Julie's Review: Somewhere Out There

Author: Amy Hatvany
Series: None
Publication Date: March 1, 2016
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Pages: 386
Obtained: friend
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction, Women's Fiction
Rating: 4/5
Bottom Line: Strong character driven novel about how early experiences shape who we are
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Summary: What happens when two sisters who were torn apart when their young mother abandoned them—and grew up in tragically different circumstances—reunite thirty-five years later to find her? For readers who love Jodi Picoult, acclaimed author Amy Hatvany fearlessly explores complex family issues in her gripping, provocative new novel. Natalie Clark knew never to ask her sensitive adoptive mother questions about her past. She doesn’t even know her birth mother’s name—only that the young woman signed parental rights over to the state when Natalie was a baby. Now Natalie’s own daughter must complete a family tree project for school, and Natalie is determined to unearth the truth about her roots. Brooke Walker doesn’t have a family. At least, that’s what she tells herself after being separated from her mother and her little sister at age four. Having grown up in a state facility and countless foster homes, Brooke survives the only way she knows how, by relying on herself. So when she discovers she’s pregnant, Brooke faces a heart-wrenching decision: give up her baby or raise the child completely on her own. Scared and confused, she feels lost until a surprise encounter gives her hope for the future. How do our early experiences—the subtle and the traumatic—define us as adults? How do we build relationships when we’ve been deprived of real connection? Critically acclaimed author Amy Hatvany considers controversial and complicated questions about childhood through the lens of her finely crafted characters in this astute novel about mending wounds by diving into the truth of what first tore us apart. ~amazon.com  

Review: Somewhere Out There is a story that will rip your heart out and slowly sew it back together. It is about finding out something about yourself and not letting it define you. It is about building yourself up so that your past doesn't always haunt your present and your future. It is about family and figuring out what that means to you.

Natalie is a married mother of 2 when her daughter's family tree project causes her to seek out her birth mother. Obviously this brings up long buried feelings for both her and her parents. Her mother especially. Her dad is more pragmatic about it.  She's nervous about finding her mother and how it will impact her life and her family's life. She's full of questions on why her mother gave them up.

Brooke has always found a way to survive. She relies on no one but herself and has a major wall up. Who can blame her since she was 4 when her mom signed away her rights to be their mother.  Now she has the chance to be a mother herself and she questions her abilities to do it right.

Jennifer was scared and alone with her girls. Barely surviving and scavenging to scrape by for the girls. Then she gets arrested and knows that the best thing for her girls will be the most painful thing for her: giving up her parental rights.

What Ms. Hatvany does is create characters that you feel for that you can identify with and want to see be happy. You want Brooke, Natalie and Jennifer to be ok but that will be different for each of them. I really enjoyed the ending. I liked that you got the sense they would all be ok but it wasn't wrapped up in a nice, neat bow. I liked that it was something that would happen in real life and real life is messy.


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Julie's Review: Best Kept Secret

Author: Amy Hatvany
Series: None
Publication Date: June 7, 2011
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Pages: 352
Obtained: purchased
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction, Women's Fiction
Rating: 4/5
Bottom Line: Heartbreaking and realistic
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Summary: Cadence didn’t sit down one night and decide that downing two bottles of wine was a brilliant idea. Her drinking snuck up on her - as a way to sleep, to help her relax after a long day, to relieve some of the stress of the painful divorce that’s left her struggling to make ends meet with her five-year old son, Charlie. It wasn’t always like this. Just a few years ago, Cadence seemed to have it all—a successful husband, an adorable son, and a promising career as a freelance journalist. But with the demise of her marriage, her carefully constructed life begins to spiral out of control. Suddenly she is all alone trying to juggle the demands of work and motherhood. Logically, Cadence knows that she is drinking too much, and every day begins with renewed promises to herself that she will stop. But within a few hours, driven by something she doesn’t understand, she is reaching for the bottle - even when it means not playing with her son because she is too tired, or dropping him off at preschool late, again. And even when one calamitous night it means leaving him alone to pick up more wine at the grocery store. It’s only when her ex-husband shows up at her door to take Charlie away that Cadence realizes her best kept secret has been discovered…. Heartbreaking, haunting, and ultimately life-affirming, Best Kept Secret is more than just the story of Cadence—it’s a story of how the secrets we hold closest are the ones that can most tear us apart. ~powells.com  

Review: After reading Amy Hatvany's Best Kept Secret, I have to wonder how many women are functioning alcoholics? It is definitely something that society isn't ready to acknowledge or confront but yet it's not helping families. As we meet Cadence she flashes back to the events that led up to her fight for custody of her son. Immediately you know that drinking for her isn't just to relax, that it's developed into a crutch, then into a habit and then into an addiction.

Cadence definitely has a wall up. It is one of the reasons that her marriage failed, well that and the fact that her ex-husband is a momma's boy. When she turns to wine to help her cope with her son during the day and at night, it is understandable. It is what helps her relax and de-stress but it then becomes the only thing she looks forward to. It interferes with her livelihood and her ability to make the right choices.

Ms. Hatvany does an excellent job of showing this reader what a slippery-slope drinking can be and how it is not easy to say you have a problem. How you really need to hit rock bottom to be able to admit a problem and even then it's not easy to grasp. I don't think it's something a reader can fully grasp just reading about it.

I also appreciated the ending of the book. I'm thankful that she didn't tie the story up with a neat bow but ended it realistically. I appreciate that Cadence's sobriety will be a life long struggle and that she will always be fighting for the things she loves.

I have several other books by Ms. Hatvany on my shelf and I am looking forward to seeing what other subject matters she writes about.



