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Thursday, May 31, 2012

Book Review: When Light Breaks by Patti Callahan Henry


Synopsis (from Barnes & Noble):
Twenty-seven-year-old Kara Larson is bogged down in the stress of planning her elaborate wedding to a professional golfer. Still, to fulfill the requirements of the Palmetto Pointe Junior Society, she makes time in her busy schedule to visit an elderly woman at a nursing home facility. Soon she finds herself mesmerized by the singsong Irish lilt of ninety-six-year-old Maeve Mahoney as Maeve recounts the rambling story of her first love back in Ireland. Or, Kara begins to wonder, is she really retelling an ancient tale of myth and legend? Waiting for the story to unfold in bits and pieces, and trying to discern the underlying truth, Kara is drawn in—and driven to remember her own first love: childhood neighbor Jack Sullivan. Gradually she realizes that before she embarks on her new life, she must find out how her own story—with Jack—will end.…
My Thoughts:
I enjoyed this book - while it lasted. I thought the story was okay. It was predictable, but I was expecting that. It’s one of those first love, grow up and move on (kind of) go back to your first love type stories. I get where the author was going with throwing in visits to Maeve and how her stories worked with the larger story line of the whole book. I just wish it had been a little bit longer and more developed all around. There were so many stories, flashbacks and “Is it the truth? Or is it just a made up story?” going on simultaneously at times that it was a bit of a mess in such a short book. I think if the author had taken the time to really flesh out some of her ideas, some supporting characters and give the book some real meat I would have rated it higher. As it stands, the story is nice enough, I appreciated the author’s southern charm and it was an enjoyable summer read. 
Final Word: B

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