Night Road by Kristin Hannah

Yesterday at lunch I started reading Night Road by Kristin Hannah. When I got home from work I picked it back up and finished it at 12:30 am this morning. I'm usually not a fast reader but I could.not.put.it.down. I also have puffy eyes this morning from crying through the second half of the book.

From the Goodreads site:

For a mother, life comes down to a series of choices.
To hold on…
To let go..
To forget…
To forgive…
Which road will you take?

For eighteen years, Jude Farraday has put her children’s needs above her own, and it shows—her twins, Mia and Zach—are bright and happy teenagers. When Lexi Baill moves into their small, close knit community, no one is more welcoming than Jude. Lexi, a former foster child with a dark past, quickly becomes Mia’s best friend. Then Zach falls in love with Lexi and the three become inseparable.

Jude does everything to keep her kids safe and on track for college. It has always been easy-- until senior year of high school. Suddenly she is at a loss. Nothing feels safe anymore; every time her kids leave the house, she worries about them.

On a hot summer’s night her worst fears come true. One decision will change the course of their lives. In the blink of an eye, the Farraday family will be torn apart and Lexi will lose everything. In the years that follow, each must face the consequences of that single night and find a way to forget…or the courage to forgive.

NIGHT ROAD is vivid, emotionally complex novel that raises profound questions about motherhood, identity, love, and forgiveness. It is a luminous, heartbreaking novel that captures both the exquisite pain of loss and the stunning power of hope. This is Kristin Hannah at her very best, telling an unforgettable story about the longing for family, the resilience of the human heart, and the courage it takes to forgive the people we love.

I felt so connected to the mom in the beginning of this story. As a mom of a high school student who just got her driver's license. She's already called me crying that she got in a car accident. We live at the end of a long country road where people have died from making a slight mistake. It's all so real.

The 2nd half of the book is something that I'd never ever ever want to have to think about feeling. It did make me think of my neighbor who's daughter died when she was about 19 or 20 on one of those long country roads. She was drunk, in the truck with her boyfriend, who was also drunk. They hit a tree going about 100 miles an hour. She died instantly and he was airlifted and died not too long after. The mother, my neighbor, never went back to work. This book gave me quite the insight on what she was most likely going through.

This is a really good book, but if you've lost someone in a car accident and/or a child, it's probably not the book for you.

I've been working my way through the Kristin Hannah books. I can't believe I didn't blog about the Winter Garden, by far the best book I've read in a really long time. I listened to True Colors on an audio book. I'm not sure if it lost something in the audio book format, but I didn't like it nearly as much as the other two books I've read. I read Firefly Lane and don't remember much about it. I must have liked it though since I rated it with 4 stars (out of 5). It was two years ago that I read it so that could be part of why I don't remember it much. I'm almost thinking I should re-read it.

Have you read any of Kristin Hannah's books?