Friday, March 17, 2017

Firefly Lane

"Firefly Lane" by Kristin Hannah

Read this book before you read "Fly Away". This book is about the beginning of a friendship between two young girls and the paths their lives take.  They swear to be best fiends forever no matter what.  Life takes Tulley on to be a major news reporter and TV show host where Kate finds herself married with three children.  Their lives may be different but they are still each other's best friend through all that life throws at them until one act of betrayal tears apart their friendship.  "Popular just means lots of people think they know you."  I think popular doesn't always mean you have true friends.  "Who your mom is and how she lives her life isn't a reflection of you.  You can make your own choices."  We don't have to let other people's choices define who we are, good or bad.  "That was was a best friend did: hold up a mirror and show you your heart."  "That was the thing about best friends.  Like sisters and mothers, they could piss you off and make you cry and break your heart, but in the end, when the chips were down, they were there, making you laugh even in your darkest hours."  We all need a friend like that.  I enjoyed this story for it's look into friendship and how it can weather the storms of life but I'd still pick "Nightingale" as my favorite of hers.

Friday, March 10, 2017

Fly Away

"Fly Away" by Kristin Hannah

Don't read this one unless you've read "Friefly Lane", I found that out too late.  "Firefly Lane" is the story about two best friends and they're lives growing up, I'll let you know in the next post how it is, I'm reading it now.  "Fly Away" is the continuance of their story after they are grown.  So actually, don't read this post unless you want to know the ending before the beginning.  Best friends Tully and Kate have been friends since they were little.  Tully is a TV star who now with the loss of her best friend due to cancer must figure out how to go on.  Kate's family is falling apart without her and Tully promised to take care of them yet she can't even take care of herself.  Tully's mother abandoned her when she was a child and when Tully needs her most she comes back into her life but will she be accepted?  A tragic night brings everyone back together again where redemption is likely to take place.  "Grief is a sneaky thing, always coming and going like some guest you didn't invite and can't turn away."  Grief is uninvited by all but also experienced by all.  "...but sometimes one person can hold you up in life, keep you standing, and without that hand to hold, you can find yourself free-falling no matter how strong you used to be, no matter how hard you try to remain steady."  "Words stay with you sometimes, especially angry ones."  We can't take back our words by we can make amends with our words by saying we are sorry.  We all say things we regret and we often need to let those words go.  "Why did it take a tragedy to see life clearly?"  Nothing like tragedy to put life into perspective.  "You can't prepare for the shit life throws at you."  It's ture, curveballs come, but what we can do is remember there is a loving God that holds us in His hands.  "There's a river of sadness in me; it's always been there, but now it is rising, spilling over its banks.  I know there's a possibility that if I'm not careful, it will become the biggest part of me and I will drown in it."  Grief feels like drowning often times.  "Sometimes you simply made the wrong choice and you had to I've with it.  You could only change the future."  

Friday, March 3, 2017

Between Sisters

"Between Sisters" by Kristin Hannah

Just another book by Kristin Hannah, I think I've almost read them all now.  This one took me a little more to get into but once I did I enjoyed it.  Kristin does a good job of conveying different women relationships, they can often be so complicated.  This story follows two sisters who have lead two very different lives, one is a high powered divorce attorney and the other runs a camping resort.  They have their past that they share, their druggie mother, but not much else.  When Claire, the younger sister who runs the resort, finally falls in love and starts planning a wedding, the older sister Meghann wants to help.  It will become a choice to put the past behind, find common ground, and be the family they have always wanted.  "Some things just didn't turn out the way you wanted, and a girl could only cry for so many years."  "We can't live other people's lives for them.  Even if we love them."  Oh but how we try.  "Maybe that's why weddings take place in churches-because each one is an act of faith." They truly are, a beautiful act of faith.  A promise that can only be kept with the help of God.  This book wasn't my favorite but was a good read and worth the time.