances in medicine, there is not a cure for Alzheimer's.

I found myself moving slowly through the pages because I wasn't looking forward to the ending. I didn't want to read the debilitating changes in Nora's life; from yelling at her daughter, to getting lost downtown, to eventually losing her job. I didn't want to watch Nora lose control of her life.  So, I too became stuck, like Nora, in this book.  I didn't want to read further, but I didn't want to stop either.

Then, at some point in the story, I realized this story wasn't really just about the EOAD, but about the relationship between Nora and her twin sister, between Nora and her daughter, and the three of them as a family. I became overcome with emotion as I struggled with Mariana and Ellie accepting the loss of someone so dearly loved. As a mother, my heart broke for Ellie, who had to grow up much too fast.  As a professional, I suffered alongside Nora as she feared losing the ability to say or write the right words.   I loved the honest way Nora described the disease:

"I'm on a merry, go, round, and someone's pushing it and I can't jump off 

because I'll die if I do, but the problem is that it's speeding up, 

and in time it's going to throw me. 

I'm smart enough to know that, 

and not smart enough to figure out how to get off."  Page 205-206

"Nora was flaking apart, iron left to rust in acid rain."  Page 358

Even though this story is sad and difficult to read, Herron has found a way to leave "Splinters of Light" throughout the sadness and despair. She has found a way for happiness and joy to still be felt among the anger and illness. She has found a way to express the deep love between the three women in this story.  Ultimately, she has written this book so the reader can relate to the bond between the sisters, the devotion of a mother, and the horrible disease that has come between all of it. 

Rachael Herron - source

Rachael Herron is the internationally bestselling author of the novel PACK UP THE MOON, the five book Cypress Hollow romance series, and the memoir, A LIFE IN STITCHES. She received her MFA in writing from Mills College, and when she's not busy writing, she's a 911 fire/medical dispatcher for a Bay Area fire department.  She lives with her wife, Lala, in Oakland, California, where they have more animals and instruments than are probably advisable. Rachael is struggling to learn the accordion and can probably play along with you on the ukulele. She's a New Zealander as well as an American. She's been known to knit.  For more on Rachael Herron, check out her website, http://www.yarnagogo.com/. You can also find her on Facebook, HERE and Twitter, HERE. 

To purchase a copy of SPLINTERS OF LIGHT, click the photo below:

Thanks to Penguin Group for sending a copy of this novel for the purpose of this review. This review is my honest opinion. I was not compensated in any way for this review. If you choose to purchase the book through the above link, I may receive a small commission without you having to pay a cent more for your purchase. Thanks for supporting SincerelyStacie.com. 

Book Spotlight: Pack Up the Moon By Rachael Herron

PACK UP THE MOON

By: Rachael Herron

Published: March 4, 2014

Fiction

Sadly, I can't get to every single book I want to read.  But, there are some books that sound so intriguing that I want to tell you about them.  PACK UP THE MOON breaks my heart just reading the synopsis.  I will read it, but didn't want you to have to wait to hear about it.  

A poignant novel about loss, lies, and the unbreakable bonds of family.

Three years after a horrible tragedy took her son and tore her family apart, artist Kate Monroe is beginning to pick up the pieces of her life and move on. At a gala showcasing her triumphant return to the art world, Kate’s world is rocked again when the daughter she gave up for adoption twenty-two years ago introduces herself.

Pree is the child Kate never knew and never forgot. But Pree has questions that Kate isn’t sure she’s ready to answer. For one thing, she never told Pree’s father, her high school sweetheart and ex-husband, Nolan, that they had a daughter. For another, Kate hasn’t spoken to Nolan for three years, not since the accident which took their nine-year-old son from them. But to keep Pree from leaving forever, Kate will have to confront the secrets that have haunted her since her son died and discover if the love of her family is strong enough to survive even the most heartbreaking of betrayals.

Rachael Herron - source

Rachael Herron is the internationally bestselling author of the Cypress Hollow series (HarperCollins/Random House Australia) and of the memoir, A Life in Stitches (Chronicle). Rachael received her MFA in writing from Mills College and is a 911 fire/medical dispatcher when she's not scribbling. She lives with her wife, Lala, in Oakland, California, where they have more animals and instruments than are probably advisable. Rachael is struggling to learn the accordion and can probably play along with you on the ukulele. She's a New Zealander as well as an American. She's been known to knit. For more on Rachael Herron, visit her website, http://www.yarnagogo.com/.  You can also follow her on Facebook, HERE and Twitter, HERE.

To purchase a copy of PACK UP THE MOON, click the photo below.