2 Books for Fans of Family Fiction

by Susan Roberts

Families come in all shapes and sizes.  It can be a family created by blood relationships or a family made up of people who love and care for each other.

Today I have two reviews of recent books about families.  One is about a family that was created by love and the other is about a traditional family.

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Like Family by Michele M Feeney  

August 2024; ‎ Black Rose Writing; 978-1685134631
audio, ebook, print (219 pages); historical fiction

I love historical fiction and it's a real plus that the setting is my home state of Michigan.  The novel starts in 1918 in a small rural town.  The town is mostly made up of Irish immigrants and they don't mix with the few Polish families who live there.  This character-driven, beautifully written novel takes the readers into the reactions of the town to the Spanish Flu.

Cecilia is an 8-year-old Polish girl who lives with her parents and her brother.  Her older brother returns from being in the hospital after WWI and is dead of Spanish Flu within a day.  Soon her parents and other brother succumb to the disease and Cecilia is alone.  The townspeople including the doctor don't want to go near her in fear of catching the disease and leave baskets of food for her in front of the house.  She misses her family and doesn't like being alone but has no choices.  Until the 26-year-old school teacher finds out about her.  She decides to bring Cecilia into the home she shares with her mother.  They decide to quarantine until they are sure that Cecilia can't transmit the disease to them.  Molly's brothers and the town doctor are appalled that she would expose their mother to possibly catching the disease.  Molly is a strong and resilient woman who fights the town to keep the young girl and wants to open the school back up.  She is surrounded by men - brothers, the doctor, and the priest - who want her to do things their way but she resists and follows her own path.  They feel since she's not married, she should follow the lead of the men in town but she is feisty enough to resist them.

I loved the characters in this novel.  After meeting Molly's mother, it's easy to understand why Molly is so strong.  And poor Cecilia, left with no family and living with a family that is completely different from what she has lived with for her whole life,  works to remain true to her mother and family while she is being immersed in the Irish family.  Like Family is a book about family love and people caring for other people no matter the circumstances.  It reminds us that family isn't just created by blood but can also be created with the people who love and care for you.

I loved this book and enjoyed getting to know the characters.  I also enjoyed the setting in rural Michigan and it was described so well that I felt like I was there.  This is a book that I won't soon forget.

Buy Like Family at Amazon

The Days I Loved You Most by Amy Neff

July 2024; Park Row; 978-0778310471
audio, ebook, print (336 pages ); women's fiction

An emotional, life-affirming novel that asks, What if you could write the final chapter of your own love story?

This is a love story that is told over an 80-year time span from 1940 - 2022.  It is primarily the love between a husband and his wife but also the love between parents, children, and grandchildren.  It touches not only on the joy of love but is realistic as the couple deals with myriad issues throughout their marriage. Near the end of their lives, they decide that they can't live without each other and make a pact to end their lives together.

Joseph and Eleanor grew up next door to each other.  The two of them plus Evelyn's brother spent their long summer days together united in their friendship.  When Eleanor goes to Boston to school, Joseph realizes that he loves her. When Joseph goes into the army, Eleanor realizes that she loves him. After several years apart, they marry and begin the rest of their lives together.   Three children and running an inn take a toll on their marriage but they manage to overcome the problems.  In 2021, they talk to their grown children and tell them that Evelyn has Parkinson's and they have decided to take their lives together in one year.  Neither one can imagine life without the other.  They spend the next year re-living their pasts and fulfilling dreams from their pasts.  As the year nears an end, they have to make some big decisions about the legacy that they will leave for their children and grandchildren.   What decision will they make about their lives at the end of that year?

There was a lot of love in this book but it was also full of the trials and problems that every married couple faces - especially if they have children.  Despite the problems in their marriage their love continued to be a major strength in their lives. Don't plan on reading this and getting a happy and fluffy love story.  This book is real life with all of its ups and downs.  Keep tissues close because you are going to need them.  

The reason that this is a 4-star review instead of five stars is that I really didn't connect with Joseph and Eleanor.  This was supposed to be a great love story but at times, I just didn't feel it.  I would have liked to see them more fleshed out as people and not just as part of a big love story.  I'm glad that I read this book and I think that the author has shown considerable talent in her debut novel and will have a successful writing career ahead.

 

Buy The Days I Loved You Most at Amazon

Susan Roberts grew up in Michigan but loves the laid-back life at her home in the Piedmont area of North Carolina where she is three hours from the beach to the east and the mountains in the west.  She reads almost anything but her favorite genres are Southern Fiction and Historical Fiction.   

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