A Curve in the Road by Julianne MacLeanPublished: August 14, 2018Publisher: Lake Union PublishingReceived: from Thomas Allen & Son for honest reviewFrom USA Today bestselling author Julianne MacLean comes a suspenseful, emotionally charged novel that explores the secrets and hidden truths within a seemingly perfect marriage.
Abbie MacIntyre is living the dream in the picturesque Nova Scotia town she calls home. She is a successful surgeon, is married to a handsome cardiologist, and has a model teenage son who is only months away from going off to college.
But then one fateful night, everything changes. When a drunk driver hits her car, Abbie is rushed to the hospital. She survives, but the accident forces unimaginable secrets out into the open and plagues Abbie with nightmares so vivid that she starts to question her grip on reality. Her perfect life begins to crack, and those cracks threaten to shatter her world completely.
The search for answers will test her strength in every way—as a wife, a career woman, and a mother—but it may also open the door for Abbie to move forward, beyond anger and heartbreak, to find out what she is truly made of. In learning to heal and trust again, she may just find new hope in the spaces left behind.
Book club discussion questions are included in the book.
I
listened to this audiobook on my daily commute to work and one foggy
morning, I had to stop to take this photo. It just seemed to fit the
story and setting of this book.
This
story revolves around Abbie and her small family and a tragedy that
takes them all for an emotional ride. Not only does the accident bring
on new medical issues for Abbie that would affect her career, but it
also changed her outlook on her life and the things that she thought
were once perfect.
The
loving husband ends up not being what he seemed. Abbie can't let go of
the secrets, but is too afraid to disclose them to her son for fear of
tarnishing his view of his father. Part of me thought this was admirable
of her to try to keep him from further hurt, but at the same time her
anger and frustration get the best of her when her son has nothing but
wonderful things to say about his dad. In the end I'm glad she finally
let him in on the secrets so that he could be better informed about his
father's true nature and the events leading up the the tragedy. Sadly,
the reason she finally tells him is not out of truly wanting to, but out
of necessity due to a curve ball thrown her way yet again.
Through
the course of the story we watch Abbie grapple with her emotions and
bounce back and forth from seeming to be healing and then being slammed
back into anger and resentment over and over. At times it felt a little
repetitive, but once I finished listening to the audiobook it became
apparent that this was more of a realistic grieving and healing process.
I'm sure people who experience similar things don't get over them at
the toss of a hat, you just don't normally hear the inner monologue
happening in someones head like you do in this book.
I
adored Winston, their wonderful dog. He survives the accident too and
has his own challenges along the way, but in the end it's Winston's
involvement in the plot that brings about a happy ending for Abbie and
her family. Even though the book doesn't wrap up Abbie's new life
completely with a bow, it does leave you knowing that she will be okay
and has something worth looking forward to now.
“Just like the waves that keep rolling onto the beach, happiness may recede sometimes, but then it comes back. It always comes back.”
About the Author:
Julianne MacLean is a USA Today bestselling author
of more than thirty novels, including the contemporary women’s fiction Color of
Heaven series. MacLean is a four-time Romance Writers of America RITA
finalist and has won the Booksellers’ Best Award, the Book Buyers Best Award,
and a Reviewers’ Choice Award from the Romantic Times for Best Regency
Historical Romance of 2005. MacLean has a degree in English literature from the
University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and a degree in business
administration from Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. She loves to
travel and has lived in New Zealand, Canada, and England. MacLean currently
resides on the east coast of Canada in a lakeside home with her husband and
daughter. For more information about Julianne and her writing life, please
visit her website at www.juliannemaclean.com.
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