A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle) - On Mystic Lake

This is the fourth Kristin Hannah book that I have read and I equally enjoyed all of them! I am hooked on this author because, the books catch my interest right from the start. It's like getting lost in the book, as if I am a part of it and I don't want to finish them!

I enjoyed the story line although a bit predictable. It was similar to many books about a woman who is looking for more out of her life and then finds an old high school romance. Predictable, but worth the read.

The writing in this book is actually good, however, I felt the story was predictable and painful. Annie wins the trust of Izzy and develops this wonderful relationship with her. Then Annie allows herself to fall deeply in love with Nick and turns him around. But then she is going to leave this happiness and return to an unhappy marriage? How awful!! Where did it say she would have to return to California when Natalie came home? I know the story ends, but I had a hard time getting through this one.

I enjoyed the book, but found the characters pretty far-fetched and predictable. They drop their daughter off for college and the husband turns to her and states he wants a divorce now? Hard to believe it really would work this way.

I just finished my review
Thanks. I'm really tired of doing the reviews sometimes I would prefer just to read the next book that I paid for and I think we should get the chance to do a review or not to do it review in my opinion.

APRIL 30, 2010
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN,
FIRST I WOULD LIKE TO SAY, I RECEIVED THE BOOK, YESTERDAY, NOT VERY SUPRISED, ONLY BECAUSE WHEN EVER I ORDER FROM YOUR COMPHANY, I USUALLY RECEIVE THE MERCHANDISE, BEFORE THE WEEK IS OVER. THANK YOU. THE ONE ITEM I'M SUPRISED I DON'T GET IS THE BOOK MARKS I USED TO GET YEARS AGO, THEY WERE JUST ORDINARY BOOK MARKS, BUT KIND OF A NICE TOUCH, THAT CAME WITH THE BOOKS I ORDERED.WE DON'T GET THEM ANYMORE,I GUESS IT'S JUST BUSINESS AS USUAL, BUT THEY WERE A NICE THING TO SEND WITH A BOOK, MAYBE SOMEONE WILL LISTEN, TO THIS REVIEW, I HOPE SO.....

I read tons of books so my granddaughters are always asking me to recommend books for them to read. I choose the books I buy from reading the information on the covers and also from the reviews. I thought I had found another author with good books to read. I am always extremely disappointed as I get into the book to find foul, vulgar, and irreverent language that completely ruins what could be a decent and entertaining story. I bought some of Kristen Hannah's books and was looking forward to curling up for a good time reading. I do not understand why writers think they have to spice up their books with offensive language. It destroys the story for me. I'm sorry but her books are now in the trash pile and I will not recommend them to anyone.

I avoided reading Kristin Hannah for years, and now I can't remember why. Lately I've been devouring her books and love them. Love them! I'm a romantic idealist at heart, the kind who can't wait for the HEA, and Hannah manages to deliver stories full of wonderfully sappy romance at the same time that they're laced with real-life drama and believable situations. This story of Annie and Nick and Izzy tugged at my heartstrings so many times. So many things we take for granted in life, like the smell of a child or the brilliance of their smile, the innocence of a fresh day in a place that calls you home, gazing into the eyes of your beloved and knowing that person sees you, the real you. It's scary as hell to show your vulnerability, but that's where real love lies, in all the messiness. And Hannah does such a good job of bringing that to life. I felt she missed the mark in capturing Southern California - the gloriousness of the beach and sun and waves just didn't come out - but she certainly captured the wild wet Pacific Northwest. This story is another winner. Bravo!

After sending off her daughter to live overseas, Annie Colwater is devastated when her husband confesses he has been having an affair and wants a divorce. Annie decides a change of scenery might lift her spirits so she heads to her childhood home of Mystic, Washington. She soon finds out that her first love, Nick, has recently lost his wife and both Nick and his young daughter, Izzie, are having a hard time coping with the death. As the three of them spend more and more time together, each one make significant steps in the healing process. But soon Annie will be faced with some important decisions.

While this book definitely has some romance, I think the strength of the book is showing the different ways people cope with grief. Izzie is the real star of the story in my opinion and you can't help but fall in love with the little girl who is having a hard time adjusting to the loss of her mother.

If you are looking for a good female empowerment book, I wouldn't recommend this one. Annie is a bit of a weak character and at times you might become frustrated with some of the choices she makes. Despite some of my problems with Annie, I still enjoyed the book and thought it made a good weekend read.

I gave this book 5 stars because Hannah portrays very real emotional issues that women deal with. A woman wants to be strong but in this case, Annie is a product of her father's suggestive sayings as well as her husband's unthinking treatment of her. She is made to believe that everything is as it should be, that doing everything for everyone else and putting herself last makes her the perfect wife and mother. Even when her husband wants her back after having cheated on her, he expects her to drop everything and run into his arms. Even her father thinks this is how it should be.
It takes Annie's daughter questioning her happiness before she finally starts to put herself first.
I only wish there was more of an ending so I could see Izzy's reaction when Annie goes home.
All in all though a great story with a satisfying conclusion..."I am important."

After a nearly 20-year marriage, Annie was told that her husband no longer loved her. When you are in a relationship that long, it is difficult to try and become a new, single person. How do you get over this devastation? She returns to the comforts of her original home and family in a small town in Washington state. She then realizes that love is not what she had originally thought. Unexpected surprised throughout the book.
Kristin Hannah once again composed a novel that I could not stop reading. Love her books!

