Rochelle B. Weinstein

Better Than Malibu Rising. I read and reviewed Mailbu Rising as an ARC, back before it came out. In that review, I noted that while it was a good story overall, I knew of many others that were at least as good - and would likely never get anywhere *near* the hype.

Here, despite being published by an Amazon imprint and thus having a pretty solid team behind even it... we have just such a book that is *better* than Malibu Rising... and yet isn't getting anywhere near the hype, even though it show more absolutely should.

Even from the opening of the tale, before you even get to a word of Weinstein's own alternate history of Hey There Delilah, the fact that she/ someone on her team was able to get Tom Higgenson from the Plain White T's to write a foreword for this tale is freaking awesome.

Then, we get into the tale. And what a tale it is. I've read several of its type over the years, of coming of age, of finding yourself, of mysterious zeitgeist happenings, of journalists looking for their big break and landing on a secret they decide to try to find the truth of, of star crossed lovers and what comes of them, of famous rockers that famously either disappear or crash and burn or crash and burn and then disappear.

And yet... Weinstein manages to make this tale her own unique blend of all of the above, and a love song to the entire music industry and the songs that we all believe were written about specific people to boot. Choosing to lead into every chapter with a song referencing someone specific, then discussing so very many different artists and songs through the narrative - and even having cameos by various artists - was a great touch.

Including a condo in Miami was an interesting touch, and perhaps a nod to her own real-life tragedy as her family knew some of the victims of the 2021 Surfside Condos collapse - though this is pure speculation (about the nod) on my part. (Those who follow her on social media know she did in fact know some of those victims.)

Weinstein almost always brings her own Jewish faith into her tales as well, and this is no different - and yet, like the best Christian writers I've encountered over the years, she always does it seamlessly and without preaching, just bakes it right into the overall tale she is telling and uses it to even *enhance* the story she is telling.

The addition of a young character who barely speaks English when we first meet him is also quite relevant to where we originally encounter him - Miami, where thanks to the large Hispanic population, this is a particular character type that much more commonly gets overlooked - particularly in these types of tales.

And then there are the actual relationships here, and where the true magic and heartbreak of this story lies. The daughter who may not know as much about her parents or why they split as she thinks she does. The lover who pushes people away because she thinks she is unworthy of love. The soulmates forced into separation. The loving parent who never stopped wanting the best for their kid - even when the kid actively rejected them. So many others, and it all comes crashing together in this maniacal way that in less deft hands and with a less skilled storyteller could have been an absolute mess, but instead Weinstein pulls off masterfully in ways that will have you both breathless and bawling.

Truly an excellent work, and very much recommended. show less

The title really fits this book, and is a gentle reminder to us all, sometimes that is all we need to do – let go. This was a fun, what I call chick-lit contemporary read. I enjoyed the easiness of the book, as well as the laughter at times and the true lessons to be learned- we are all struggling with something- current or past and sometimes it takes others for us to see the big picture.

Avery is starting to feel as if she is moving on, finally. After years of trying to be someone else and show more starting over she meets a man and things are good, things are comfortable and then of course he wants to change that situation and Avery let’s fear take over her emotions and uses the escape of needing to go back home to help her father as her way out.

But thing do not always happen as we plan or want, when a sullen teenager has come along for the ride. Avery is now struggling with returning home and facing her sister after all these years and now she has a teenager who hates her to also deal with. Why does this stuff happen? But there are lessons to be learned from both and being back on the farm is a chance for everyone to refresh and potentially start over.

Forgetting how therapeutic the farm life was, Avery eases back into the physical labor quite quickly and somehow her sister and teenager Elle hit it off. Her father is healing and helping trying to mend things between his girls as well as give some fatherly advise to Elle but Avery still grapples with the past and how she left things with Jude. Maybe this was the wrong decision after all. Everyone else is getting along and has moved on, why can’t she come to terms with the past, and her sister.

Thank you to Suzy Approved Book Tours for the invite and the author for the free ebook. I really enjoy these heartfelt family stories and sometimes it’s a good reminder for us to see ourselves through these characters as well. show less

I'm going to attempt to review this, but I don't know if I can sort out my reactions yet.

Some other reviewers mentioned not being able to tell the voices of the characters apart. This is a valid criticism, because I caught myself confused in the beginning. I had to remember to pay attention to chapter headings that specified who was narrating that part of the story until I got used to it.

The voices were hard to distinguish, but they were absolutely beautiful. I don't use the word "lyrical" show more to describe language very often for fiction, but the prose just sang. This is why I can't complain about the way the story was told. The story flowed so poetically that I was swept away with it.

The mountain settings in Western North Carolina are so dear to my heart, and Rochelle described them so that I felt as if I were in the places as she was telling the story.

Now, how did I feel about the story? That's where I get verklempt. Abby's struggle with her depression was depicted in such a real way that I could reach out and touch it. I could feel it. And I've experienced depression so deep I couldn't sleep at night and didn't want to get out of bed in the morning. Considering the depth of the guilt she carried for so many years, I'm surprised she remained as functional as she did for as long as she did. I have a great deal of sympathy for her, even though she was in some ways, the villain of the piece.

Ryan and Juliana brilliantly depicted how mental illness affects the family. Even though there was much more going on than mental illness in that family, I appreciated Juliana's wariness with her mother during and after treatment. Ryan was ready to accept her new self, until Abby told him the one thing that could make him leave her. It wasn't that she had betrayed him. It was that she wanted to make it right again.

The ending was a bit neat, but not so much that I couldn't foresee the loose ends hanging as everyone learned to live their new lives. There was a question in the study guide that asked (paraphrased), "If you could write another chapter, how do you see the characters continuing?" I love that it wasn't completely clear, yet there was a happy ending that worked for everyone. show less

This was my Kindle First pick of Dec 2019. I don't normally read women's fic, but the plot reminded me a lot of a situation that my good friend is going through: Married to a good guy who works hard but is never around, and then falling for someone else who is also a single father. That's where the similarities end, of course. I went into this expecting a breezy, light love-triangle summer reading type of story, but boy, was I caught off-guard. The emotions, man, they got to me, and I found show more myself tearing up while reading this on a plane ride back home. Not many stories make me so emotional, so props to Ms. Weinstein's powerful writing.

And talk about meeting the right person at the wrong time...and a great story that if things are meant to be, it will be. It's written in first person from Charlotte's POV, weaving between the past and present. Things do flow and tie together quite nicely and in a way that makes sense. And I'm not sure if it was just me, but the chemistry and love story between Charlotte and Ben wasn't palpable and didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. But, that might just be the cynic in me.

While I really enjoyed this book, it did have its slow moments and the ending is rather predictable, even though still very touching. But, I just felt like things were wrapped up too perfectly in an HEA. That being said, this book did introduce me to NAET (a form of treating allergies), and I've begun looking into that, as a lifelong sufferer of allergies. Recommended read, and it will stick with me for a while. show less