Fly Away

I’m so had I finally read this book as it gave me some resolution with the loss of Kate in Firefly Lane. That first novel just left me somewhat raw but now I feel settled in the story of Tully & Kate. It was very emotional and I cried multiple times. The further development of all the characters was phenomenal & you get the backstory of Cloud/Dorthy, Tully’s mother & why she abandoned Tully. Such a great author. She is so talented.

So, I have waited 24 hours to write this review. I did this because I was so overly emotional after I finished reading that I didn’t think I could write appropriately and objectively. But then I thought about it. It is impossible to be completely objective about a book, because our emotions will dictate how we respond, right? So here goes.Fly Away is the Sequel to Firefly Lane. When I received Fly Away from St. Martin’s Press, I did not realize it was a sequel and so had to get the first one and read that first. You all know how I feel about reading books out of order. Right? Doesn’t work for me. So, if you didn’t see it, here’s my review of Firefly Lane. Go ahead, and see what I thought. I have time, I can wait a few mins.So, if I thought Firefly Lane was an emotional roller coaster, Fly Away was like one of those rides that shoots you up into the air and drops you, over and over again.This book is very emotionally driven. You get to see how many different reactions there are to the loss of a loved one. Every single character handles it differently and the emotional range is..incredible.The plot twists and turns and takes you on a ride that you will never forget. This is the kind of book that can totally change lives.I did give this book only a 4-1/2 star rating. Yep, I know. I gave the first one a 5. I should explain why I dropped the half. There are a few reasons, and to most people, they probably will not matter.Having read this immediately following reading the first book, I noticed a tiny character inconsistency, or at least what felt like an inconsistency to me. In the first book, the character is William, and in the second book, he is Wills. I wish maybe they would have explained why the character changed how he was referred to, that is all. And it bugged me a little. The other issue I had was the shifting POV. Different sections of the book are from a different character’s perspective, and sometimes that can get confusing to me.Overall, it didn’t interrupt the flow too much for me, though, and I still managed to devour this book in a day and a half. I loved the words on the page and now I am going to have to go back and read more books by this wonderful author.You see, what I liked so much about this book is that it was very, very real. You can imagine the scenes as they are happening. you feel as though you are in each of the situations with the characters, feeling what they are feeling and going through what they are going through. Since I try to be spoiler free, there is not much else I can say without giving too much away, so you are going to have to read it yourself to see what I mean.

I really enjoyed this book. It helped answer the questions that I had about what happened to Tully and all the charters from Firefly Lane. I wonder if this one will be made into a movie also.Thank you Kristin...❤️

I was happy to find this book from bookbub.com not knowing there was a sequel to Firefly Lane. This book aS just as good and have more closure to the relationship between two best friends and their families. Highly recommend it.

I loved this story from beginning to end. The main character reminds me of myself and my friendships I’ve had. Fast easy to read and never put down. Kristin Hannah you are the best writer I’ve ever read. Thank you for such wonderful stories.

Spoilers.This book was a hard read. Not due to the fact that almost every single bad thing can happen to the surviving characters in the book but it grazes over important things and dwells over nonsense. I feel that there was this certain message and things were nailed down but other things were just glazed over just to be done with it. There is a lot of back and forth in each chapter going from different characters POV on a similar time frame or situation. However the fact that nothing is mentioned really about Johnny or the twins grief process is a let down. The fact that a best friend would throw their entire career and life away when their friend is dying is absurd, it is almost like Tully had no clue and was waking blind. I mean she didn't care when they didn't speak but now she throws everything away and is led on self destructive path, it doesn't make sense to me. Now the way Marah acted in the first book was a hard thing to believe because she was given everything she wants and still acted out, now she goes down a bad natured path and no one notices????? I mean come on no one is buried that far within their own grief to notice your child lost a ton of weight. She made it seem that Johnny just didn't engage with kids at all, which is wrong because they had dinner every night and he was home on weekends. The only good thing is that you Cloud's backstory and that's when the book suddenly flows. The hospital scenes and the guidance from Katie to Tully in this scene was ripped right from a terrible made for TV movie. Now the part where Marah ends up ditching a possessive boyfriend and he just leaves is entirely unbelievable as well. Marah was manipulated by this man and his meal ticket for some time and then she sees the light with him and locks the door and magically disappears???? Yeah that doesn't happen in life. It was made so that everyone has a happy ending and really that isn't the case because no one gets over grief they always carry it with them. There is a lot of horrific things that in this book that could potentially trigger someone and that should carry a warning especially someone with PTSD so self harm, abandonment, incest, sexual abuse, physical abuse, mental abuse, suicude, drug use, and Mental hospital stays. There are a lot of things just thrown in the book that you are left with thinking why? You do get closure in a way but it isn't worth the read only if want to read the ending to the TullyandKate. As I said the three stars is because she does nail the more important things of grief but it isn't executed very well. The story mostly focuses on Tully and some Marah in there but all in all it is just redundant for the most part and stuffed with every negative thing a person can do, yet the twins seemed to be unphased by their mother's death, which makes no sense.

Kristin Hannah is a good writer. That kept me reading. So much of this book was just so sad! Three very depressed people and their stories of barely surviving was hard for me at times to continue reading. This may bejust what someone needs to hear about. They finally seem to get their lives together but depression seems like a continuous battle.

It’s the sequel to Firefly Lane! Great addition with lots of insights and unanswered questions from Firefly Lane.