Helpful Score: 3
One of Hannah's Pacific Northwest novels, this time set in the San Juan Islands. I always find her books very satisfying. Of course I cry too much while reading them, but they are always happy tears at the end.
Helpful Score: 2
A fascinating story of love, healing, forgiveness and renewal. Certain to strike a chord in the hearts of mothers and daughters everywhere. Many a daughter will see something of herself in Ruby.. Heartwrenching til the true comes out.
Helpful Score: 2
Such an incredible book! "A facinating story of love, healing, forgiveness, and renewal...certain to strike a chord in the hearts of mothers and daughters everywhere." - Tulsa World.
Helpful Score: 2
One of the best books I have read in ages. The author has a way with words that makes you think. Any daughter will cry. It hits home but in a good way! STRONGLY RECOMMEND.
Helpful Score: 1
This was a fast read, but not a great one. This is definitely my least favorite book of hers. Her writing borders on inspirational fiction with this book, not the literary fiction where I found it. I think this book really suffered from the lack of a plot and some REALLY stupid phrases ("pit-bull-mean"?!)... I mean come on, bad enough the first time she used it, but twice in one book in reference to different people, from two different P.O.V.s... not to mention it is an uneducated, stupid remark that really bothered me, especially when she is considered to be such a "sensitive" writer.
Helpful Score: 1
A wonderful book- it made me laugh and cry! I great story on the bonds that exist between mothers and daughter's everywhere, with a few good twists along the way.
Helpful Score: 1
I have been trying to read all her books, as I really enjoy her stories. This one started out a bit slow, but once it got going, I couldn't put it down. Love lost in several places, love found again. Families in so much distress that your heart breaks for them. Her writing always brings me back to the beach, where all problems can be solved!
Helpful Score: 1
I really enjoy Kristin Hannah's books. Each one is different but shares a commonality with discussing family relationships. Nora walked away from her family. Her daughters are now grown women with problems of their own. Caroline lives a life of suffocation and lonliness with her seemlingly perfect marriage. Ruby lives in Hollywood where she is trying to be a comedian but is failing miserably. She gets a contract to write a story about how awful her mother is and jumps at the chance to prove it. When Nora is in a car accident and Ruby agrees to take care of her, she finds out that there is more to her mother than meets the eye. On the island where the two are living is also Ruby's one time love. He is waiting for a chance to rekindle the relationship that Ruby and he had, but Ruby has built too many walls for him to break down. This book takes you on an emotional roller coaster. It is not a sappy romance novel. It exposes hardships that every family has gone through at one time or another.
If you enjoy mother daughter, family filled, power of love novels, this one you will like. It is about a daughter and mother who have been astranged for more than 10 years and the daughter Ruby, is struggling at her livelyhood. She has a chance to write a scandalous tell-all about her mother and make some badly needed income. But first she goes to her Island home and finds understanding for her mother's harboured terrible secrets and a friend who is sick. This was a beautiful story, never boring, or sappy. I enjoyed it alot. Made me stop and think about a few things which is a good thing.
Wonderful book for summer reading...
A great, fun, "good feeling" book
This is the first of Kristin Hannah's books that I've read, but it won't be the last. She writes a wonderfully compelling story about mother-daughter relationships and how a family learns to love again. Nora Bridge has it all, a nationally broadcast radio talk show, a loyal following and financial success. Until a scandal from her past brings it all crashing down. She has to face the daughters she walked out on decades before and they have to learn to love and trust her again. Interwoven are childhood memories and a love that has never died. It's a lovely book that you don't want to put down until the last chapter is finished.
Great story, easy listening.
Nice easy summer reading.
I related to Ruby so much! Great read!
I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
I happen to think Kristin Hannah is a great writer regarding female relationships. The ultimate summer reading (no pun intended). My only complaint about Ms. Hannah is that the endings can become contrived, but getting there is so much fun.
This was a good, quick read. It was a touching tale about mother daughter relationships, dealing with death and dying, and learning to love yourself.
This is an excellent book by Kristin Hannah. I have read several of hers and they just keep getting better. It is a great story about love and forgiveness and the complex relationship between a mother and daughter.
This is a great beach read...I enjoyed it.
Great summer read. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
Excellent book. I really loved it.
I wasn't in a hurry to read this book because of the cover info. But never judge a book by it's cover! This is a tear jerker.
Kind of on the same wave-length of the "Ya-Ya's" I guess. A mother and a daughter novel. Good read, especially over the summer. The New York Times Bestseller.
a tale of love, healing forgiveness and renewal.
Very nice story that read very easy!
Ellen
Ellen
A fascinating story of love, healing, forgiveness, and renewal
Excellent book......a nice easy read that I enjoyed.
This is a great story about mother-daughter forgiveness. Some of the characters are quite believable. The story involves a daughter who has been estranged from her mother who returns to their long-abandoned summer retreat to take care of her mother who broke her leg in a car accident (drinking while driving...hmmmm..). A very strong, likeable character in the book is a childhood friend who is now a man in his 30's and dying of cancer who also returns to the island at the same time. The characters evoke a lot of emotional turmoil and utlimately heal many of those wounds despite some very contrived (and somewhat unbelievable) situations to tie out the plot. If you can overlook its flaws, this book is an enjoyable read.