This is a different genre from the pen of Melissa Saari away from her “Curse of” series, not a lion or dragon in sight. This story is a romance told in a simplistic style that hones in on reality. It makes you want to stop and think about why the roof leaks and the lawn needs mowing or whether you have a hidden CCTV camera somewhere in your house she can see!
It is written with a quality and honesty that will question your own existence. I wanted to scream when Virgil tore up the newly arrived publisher’s contract. It is heavily laden with the frustrations of most writers seeking representation; making you ache for someone who really wants and needs to write or for whom helping people is their lifelong need.
A good insight into relationships and the selfishness of dependent people; and it questions how couples end up with the wrong partner. The author is a real storyteller!

Book Description- Annie Colwater's only child has just left home for school abroad. On that same day, her husband of 20 years confesses that he is in love with a younger woman. Alone in the house that is not longer a home, Annie comes to the painful realization that for years she has been slowly disappearing. Lonely and afraid, she retreats to Mystic, the small Washington town where she grew up, hoping that there she can reclaim the woman she once was- the woman she is now desperate to become again. In Mystic, she is reunited with her first love, Nick Delacroix, a recent widower unable to cope with his grieving, too-silent six year old daughter, Izzie. Together, the three of them begin to heal, and , at last, Annie learns that she can love without losing herself. But just whwen she has found a second chance at happiness, her life is turned upside down again, and Annies must make a choice no woman should have to make.

As in most of Hannah's stories, this novel is set in the Pacific Northwest town of Mystic. I get really tired of reading the descriptions of the rain forest. I get it....it's misty and foggy, the air smells like pine and earth, the moss drapes from each fir branch to another, and on and on it goes. I can understand a few descriptions but I think the story could be told much more efficiently if she left out so much of the descriptions of the rainforest. After awhile it becomes distracting and I just skim those paragraphs until she gets back on track. Another criticism of this book is the pace in which Izzie miraculously heals after not speaking since her mother's death. Hannah has explored selective muteness in another novel, but with this one the girl gets better way to fast. I know it helped move the story along, but maybe she could have spent more time in the details of Izzie working through her grief rather than talking about the trees. I get that readers are supposed to have a suspension of disbelief- meaning that they are willing to let go of reality because, after all, this is a fiction novel, but I think it would have been a much more interesting story if she was more realistic in the ability of this little girl to grieve. Annie, a stranger to this little girl, walks into her life and has her speaking in a few days with no setbacks...that is just too much.

Another thing that disappointed me in the story is that even in the book description Annie feels like she is disappearing and has never been herself because her role has always been caretaker to her daughter and jerk of a husband Blake. So she comes home and what does she do? She finds another family to take care of. She finds out her old boyfriend, Nick Delacroix, has recently lost his wife who was once Annie's best friend. He and his daughter are drowning in their grief and Nick has no idea of what to do with his 6 year old daughter, Izzie, who won't talk anymore and thinks she is disappearing. So what does Annie do? She comes in and takes care of them. She cleans his house, does the gardening, shops for the family, and takes care of Izzie all the while Nick is getting drunk at the town tavern. So then she pulls another miracle out of her pocket and pulls Nick out of the bottle. How can taking care of another dysfunctional family help Annie when her problem is she wants to find herself after years of taking care of her own trouble family? This I cannot explain. To me it just doesn't make sense.

With all that being said, I did like the story...once we got through the trees. It is a nice romance book. It did hold my attention, other than the tree thing. I know I have just spent 2 paragraphs criticizing it, and those were the thoughts I was having as I was reading. But I still liked it. Sometimes I felt sad, sometimes I felt happiness and relief. I just didn't think that the way Annie healed was a very realistic way to heal. There is some tension in the book that made me want to keep reading to see what really happens. The books moves pretty quick after the first quarter of the story so that made me want to keep with it until the end. I'm glad I did. The books is a cute romance but don't expect this to be a heavy literary work.

READ THIS REVIEW FIRST, then don't waste your time. Very disappointing book. I read just two of this author's books and there were so many similarities that I figured there was no point to go on. Single parenting, alcohol addition, death of a parent, disappearing body parts (analogy for death?), even down to a character in each book having a small scar in their eyebrow. I was really surprised as I had read many great reviews. The foul language throughout the two books really detracted from the story line. Sadly I did not find much good in these books. I guess if you are just looking for some sex scenes you might like, but I just skipped through these.

On Mystic Lake by Kristin Hannah
Love the author and her works and know I will like this one as it's located in northwest area, near the rain forest which we have traveled to many times in the past years.
Annie Coldwater has fled home to stay with her father. Her daughter is off to colege, overseas. Her husband Blake has declared he's done with her and likes his younger woman, and has for over 10 years.
She goes through many stages of grief to get over him.
The story also follows her best friend Cathy who married Nick and they have a 6 year old Izzy. Nick was best of friends with Cathy and Annie.
Annie is sad to learn of her friend Cathy's death and agrees to help take care of Izzy while Nick works.
The girl has not talked since the death and she thinks her fingers have disappeared.
Love how strong she is and follows her heart as to her career, her dreams..
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).