Fly Away (Firefly Lane #2) by Kristin Hannah

Summary:

Once, a long time ago, I walked down a night-darkened road called Firefly Lane, all alone, on the worst night of my life, and I found a kindred spirit. That was our beginning. More than thirty years ago. TullyandKate. You and me against the world. Best friends forever. But stories end, don’t they? You lose the people you love and you have to find a way to go on. . . .

Tully Hart has always been larger than life, a woman fueled by big dreams and driven by memories of a painful past. She thinks she can overcome anything until her best friend, Kate Ryan, dies. Tully tries to fulfill her deathbed promise to Kate---to be there for Kate’s children---but Tully knows nothing about family or motherhood or taking care of people.

Sixteen-year-old Marah Ryan is devastated by her mother’s death. Her father, Johnny, strives to hold the family together, but even with his best efforts, Marah becomes unreachable in her grief. Nothing and no one seems to matter to her . . . until she falls in love with a young man who makes her smile again and leads her into his dangerous, shadowy world.

Dorothy Hart---the woman who once called herself Cloud---is at the center of Tully’s tragic past. She repeatedly abandoned her daughter, Tully, as a child, but now she comes back, drawn to her daughter’s side at a time when Tully is most alone. At long last, Dorothy must face her darkest fear: Only by revealing the ugly secrets of her past can she hope to become the mother her daughter needs.

A single, tragic choice and a middle-of-the-night phone call will bring these women together and set them on a poignant, powerful journey of redemption. Each has lost her way, and they will need each one another---and maybe a miracle---to transform their lives.

An emotionally complex, heart-wrenching novel about love, motherhood, loss, and new beginnings, Fly Away reminds us that where there is life, there is hope, and where there is love, there is forgiveness. Told with her trademark powerful storytelling and illuminating prose, Kristin Hannah reveals why she is one of the most beloved writers of our day.Summary & Cover taken from Goodreads.com
Length: 432 pages (Paperback)
Source: Review Copy
Available Formats: Print/E-book/Audio
Publication Date: March 25th 2014 by St. Martin's Griffin (first published April 13th 2013)

After reading Firefly Lane and being completely ripped apart emotionally by it I didn't think that Kristin Hannah could top it in terms of the brutally real characters and their dramatic lives. I am happy to say I was very wrong.

After the way Firefly Lane ended, it's no surprise that I went into this one a little frail, and more than a little apprehensive since it is no secret that Kate was my favourite character in Firefly Lane and I missed her in this one.

This one while I found it to be a great example of how people can change was a little to dramatic for my tastes sometimes. Anyone who has read Firefly Lane knows that Tully is often very childlike. She's one of those it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission types, and I found that very annoying because of how she dealt with the loss of Kate. I understand everyone grieves differently but Tully didn't really grieve for so long, I just wish she had had a better handle on things because as an intelligent woman in her late 40s I was annoyed by her and how she tried to help Kate's family through the loss.

I hated how Tully tried to step into Kate's shoes in terms of trying to help Marah but being so wrapped up in herself that she failed to notice and care that Marah was slipping away, not only from her but from the rest of the world to because she didn't have a good support system in Tully because Tully was so ill equipped to even take care of herself in many ways.

Marah, what can I say about her? I pitied her. I never liked her. Not even in Firefly Lane. She was so self centered, selfish and horrible to everyone that I wished that she had died. Is that wrong to say? I just hated the fact that she turned out that way because of Tully always undermining Kate and her husbands parenting. She spoiled Marah so much as a child she created a monster, but didn't even realize it. I hated Marah's inability to take responsibility for her own life and stop acting like a brat. She was such a whiner I just wanted to reach into the book and strangle her. She had no right to  make everyone else suffer, when if fact they were experiencing the same loss. I just hated her.

The strange thing is though, that despite by dislike for her, I still thought she was a great character. She was realistic to me because she reminds me of someone I know. I might not have liked her personality but I did like her character. She had many faults but she played a huge part in the novel and I enjoyed seeing her change in the story.

As for the plot of this one, I enjoyed it. The pace was good, although there were a few spots in the book that I felt added nothing to the overall story. I liked how this one was mainly focused on Tully whereas Firefly Lane was largely told by Kate (though Tully had a fair amount of the book to herself). Yes Marah, and her drama was a big part of this one but I liked that Tully, and her evolution as a character played such a big part. Certain aspects of her life changed by horrible circumstances, and relationships were lost, while others were made. I really got a sense of how everyone in the story was moving forward from the loss of Kate while still keeping her close to them.

Overall, Fly Away had all the drama, heartache and exceptionally written characters that Firefly Lane did, it was just written in a different tone, but one that I would say was appropriate. This was a more somber novel than the first but it still had those moments of brightness that I've come to look for in Hannah's writing and I'm very happy with the way this duology ended.

*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my free and honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed herein are 100% my own.

 

Really Liked It!
★★★★

 

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