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Alice's Review: Safe With Me

Author: Amy Hatvany
Series: None
Publication Date: March 4, 2014
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Pages: 352
Obtained: Publisher via NetGalley
Genre:  Contemporary, Women's Fiction
Rating: 5
Bottom Line: A wonderfully moving story about unexpected bonds.
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Summary:  The screech of tires brought Hannah Scott’s world as she knew it to a devastating end. A year after she signed the papers to donate her daughter’s organs, Hannah is still reeling with grief when she unexpectedly stumbles into the life of the Bell family, whose fifteen-year-old daughter, Maddie, survived only because Hannah’s daughter had died. Mesmerized by this fragile connection to her own daughter and afraid to reveal who she actually is, Hannah develops a surprising friendship with Maddie’s mother, Olivia.  The Bells, however, have problems of their own. Once on the verge of leaving her wealthy but abusive husband, Olivia now finds herself bound to him in the wake of the transplant that saved their daughter’s life. Meanwhile, Maddie, tired of the limits her poor health puts upon her and fearful of her father’s increasing rage, regularly escapes into the one place where she can be anyone she wants: the Internet. But when she is finally healthy enough to return to school, the real world proves to be just as complicated as the isolated bubble she had been so eager to escape. ~ powells.com

Review:  The first few pages of this novel left me with an oddly familiar feeling like I read this before or saw a movie just like this on the Lifetime Channel. Immediately I felt a bit disappointed in the unoriginality. After all, I just loved Heart Like Mine and was expecting the same love for Safe With Me. Thankfully I threw those early judgement aside and kept reading because what I discovered was a deeply moving story about grief, forgiveness and the power of friendship.

This novel has so many hidden gems. It’s not just about coping with the loss of a child or receiving a donor’s organ or finding a way to survive an abusive marriage, it’s so much more. It’s about two women and a teenager on the cusp of finding her true identity. It’s about leaning on others when you can’t stand on your own. It’s about coping with something so heartbreaking, it robs of you all you know. I am so in love with this novel I just want to start reading it again. I don’t want to let these characters go.

Safe With Me is told in alternating chapters from the points of view of Olivia, Maddie and Hannah. I just love that Ms. Hatvany does that. As a reader, it’s a great way to really get to know the inner working of each character. And I simply adored the three of them.

As the victim of domestic abuse, Olivia didn’t come across as someone who was weak or needy. I felt sorrow for her circumstances, oddly proud of what she endured to protect her daughter. With Maddie, I understood her awkwardness and need to find out who she is as a person. I loved watching her take those baby steps into the world, finding her place among a sea of new faces. And Hannah. The thing with grief is everyone does it differently. There is no correct way to grieve. With Hannah, I understood her need for isolation and simplicity.

Ms. Hatvany is so gifted, so wonderful. She took two subjects that were so horrible and wretched and told a story with such compassion I was repeatedly moved to tears. She is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors ever. If you have not read her before, this is a great time to start. Safe With Me is a must read. Make sure you have a box of hankies nearby. You’ll need them.

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Alice's Review: Heart Like Mine

Summary: Thirty-six-year-old Grace McAllister never longed for children. But when she meets Victor Hansen, a handsome, charismatic divorced restaurateur who is father to Max and Ava, Grace decides that, for the right man, she could learn to be an excellent part-time stepmom. After all, the kids live with their mother, Kelli. How hard could it be?  At thirteen, Ava Hansen is mature beyond her years. Since her parents’ divorce, she has been taking care of her emotionally unstable mother and her little brother—she pays the bills, does the laundry, and never complains because she loves her mama more than anyone. And while her father’s new girlfriend is nice enough, Ava still holds out hope that her parents will get back together and that they’ll be a family again. But only days after Victor and Grace get engaged, Kelli dies suddenly under mysterious circumstances—and soon, Grace and Ava discover that there was much more to Kelli’s life than either ever knew.  Narrated by Grace and Ava in the present with flashbacks into Kelli’s troubled past, Heart Like Mine is a poignant, hopeful portrait of womanhood, love, and the challenges and joys of family life. ~amazon.com

Review:  It was very prophetic to have heart in the title, this novel has a lot of heart.  Heart Like Mine is the remarkable new novel by Amy Hatvany about the aftermath of the sudden death of a divorced mother.  It is told in alternating chapters from the three very different points of view.  Kelli, divorced with two kids and a past she is constantly hiding from.  Ava, Kelli’s 13 year old daughter going through a time when she needs her mother the most.  Lastly, Grace, engaged to Ava’s dad and Kelli’s ex-husband Victor, living her ideal life with a man who isn’t pressuring her for kids.

 

I want to praise Ms. Hatvany for writing such a tremendous novel.  She excels at writing full characters and getting their points across without using a million words.  This novel is on the shorter side.  It’s a quick read but has a lot of substance.  Her words are chosen thoughtfully.  I would read her again in a second and will recommend Heart Like Mine to anyone who asks. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the three main characters in Heart LikeMine.  Each was very different, each brought something new to the story. Of the three, I related to Grace the most.  Her apprehensions were real.  I connected to her in that I am also a thirty plus year old with no children of my own and no desire for them either.  I am presently dating a man who is the father of a teenage girl.  I totally understood Grace and knew where she was coming from. 

When I first began the novel, I thought I wouldn’t like Kelli. I was wrong. I thought Ms. Hatvany did an exceptional job of writing her in such a way that I felt empathy for her. Kelli was nothing like I expected. Ms. Hatvany skillfully revealed Kelli’s truth and I was thankful for her part in the novel, she was the tie that held the story together.This is the first time I am dipping my toe in the Amy Hatvany novel pool. I really enjoyed her writing style. It was well rounded and well written. She writes from the heart for the heart. I look forward to reading more of her work. 

Look for Heart Like Mine on sale March 19, 2013.

Final Take: 4/5