A novel of complex family relationships done as only Kristin Hannag can...
funny and poignant novel about a mother and daughter
Very good book. I just started reading this author and I love everything so far. Good interesting story about a mother who leaves her daughters and why.
Another good one by Kristen Hannah. I liked it!
A richly detailed family saga that will have you smiling, laughing, sighing and crying. Enjoyed this very much.
A very powerful and touching read!
A mother and daughter who haven't spoken in a decade and the events that lead to healing and forgiveness.
Wonderful story of the conflicts of a family
It is a great story about forgiveness.
What a beautiful story! The main story is about a mother and daughter who can't love each other because Mom left her two daughters when they were young and forgiveness seems impossible. But of course things change, people change and love changes.
Ruby and her sister can't seem to mesh either. One is wild and free and the other very proper and cool. Their meeting again is fascinating.
The most unforgettable character, for me, was Eric. He and his brother, Dean, are neighbors of Ruby and Caroline. Eric is ill and needs love so much. I don't want to say too much and spoil the story, but Eric you will remember!
There is so much love in this story it just pours out all over you. Kristin Hannah is the master at writing about relationships, especially between women. This is one of my personal favorites of hers and I took the time to really read it and not rush. I loved it!
Ruby and her sister can't seem to mesh either. One is wild and free and the other very proper and cool. Their meeting again is fascinating.
The most unforgettable character, for me, was Eric. He and his brother, Dean, are neighbors of Ruby and Caroline. Eric is ill and needs love so much. I don't want to say too much and spoil the story, but Eric you will remember!
There is so much love in this story it just pours out all over you. Kristin Hannah is the master at writing about relationships, especially between women. This is one of my personal favorites of hers and I took the time to really read it and not rush. I loved it!
Very Very Good
a good read, found myself laughing - very enjoyable
Really enjoyable read. I have a difficult relationship with a parent so it hit close to home and did a fine job of it.
Great book. Loved reading it. Couldn't put it down.
A wonderful story of Mothers/Daughters and the lives they thought the had. Loved it!
A quick read, predictable, not very interesting.
woman leaves her family,scandel arises,she reunites with her daughter.
I could not put this book down. I loved every word!
A good read
From the back cover-review by the Tulsa work.
" A facinating story of love, healing, forgiveness and renewal..... Certain to strike a chord in the hearts of mothers and daughters everywhere."
" A facinating story of love, healing, forgiveness and renewal..... Certain to strike a chord in the hearts of mothers and daughters everywhere."
from the back cover: Years ago, Nora Bridge walked out on her marriage and left her daughters behind. Now she is a famous talk show host. Her daughter, Ruby, is a struggling comedienne. The two haven't spoken in more than a decade. Then a scandal from Nora's past is exposed, and Ruby is offered a fortune to write a tell-all about her mother. Reluctantly, she returns to the family house on Summer Island, a home filled with frayed memories of joy and heartache. Confronting a past that includes a never-forgotten love, a sick best friend, and a mother who has harbored terrible family secrets, Ruby finally begins to understand the complex ties that bind a mother and daughter--and the healing that comes with forgiveness.
Years ago Nora Bridge walked out on her marriage and left her two daughters behind. Now she is a famous talk show hostess. Her daughter Ruby is a up and coming comedienne.Then scandel from Nora's past is expossed. Ruby is ofered a huge amount of money to write tell-all about her mother. They both return to the family house on Summer Island, a house filled with happiness and heartache. Confronting a past that included a never forgotten love, a sick best friend and a mother who harbors terrible family secerts. Ruby finally begins to understand the complex ties that bind a mother a daughter and the healing that comes with forgivness.
The author of the cherished bestseller On Mystic Lake returns with a poignant, funny, luminous novel about a mother and daughter--the complex ties that bind them, the past that separates them, and the healing that comes with forgiveness.
Years ago, Nora Bridge walked out on her marriage and left her daughters behind. She has since become a famous radio talk-show host and newspaper columnist beloved for her moral advice. Her youngest daughter, Ruby, is a struggling comedienne who uses her famous mother as fuel for her bitter, cynical humor. When the tabloids unearth a scandalous secret from Nora's past, their estrangement suddenly becomes dramatic: Nora is injured in an accident and a glossy magazine offers Ruby a fortune to write a tell-all about her mother. Under false pretenses, Ruby returns home to take care of the woman she hasn't spoken to for almost a decade.
Nora insists they retreat to Summer Island in the San Juans, to the lovely old house on the water where Ruby grew up, a place filled with childhood memories of love and joy and belonging. There Ruby is also reunited with her first love and his brother. Once, the three of them had been best friends, inseparable. Until the summer that Nora had left and everyone's hearts had been broken. . . .
