NetGalley Member

Professional Reader 80% 25 Book Reviews Reviews Published
Showing posts with label Catherine Ryan Hyde. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Catherine Ryan Hyde. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

My Top 5 Books by Catherine Ryan Hyde

“The value of your life is your own choosing,” 
― Catherine Ryan Hyde, When I Found You

𝌀𝌀

My Top 5 Books
by
Catherine Ryan Hyde


Catherine Ryan Hyde writes some of the most touching and inspiring books that I have read. With over 30 books published it’s very difficult to pick out favorites but I must! I’m in love with her style and memorable stores that are basically created with relatable characters. Lives of ordinary people that feel real simply because we could easily be found in the situations she creates. Therese are my top 5 CRH books:


This book has been my number one of all time and I have read some great books.

When Nathan McCann discovers a newborn baby boy half buried in the woods, he assumes he's found a tiny dead body. But then the baby moves and in one remarkable moment, Nathan's life is changed forever.

The baby is sent to grow up with his grandmother, but Nathan can't forget him and is compelled to pay her a visit. He asks for one simple promise - that one day she will introduce the boy to Nathan and tell him, 'This is the man who found you in the woods.'

Years pass and Nathan assumes that the old lady has not kept her promise, until one day an angry, troubled boy arrives on his doorstep with a suitcase . . .


This was the very first CRH book I read and holds a very special place in my heart.

August Shroeder, a burned-out teacher, has been sober since his 19-year-old son died. Every year he's spent the summer on the road, but making it to Yellowstone this year means everything. The plan had been to travel there with his son, but now August is making the trip with Philip's ashes instead. An unexpected twist of fate lands August with two extra passengers for his journey, two half-orphans with nowhere else to go.

What none of them could have known was how transformative both the trip and the bonds that develop between them would prove, driving each to create a new destiny together.



On an isolated Texas ranch, Dr. Lucy cares for abandoned animals. The solitude allows her to avoid the people and places that remind her of the past. Not that any of the townsfolk care. In 1959, no one is interested in a woman doctor. Nor are they welcoming Calvin and Justin Bell, a newly arrived African American father and son.

When Pete Solomon, a neglected twelve-year-old boy, and Justin bring a wounded wolf-dog hybrid to Dr. Lucy, the outcasts soon find refuge in one another. Lucy never thought she’d make connections again, never mind fall in love. Pete never imagined he’d find friends as loyal as Justin and the dog. But these four people aren’t allowed to be friends, much less a family, when the whole town turns violently against them.

With heavy hearts, Dr. Lucy and Pete say goodbye to Calvin and Justin. But through the years they keep hope alive…waiting for the world to catch up with them.


Fourteen-year-old Angie and her mom are poised at the edge of homelessness... again. The problem is her little sister, Sophie. Sophie has an autism-like disorder, and a tendency to shriek. No matter where they live, home never seems to last long.

Until they move in with Aunt Vi, across the fence from a huge black Great Dane who changes everything. Sophie falls in love immediately, and begins to imitate the "inside of the dog," which, fortunately, is a calm place. The shrieking stops. Everybody begins to breathe again. Until Paul Inverness, the dog's grumpy, socially isolated owner, moves to the mountains, and it all begins again.

Much to Angie's humiliation, when they're thrown out of Aunt Vi's house, Angie's mom moves the family to the mountains after Paul and his dog. There, despite a fifty-year difference in their ages, Angie and Paul form a deep friendship, the only close friendship either has known. Angie is able to talk to him about growing up gay, and Paul trusts Angie with his greatest secret, his one dream. When the opportunity arrives, Angie decides to risk everything to help Paul's dream come true, even their friendship and her one chance at a real home--the only thing she's dreamed of since her father was killed. A place she can never be thrown out. A place she can feel she belongs. 

5. Allie and Bea

Bea has barely been scraping by since her husband died. After falling for a telephone scam, she loses everything and is forced to abandon her trailer. With only two-thirds of a tank in her old van, she heads toward the Pacific Ocean with her cat—on a mission to reclaim what’s rightfully hers, even if it means making others pay for what she lost.

