Time 2 Read: Review: A Mother Like Mine with GiveAway!

A Mother Like Mine

Hartley-By-The-Sea #3

by Kate Hewitt

Why I chose this book? The cover and the setting

When I read this book? September 2017

Who should read this book? Readers of women’s fiction and beach stories

Source: TLC Book Tours

My Rating: ✰✰✰✰ 4 Stars

Here is a synopsis of A Mother Like Mine from TLC Book Tours

Paperback: 384 pages

Publisher: Berkley (August 8, 2017)

Welcome to England’s beautiful Lake District, where a reluctant reunion forges a new bond between a daughter and her wayward mother….

Abby Rhodes is just starting to get her life on track. After her fiancé’s unexpected death, she returned with her young son to the small village where she grew up and threw herself into helping her ailing grandmother run the town’s beach café. Then one evening, her mother, Laura, shows up in Hartley-by-the-Sea and announces her plan to stay. After twenty years away, she now wants to focus on the future—and has no intention, it seems, of revisiting the painful past.

Laura Rhodes has made a lot of mistakes, and many of them concern her daughter. But as Abby gets little glimpses into her mother’s life, she begins to realize there are depths to Laura she never knew. Slowly, Abby and Laura start making tentative steps toward each other, only to have life become even more complicated when an unexpected tragedy arises. Together, the two women will discover truths both sad and surprising that draw them closer to a new understanding of what it means to truly forgive someone you love.

“With lush coastal imagery and well-drawn characters, Hewitt immerses the reader in the deeply personal struggles and triumphs of Rachel and Claire. At turns introspective and exhilarating, this novel proves that it’s never too late to start over.”—Booklist

My Review

I enjoyed this one very much, although I have to admit that it was a little slow to hook me. This story is high on character development and lower on action. Abby and Laura, mother and daughter, have a lot in common, but they don’t know it until they get to know one another. And that isn’t easy, because Laura abandoned Abby when she was a toddler, and Abby doesn’t trust her not to abandon her again, so she tries to maintain a distance from Laura.

Both women became pregnant without that ring on their finger and so had a difficult time of it as single mothers. They both also grew up in the small community of Hartley by the Sea, where gossipping was a way of life. Both tried to escape the small community and the gossip, only to return to face the wagging tongues because they were out of options.

There isn’t much about this book I didn’t like. The setting by the sea was calm and beautiful, and I liked the characters, particularly Abby and Laura. Laura refused to reveal the father’s name when Abby was born, but that came out towards the end of the story, and I found out my ‘inkling’ was right. And the story had a happy ending!

This could make an interesting book club selection. I breezed through the book, but I think that there is a lot that book clubs could discuss; mother-daughter relationships, the stigma of single parenthood, forgiveness, and others. There is a set of discussion questions in the back of the book.

If you look close, you will notice that this is the third book in a series, but I did not read the previous books and I can tell you it definitely works as a stand alone! I read the synopses of the previous books and it appears that the setting is what determines the series. The main characters in those books made appearances in this one, but they weren’t a major part of the story and I don’t think the previous books would have added to this one. However, I do plan to go back and read them. And if you want to read them, you are in luck. I have a copy of each of the previous two books to give away to one lucky winner! Just click on the link below and fill out the form! The contest closes at midnight CDT on September 13 and the winner will be chosen on September 14.

GIVEAWAY FOR HARTLEY-BY-THE-SEA #1 and #2
(Having trouble with form? Click here to enter!)