Stephanie Sullivan: January 2021

January 31, 2021

TITLE: Where the Lost Wander

RATING: ★★★★

Summary (from Goodreads): In this epic and haunting love story set on the Oregon Trail, a family and their unlikely protector find their way through peril, uncertainty, and loss.

The Overland Trail, 1853: Naomi May never expected to be widowed at twenty. Eager to leave her grief behind, she sets off with her family for a life out West. On the trail, she forms an instant connection with John Lowry, a half-Pawnee man straddling two worlds and a stranger in both.

But life in a wagon train is fraught with hardship, fear, and death. Even as John and Naomi are drawn to each other, the trials of the journey and their disparate pasts work to keep them apart. John’s heritage gains them safe passage through hostile territory only to come between them as they seek to build a life together.

When a horrific tragedy strikes, decimating Naomi’s family and separating her from John, the promises they made are all they have left. Ripped apart, they can’t turn back, they can’t go on, and they can’t let go. Both will have to make terrible sacrifices to find each other, save each other, and eventually…make peace with who they are.

REVIEW: What a wonderful story! Packed with everything you look for in a book that will keep you hooked - joy, heartbreak, love, loss, etc. Amy Harmon did a superb job detailing the hardships of the 1850’s wagon trains as they sought a better life in the west. You’ll find yourself smiling through your tears as you read about their admirable strength and determination. You also get Naomi and John Lowry’s beautiful love story within these pages. (*happy sigh*) So much to love in this book. READ IT!

Review - The Midnight Library

January 16, 2021

TITLE: The Midnight Library

AUTHOR: Matt Haig

RATING: ★★★★★

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Summary (from Goodreads): Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices . . . Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets? A novel about all the choices that go into a life well lived.

Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.

REVIEW: I honestly don’t know where to start. I could probably sum up this review just by saying I finished The Midnight Library in one day because I couldn’t put it down, but that doesn’t seem to do it justice. I won’t give away any spoilers, but I will say I saw myself through Nora Seed’s eyes within the pages of this book. If you’ve read it, then you understand what I mean. If your eyes filled with tears or you found yourself wiping them from your cheeks while reading this story then you get it. I don’t know what else to say other than The Midnight Library grabbed me from the start and didn’t let go. I commend Matt Haig for taking such a delicate topic as depression and weaving it into a beautiful and poignant story that stays with you long after the last page is turned. I look forward to reading more of his work in the near future.