When fifteen-year-old Allie’s parents are jailed for tax fraud, she’s sent to a group home. But when her life is threatened by another resident, she knows she has to get out. She escapes only to find she has nowhere to go—until fate throws Allie in Bea’s path.

Reluctant to trust each other, much less become friends, the two warily make their way up the Pacific Coast. Yet as their hearts open to friendship and love from the strangers they meet on their journey, they find the courage to forge their own unique family—and begin to see an imperfect world with new eyes.




You can find me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter!

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

New Year, New Books



2018 is right around the corner and with it comes new books!

2017 has been a productive year for me as far as reading goes. I discovered new authors like Barbara Claypole White, author of Echoes of Family which touches on mental illness. 


Kimberly Belle and The Marriage Lie, a great thriller! 


I discovered a refreshing voice in CathyLamb with Henry’s Sisters and The Last Time I was Me (among others).  


I still read my usual authors including JD Robb with Echoes in Death and Secretes in Death. This series remains my number one. 



I traveled up the California coast with Catherine Ryan Hyde’s Allie and Bea and read her newest release, The Wake Up. 



Diane Chamberlain’s The Stolen Marriage is in my top three this year. Not only is it an outstanding read but look at this stunning cover! 



I was late to the party (by a couple years) but Kristin Hanna’s The Nighingale finally made its way to the top of my TBR list. It broke me into a million pieces but it made it to my top three. 



’s The Rules of Magic stole my heart . It was a wonderful story about accepting who you are. This one completed my top three.



2018 looks promising with a few books that I am definitely looking forward to. This of course includes JD Robb’s Dark inDeath and Leverage in Death, number 46 and 47 in the series. 


Krisntin Hanna’s The Great Alone is one of the most anticipated books this year and one I am looking forward to. I do believe The Nighingale has set quite a bar for Hanna’s work moving forward. 




We will get acquainted with Louisa Clark in Jojo Moyes StillMe. I want to know what Louisa is up to when she moves to New York.




The Wife Between us by   and Sarah Pekkanen is one of the best thrillers coming out next year. 




Of my newly discovered authors, I am looking forward to The Promise Between Us by Barbara Claypole White




I have a good feeling about The Runaway Children by Sandy Taylor. I believe it has the potential to be a number one along with Susan Meissner’s As Bright as Heaven.





I usually focus on the first half of the year that way I can attempt to keep up with my TBR list. What about you? Which books made your top three this year and which ones are you most excited about in 2018? I’d love to see your recommendations in the comments. Happy new year and of course, Happy Reading!

Sunday, November 19, 2017

Review - The Wake Up by Catherine Ryan Hyde

4 ✩✩✩✩

Today I want to share my review of The Wake Up. A book written by my favorite author (Catherine Ryan Hyde) which will be published on December 5, 2017. I was lucky enough to have received an advanced copy.




Aristotle said, “To perceive is to suffer.” This is exactly what Aiden Delacorte’s life is now.

Catherine Ryan Hyde delivers yet another beautiful book. Her theme, which I have come to know as ‘when strangers become friends,’ is consistent, which is one of the reasons I enjoy her work. In The Wake up we meet Aiden, a 40 year old rancher whose livelihood is growing cattle. Aiden discovers that he possesses the ability to feel others pain and must learn to live with it. This new discovery changes Aiden’s life in a way that he never expected. 

Aiden falls in love with Gwen who has a difficult past of her own and two children, Milo, 10 and Elizabeth, 13. Aiden has the difficult task of becoming a father figure.  Though it has very few characters, I found the story complex enough to make me think and deeply care for each one of them. 

Catherine Ryan Hyde is a master of  ‘Real World’ fiction and it shows. The story touches on various issues ranging from domestic violence, abuse, family and heartbreak. 

I always find Hyde’s books pleasant to read. The story reads in such a way that is almost like reading poetry.  The words come together and flow beautifully. The detail in which she describes the surroundings is insanely beautiful and her love for horses really came through in this book. It gave me a whole new perspective on how I see horses, that’s for sure.

I am never disappointed after I finish one of her books. Beautiful work.


My Top Ten Books of 2019

“Books are a uniquely portable magic.” -Stephen King ˰˰˰ My Top Ten Books of 2019 By Sofie Hern It's that time of...