Julie's Review: Every Wild Heart

Author: Meg Donohue
Series: None
Publication Date: March 14, 2017
Publisher: William Morrow
Pages: 304
Obtained: TLC Book Tours
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 3.75/5
Bottom Line: A mother and daughter story with some mystery thrown in
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Library

Summary: Passionate and funny, radio personality Gail Gideon is a true original. Nine years ago when Gail’s husband announced that he wanted a divorce, her ensuing on-air rant propelled her local radio show into the national spotlight. Now, “The Gail Gideon Show” is beloved by millions of single women who tune-in for her advice on the power of self-reinvention. But fame comes at a price. After all, what does a woman who has staked her career on being single do when she finds herself falling in love? And is the person who is harassing her in increasingly troubling ways a misguided fan or a true danger to Gail and her daughter, Nic? Fourteen-year-old Nic has always felt that she pales in comparison to her vibrant, outgoing mother. Plagued by a fear of social situations, she is most comfortable at the stable where she spends her afternoons. But when a riding accident lands Nic in the hospital, she awakens from her coma changed. Suddenly, she has no fear at all and her disconcerting behavior lands her in one risky situation after another. And no one, least of all her mother, can guess what she will do next… ~amazon.com  

Review: Every Wild Heart is a wonderful story about a mother and daughter who get along and enjoy being with each other despite the daughter being a teen. Gail (aka G.G.) is a famous talk show radio host who has always had life by the horns. She's a take no prisoners kind of gal. Her daughter, Nic, on the other hand, is definitely an introvert. If she could fade into the background she would, especially at school.

GG is struggling to decide what she wants to do next with her career. She's loved hosting talk radio but she misses her connection to listeners through music. She's also been approached to have her own tv show but she'd have to move to L.A. and given her daughter's personality, she's not so sure that's in her family's best interest. Plus her daughter still spends every other weekend with her father and his family. She's got a lot to think about career wise. She also has someone who is stalking her a little more than what she's normally used to from rabid fans.

Nic, on the other hand is more comfortable with her horse, Tru, then with kids her own age, which means she's a little awkward when she's put with a handsome senior during one of her classes.  Then an accident happens causing Nic's personality to take a 180 degrees. She starts taking risks and doing things that are out of her normal personality. Things that concern her mother and others closest to her. Not only that but she seems more confident and self-aware.

The story itself moves along at a good pace and it's wonderful to see Nic come out of her shell and find her own voice. It seems like this is the person she was always supposed to be. GG also comes out of her shell and tries her hand at love again.

Each of the characters are relate-able and easy to see yourself in or someone close to you. Even the supporting characters make GG and Nic seem more human.

I really enjoyed a positive spin on the mother/daughter relationship for a change. There is hope!


If you'd like to read more opinions about Every Wild Heart:

Tuesday, March 14th: Tina Says…

Thursday, March 16th: Kritters Ramblings

Monday, March 20th: Art Books Coffee

Tuesday, March 21st: A Bookworm's World

Wednesday, March 22nd: A Bookish Way of Life

Thursday, March 23rd: StephTheBookworm

Friday, March 24th: BookNAround

Tuesday, March 28th: Comfy Reading

Thursday, March 30th: Kahakai Kitchen

Friday, March 31st: Mama Reads Hazel Sleeps

Monday, April 3rd: A Chick Who Reads

Tuesday, April 4th: Books and Bindings

Wednesday, April 5th: Back Porchervations

Wednesday, April 5th: Girls Just Reading

Thursday, April 6th: bookchickdi

Friday, April 7th: G. Jacks Writes

Monday, April 10th: Mama Vicky Says

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Alice's Review: All the Summer Girls

Summary:  In Philadelphia, good girl Kate is dumped by her finance the day she learns she is pregnant with his child. In New York City, beautiful stay-at-home mom Vanessa finds herself obsessively searching the Internet for news of an old flame. And in San Francisco, Dani, an aspiring writer who can't seem to put down a book or a cocktail long enough to open her laptop, has just been fired . . . again.  In an effort to regroup, Kate, Vanessa, and Dani retreat to the New Jersey beach town where they once spent their summers. Emboldened by the seductive cadences of the shore, the women begin to realize just how much their lives, and friendships, have been shaped by the choices they made one fateful night on the beach eight years earlier and the secrets that now threaten to surface. ~powells.com

Review:  I am from New Jersey and love all things NJ (except for the Real Housewives of New Jersey – yuck).  I get mad when Pennsylvanian’s call me a flat-lander because obviously they never left PA long enough to realize NJ is far from flat.  I roll my eyes when someone asks me “What exit?”  I know there is a world of difference between North Jersey and South Jersey and that line is divided cleanly by the Driscoll Bridge.  I watched the Sopranos and the Jersey Shore, not because those shows are an accurate depiction of my beloved state and the people who live here.  I watched because they were filmed here and it was awesome seeming local landmarks and our sandy beaches on TV each week.  When I read the description of All the Summer Girls, I knew this a novel for me with beautiful Avalon, New Jersey as the backdrop.

I enjoyed All the Summer Girls and felt a connection with each of the three characters.  The character that frustrated me the most was Vanessa.  I felt that she was the most hypocritical of the three.  Forgiveness didn’t come easily to her and her high-brow attitude was a real turn off.  She’s the friend that although you love her, you wish she would come down to earth to see how the other half lives. 

Dani was the character I liked the best and the one who had the most story to tell.  I loved how broken and vulnerable she was.  Of the three, she’s the one who will make me worry.  The one whose next adventure I would love to read.

Kate's resolution was too perfect.  I wish she had more of a Cannie is Good inBed type struggle.  Kate reminded me of Kelly from Beverly Hills, 90210.  She was a nice person, a good friend but everything bad happened to her and she always found a way to overcome and ALWAYS had a happy ending.  It’s annoying and I’m annoyed with myself that the spring of tears I experience came because of Kate.

Like most novels, things could have been resolved much sooner if the women had simply talked to each other. Although I enjoyed their friendship truth be told I could not figure out why or how they stayed friends all these years.  It was as if the foundation in which they built this great friendship on was made in sand and not rock or stone.  In real life, I think they wouldn’t have survived, there was nothing to bind them together.  Yet somehow, Ms. Donohue found a way to make it work.  I believed in their friendship and how it is possible to heal and move on together. 

All the Summer Girls is a solid novel with memorable characters, a beautiful setting, and a heartwarming ending. Although I wouldn’t read it again, I would recommend it especially to those who enjoy a novel about friendship set in a lovely seaside town.

Final Take: 3/5

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