Scan barcode
yvo_about_books's review against another edition
4.5
Finished reading: February 6th 2023
"In the sea of grief, there were islands of grace, moments in time when one could remember what was left rather than all that had been lost."
I've been meaning to read more of Kristin Hannah for so long, and I even own physical copies of more than one of her backlist titles to read. Somehow her books keep slipping between the cracks of my TBR mountain though... I'm still not sure why, because I loved my first two experiences with her work. When I was in the mood for a physical book, I decided to finally pick up my copy of Night Road. And boy, am I kicking myself for not reading this story sooner! It was such a well written and heartbreaking story, and it's made me want to pick up more of her books ASAP. Night Road is divided into two parts; the so-called before and after. The first half reads like a coming of age story about friendship, first love and social differences. The second half focuses on how one bad decision can change a lot of lives, grief and how to move on after the unthinkable. The story uses a multiple POV structure, and it was interesting to see the world through the eyes of the main characters. It's mainly about Lexi and Jude though. I found Lexi's POV to be particularly powerful, and especially in the second part. I do have mixed thoughts about Jude, and I started to become really irritated by certain aspects of her behavior (especially towards Lexi). This was the only thing that didn't work for me in this story though, and I did appreciate how the story showed that grief works differently for everyone. Night Road is such a heartbreaking story, and I can definitley recommend having some tissues and/or chocolate closeby just in case. I confess that I hardly ever cry when reading a story, but this turned out to be one of those exceptions.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Car accident, and Alcohol
Minor: Addiction and Drug abuse
laurensreads's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Car accident, and Alcohol
Moderate: Mental illness
karyan1's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Car accident, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
lizzythebookworm____'s review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug use and Alcohol
alyssagirardi's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Car accident
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: Drug use
julienicole1106's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Child death, Death, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Car accident, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
kowwie's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This was my second Kristin Hannah book and I think I enjoyed it more than the first (The Nightingale.) This book is set in the modern world, and some of Hannah's melodramatic character development kind of molds more to this. Or maybe this is only true in my perception.
Overall, I couldn't put this book down. I stayed up until 3am reading and then read all day. It's emotional, and offers some deep discussions about forgiveness between families, friends, and with ourselves.
It can be emotionally triggering to people who have lost someone in a car accident. I got a little choked up, but the author does a fairly good job at showing all of the levels of grief.
Overall, I couldn't put this book down. I stayed up until 3am reading and then read all day. It's emotional, and offers some deep discussions about forgiveness between families, friends, and with ourselves.
It can be emotionally triggering to people who have lost someone in a car accident. I got a little choked up, but the author does a fairly good job at showing all of the levels of grief.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol
boba_nbooks's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Holy. Cow. If you haven’t read this book, don’t walk but RUN to read it. Kristin Hannah is a masterful storyteller who evokes such emotion from all of her characters that they seem to jump off the page. I loved hearing the story told from all of the main female characters’ POVs. When Mia died, I felt so deeply for all of the characters and how they experienced her death in different ways. I can’t imagine having to pull the plug on your own child and wonder what if. The scene where they harvest her organs was probably one that gutted me the most. Without giving too much away, the characters all cope with a major loss, and they find different ways to do so - some healthy, some not so much. They each have to find their way back to themselves and the love they once cherished.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Car accident, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Sexual content, Medical content, and Pregnancy
Minor: Drug use
kelly_e's review against another edition
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Title: Night Road
Author: Kristin Hannah
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 5
Pub Date: March 22 2011
T H R E E • W O R D S
Gripping • Triumphant • Multilayered
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Lexi has bounced from one foster family to the next due to her mom's addiction and lack of parenting. When she ends up with her aunt Eva, she finds stability and love. On the first day of school, she meets Mia, and the two become fast friends. Lexi is embraced by Mia's family, The Farradays. June Farraday has dedicated her life to protecting and helping her children thrive. As their senior year unfolds, one decision will shatter their family and change their lives forever.
💭 T H O U G H T S
Wow - Night Road is a truly special book! It's a journey of human emotion exploring the themes of parenthood, grief, heartbreak, guilt, and forgiveness. Kristin Hannah takes her time in building the story, and her writing is brilliant immersing me directly into the story from the very start. With beautiful and powerful prose, it uses alternative POVs to drive the plot forward, and this works perfectly.
