I received a free copy for my honest review.
About the Book:
• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: Sleepy Creek Press; 1 edition (March 10, 2015)
It takes a town to save a child. That town is Beaufort.
Annie Mac’s estranged husband vows that nothing will stop him from getting his baby girl. Not Annie Mac and certainly not that boy of hers.
Only four blocks away, Hannah Morgan lives in comfort with her husband and dog, making pottery and waiting for her best friend to come home. When she discovers the two children cowering in the bushes and their mama left for dead, it doesn’t take her long to rally the sleepy town of Beaufort, NC, and to set her coterie of do-gooders to some extra-strength do-gooding. Add in Clay, a lonely police lieutenant yanked out of his comfort zone and into the heart of this small family, and who knows what will happen?
About the Author:
A life-long sailor, Normandie has been writing and editing professionally since the seventies. She studied sculpture for several years in Perugia, Italy, before returning stateside to complete her degree with special honors in English. When they’re not visiting grown children who have scattered elsewhere, Normandie and her husband divide their time between their waterfront home in NC (where she takes care of her mama) and their waterborne sailing home, Sea Venture, lately returned from Pacific Mexico. She has three women’s fiction books now: Becalmed, which was the first Carolina Coast novel; Sailing out of Darkness; and now the second Carolina Coast story, Heavy Weather.
Find out more about Normandie at her website, connect with her on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter.
My Opinion:
This was a hard week’s reading for me – I had somehow ended up with two books dealing with domestic violence in quick succession. It’s odd how that happens sometimes. When I accept books for review it’s often months in advance and I have no idea how they really land in my schedule. It’s not an easy subject to read about.
Heavy Weather tells the story of Annie Mac, a woman who has made some mistakes in her life but the greatest is marrying Roy, a very violent man. He lives in a world all of his own and he is king of that world.
Annie Mac is living in Beaufort, trying to make a life for herself and her two children when Roy comes barging in with fists flying. He wants his daughter and he is not going to let anyone get in his way. He leaves Annie in a bloody, broken pile but can’t find Katie – her older brother has hidden her well. With her last conscious words Annie asks Hannah, a neighbor, to care for the kids until she’s better. This leads to a a circle of comfort that Annie could never have imagined.
The book is told in alternating chapters – this conceit is getting very old. It seems most of the books I have read lately are doing this. – in the voices of different characters including Roy’s. In this manner the reader learns about the circle of people who are helping Annie Mac survive her attack and find Roy to make him face justice.
She has trouble accepting and trusting at first but soon realizes that there is kindness in the world. But Roy still lurks. Will law enforcement get to him before he hurts Annie again?
This was a book full of friendship, love, suspense and relationships. I am not usually drawn to this type of book but I found myself really enjoying this tale (other than the alternating chapter thing.) It moved right along and the characters were well developed. I’d go back to Beaufort to revisit these characters again.
Rating:
4
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