Tag: Amy Hatvany

Somewhere Out There Review

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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.  Amy Hatvany could publish her grocery list and I’d read it.  She has this ability to hook a reader from the first page without her book being a thriller and make you feel every emotion.

Somewhere Out There starts off with a glimpse of Jennifer, a young mom to two girls, living out of her car and trying to get them taken care of and fed.  Not being careful enough, she is caught shoplifting and even after an explanation, the store doesn’t want to cut her any slack.  Her social worker suggests that giving up her girls will be the best thing she can do for them moving forward.

Fast forward 30 years where we meet mother and caterer Natalie and cocktail waitress Brooke, the two girls Jennifer gave up.  The reader is introduced to their current lives and how each grew up in very different circumstances.  The book flashes back to what happened to Jennifer once she was arrested for shoplifting and, subsequently, what happened in the past as the girls grew up and how that shaped them in the present.

I love how everything Hatvany does is so realistic.  She doesn’t have Natalie living a picture perfect life with a lawyer husband and two kids.  She struggles between work and motherhood and even has spats with her husband, just like real life.  What may look more perfect on the outside is anything but.

As I read this, I kept going back to the fact that I couldn’t put this book down starting on page 2.  It’s rare that a women’s fiction story hooks me so quickly.

This is one you’ll want to discuss with all your friends and will make you want to complete your Amy Hatvany library.   As usual, I cannot wait for another new release from her.

Thanks to BookSparks as part of their #mywinterisbooked campaign for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

4 Women Authors You Should Know

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Do you have a favorite author?  One who whenever they release their newest work gets preordered online as soon as you hear the news?  You’ve read everything they’ve written and have trouble waiting for more?  That’s how I feel about the following four ladies.  For each of them, I’d read their grocery lists if they published them.  They can do no wrong in the writing world.

imageAmy Hatvany

With her sociology background, she really knows how to write women’s fiction and books that are relevant.  Issues that you can imagine the everywoman going through.  Start with Best Kept Secret about Cadence, a mother who tackles a drinking problem, and Safe With Me, about two women who meet under less-than-fortunate circumstances and form a bond that ends up saving them both.

imageDiane Chamberlain

Years ago I stumbled upon Diane’s books and haven’t been able to stop since.  Her power lies in the ability to make all her characters come alive on the page.  She is also known for throwing in a good twist just when you think the story is going in a different direction.  Start with The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes about an infant that goes missing and if the truth will really set you free and an amazing historical fiction novel, Necessary Lies, about a new social worker who befriends a family of tobacco farmers and what role the government should play in their lives.

imageSarah Jio

I think Sarah is the one author that I couldn’t possibly choose a favorite.  She is known to alternate between stories set in the present and the past and sometimes has a mystery thrown in.  Her books have me turning the pages and I can usually finish them in a day or two because you’re swept up in their stories.  She is newer to the women’s fiction scene and trust me, she’s not going anywhere.  Start with her first book, The Violets of March, about Emily, a divorced woman who finds a diary that helps her determine if her love life is over for good and The Bungalow, her second novel about an Army nurse who falls for a soldier and what they discover overseas.

imageEllen Hopkins 

Genius doesn’t begin to describe Ellen, who writes most of her novels in verse.  While it may take some getting used to, I am in awe every time I pick up a new one.  Her books are longer but they fly by because of her writing style.  Just be warned: there is a lot of profanity, drug use, and sex in her books.  She mostly writes YA but has just started venturing out into adult novels as well.  And all her books tackle extremely prevalent issues going on today.  Start with Crank, loosely based on her real-life daughter’s struggle with crystal meth (this is the first one in a trilogy) and  Identical, about identical twins who are trying to find themselves and what really happened in car accident when they were younger.

Any must-read women I should add to my list?  Would love to hear your favorites.