Lexi's character is one that I'll remember long after completion of the book. She displays maturity, growth and strength in taking responsibility. I couldn't help but feel more all of the characters. And while I can see people's aversion to Jude's behaviour, having experienced sudden and tragic death myself, I feel Hannah has captured grief realistically. There is nothing I love more than a book that transports me into the story, makes me contemplate life's choices, and pulls of my heart strings. This book does all of the above and more! It demonstrates how small choices shape our lives and how everything can change in the blink of an eye.
There's countless reasons Kristin Hannah is one of my favourite authors, and this is certainly one of them. Night Road quickly became one of my favourite books by her thus far! I cannot wait to read more of her backlist, and find a nice home for this one on my favourites shelf.
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• Kristin Hannah lovers
• Jodi Picoult fans
• Book clubs
• Everyone!
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"Maybe you need to be broken a little before you can put yourself back together."
"Some endings simply couldn't be what you dreamed."
"She had gone a whole hour without thinking about her heartache. That might not sound like much to some people, but to her it was monumental, like swimming the English Channel. It offered her a glimpse of something she'd given up on: the possibility of being herself again, of even someday being happy with her life. She knew she could never let go of her sadness, but maybe Harriet was right: maybe she could go on. Maybe time didn't heal wounds exactly, but it gave you a kind of armor, or a new perspective. A way to remember with a smile instead of a sob."
"That was something she had learned the past few weeks. In the sea of grief, there were islands of grace, moments in time when one could remember what was left rather than all that had been lost."
Author: Kristin Hannah
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 5
Pub Date: March 22 2011
T H R E E • W O R D S
Gripping • Triumphant • Multilayered
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Lexi has bounced from one foster family to the next due to her mom's addiction and lack of parenting. When she ends up with her aunt Eva, she finds stability and love. On the first day of school, she meets Mia, and the two become fast friends. Lexi is embraced by Mia's family, The Farradays. June Farraday has dedicated her life to protecting and helping her children thrive. As their senior year unfolds, one decision will shatter their family and change their lives forever.
💭 T H O U G H T S
Wow - Night Road is a truly special book! It's a journey of human emotion exploring the themes of parenthood, grief, heartbreak, guilt, and forgiveness. Kristin Hannah takes her time in building the story, and her writing is brilliant immersing me directly into the story from the very start. With beautiful and powerful prose, it uses alternative POVs to drive the plot forward, and this works perfectly.
Lexi's character is one that I'll remember long after completion of the book. She displays maturity, growth and strength in taking responsibility. I couldn't help but feel more all of the characters. And while I can see people's aversion to Jude's behaviour, having experienced sudden and tragic death myself, I feel Hannah has captured grief realistically. There is nothing I love more than a book that transports me into the story, makes me contemplate life's choices, and pulls of my heart strings. This book does all of the above and more! It demonstrates how small choices shape our lives and how everything can change in the blink of an eye.
There's countless reasons Kristin Hannah is one of my favourite authors, and this is certainly one of them. Night Road quickly became one of my favourite books by her thus far! I cannot wait to read more of her backlist, and find a nice home for this one on my favourites shelf.
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• Kristin Hannah lovers
• Jodi Picoult fans
• Book clubs
• Everyone!
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"Maybe you need to be broken a little before you can put yourself back together."
"Some endings simply couldn't be what you dreamed."
"She had gone a whole hour without thinking about her heartache. That might not sound like much to some people, but to her it was monumental, like swimming the English Channel. It offered her a glimpse of something she'd given up on: the possibility of being herself again, of even someday being happy with her life. She knew she could never let go of her sadness, but maybe Harriet was right: maybe she could go on. Maybe time didn't heal wounds exactly, but it gave you a kind of armor, or a new perspective. A way to remember with a smile instead of a sob."
"That was something she had learned the past few weeks. In the sea of grief, there were islands of grace, moments in time when one could remember what was left rather than all that had been lost."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, and Car accident
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: Addiction, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Abandonment
sibling death, drunk driving, foster care
More...