What began as an expose evolves, as Ruby writes, into an exploration of her family's past. Nora is not the woman Ruby has hated all these years. Witty, wise, and vulnerable, she is desperate to reconcile with her daughter. As the magazine deadline draws near and Ruby finishes what has begun to seem to her an act of brutal betrayal, she is forced to grow up and at last to look at her mother--and herself--through the eyes of a woman. And she must, finally, allow herself to love. Summer Island is a beautiful novel, funny, tender, sad, and ultimately triumphant.
Years ago, Nora Bridge walked out on her marriage and left her daughters behind. She has since become a famous radio talk-show host and newspaper columnist beloved for her moral advice. Her youngest daughter, Ruby, is a struggling comedienne who uses her famous mother as fuel for her bitter, cynical humor. When the tabloids unearth a scandalous secret from Nora's past, their estrangement suddenly becomes dramatic: Nora is injured in an accident and a glossy magazine offers Ruby a fortune to write a tell-all about her mother. Under false pretenses, Ruby returns home to take care of the woman she hasn't spoken to for almost a decade.
Nora insists they retreat to Summer Island in the San Juans, to the lovely old house on the water where Ruby grew up, a place filled with childhood memories of love and joy and belonging. There Ruby is also reunited with her first love and his brother. Once, the three of them had been best friends, inseparable. Until the summer that Nora had left and everyone's hearts had been broken. . . .
What began as an expose evolves, as Ruby writes, into an exploration of her family's past. Nora is not the woman Ruby has hated all these years. Witty, wise, and vulnerable, she is desperate to reconcile with her daughter. As the magazine deadline draws near and Ruby finishes what has begun to seem to her an act of brutal betrayal, she is forced to grow up and at last to look at her mother--and herself--through the eyes of a woman. And she must, finally, allow herself to love. Summer Island is a beautiful novel, funny, tender, sad, and ultimately triumphant.
Book Description
The author of the cherished bestseller On Mystic Lake returns with a poignant, funny, luminous novel about a mother and daughter--the complex ties that bind them, the past that separates them, and the healing that comes with forgiveness.
Years ago, Nora Bridge walked out on her marriage and left her daughters behind. She has since become a famous radio talk-show host and newspaper columnist beloved for her moral advice. Her youngest daughter, Ruby, is a struggling comedienne who uses her famous mother as fuel for her bitter, cynical humor. When the tabloids unearth a scandalous secret from Nora's past, their estrangement suddenly becomes dramatic: Nora is injured in an accident and a glossy magazine offers Ruby a fortune to write a tell-all about her mother. Under false pretenses, Ruby returns home to take care of the woman she hasn't spoken to for almost a decade.
Nora insists they retreat to Summer Island in the San Juans, to the lovely old house on the water where Ruby grew up, a place filled with childhood memories of love and joy and belonging. There Ruby is also reunited with her first love and his brother. Once, the three of them had been best friends, inseparable. Until the summer that Nora had left and everyone's hearts had been broken. . . .
What began as an expose evolves, as Ruby writes, into an exploration of her family's past. Nora is not the woman Ruby has hated all these years. Witty, wise, and vulnerable, she is desperate to reconcile with her daughter. As the magazine deadline draws near and Ruby finishes what has begun to seem to her an act of brutal betrayal, she is forced to grow up and at last to look at her mother--and herself--through the eyes of a woman. And she must, finally, allow herself to love.
Summer Island is a beautiful novel, funny, tender, sad, and ultimately triumphant.
The author of the cherished bestseller On Mystic Lake returns with a poignant, funny, luminous novel about a mother and daughter--the complex ties that bind them, the past that separates them, and the healing that comes with forgiveness.
Years ago, Nora Bridge walked out on her marriage and left her daughters behind. She has since become a famous radio talk-show host and newspaper columnist beloved for her moral advice. Her youngest daughter, Ruby, is a struggling comedienne who uses her famous mother as fuel for her bitter, cynical humor. When the tabloids unearth a scandalous secret from Nora's past, their estrangement suddenly becomes dramatic: Nora is injured in an accident and a glossy magazine offers Ruby a fortune to write a tell-all about her mother. Under false pretenses, Ruby returns home to take care of the woman she hasn't spoken to for almost a decade.
Nora insists they retreat to Summer Island in the San Juans, to the lovely old house on the water where Ruby grew up, a place filled with childhood memories of love and joy and belonging. There Ruby is also reunited with her first love and his brother. Once, the three of them had been best friends, inseparable. Until the summer that Nora had left and everyone's hearts had been broken. . . .
What began as an expose evolves, as Ruby writes, into an exploration of her family's past. Nora is not the woman Ruby has hated all these years. Witty, wise, and vulnerable, she is desperate to reconcile with her daughter. As the magazine deadline draws near and Ruby finishes what has begun to seem to her an act of brutal betrayal, she is forced to grow up and at last to look at her mother--and herself--through the eyes of a woman. And she must, finally, allow herself to love.
Summer Island is a beautiful novel, funny, tender, sad, and ultimately triumphant.
