Hurricane Season by Lauren K. Denton (TLC Book Tours)

Two sisters who couldn’t be more different are bound together through one hurricane summer by the two young daughters of one sister.  

Betsy lives on a farm with her husband Ty in Alabama.  They are updating the farm to provide educational opportunities to children and are trying to make it in a world where dairy farms need to grow and change to keep up with the times.  What both Betsy and Ty really want is a child, but after five years, they have faced disappoint through the years as hope turned to sadness as they are unable to conceive.

Betsy’s younger sister Jenna has always been the wild impetuous sister to Betsy’s responsible one.  Jenna is trying to turn her life around with being a single mother to her two daughters Addie and Walsh.  She’s the manager of a coffee house, but dreams of going back to her true passion, photography. When she gets the chance to go to the Halcyon Artist Retreat in Florida with all-expense paid, she is overjoyed. Will this be her chance for a better future?  What will she do with her girls?

Jenna decides to drop her daughters off with Betsy and Ty for what is supposed to be two weeks but turns into a longer visit.  Will Jenna be back for her beloved girls?  How do Betsy and Ty feel having the girls when they so desperately want children of their own?  Has Jenna thought about their feelings?  How do the girls feel?

The story is told through the viewpoints of Betsy, Jenna and Ty.  I liked the revolving narrative and thought it did a great job of telling the complete story.  I like how from Jenna’s perspective, she’s trying to work on a better life for her and her daughters, but from Betsy and Ty’s perspective she is being insensitive to them and not a stable parent to her daughters.  Isn’t that how it is in life?  Every situation looks so different depending on who is looking at it.

I also love how the hurricane is wrapped into the narrative, especially the climax to the story.  I enjoyed Denton’s previous novel, The Hideaway as well.  She does a wonderful job of writing characters and their challenges in a wonderful Southern setting.  I need to read more of her books in the future!

Favorite Quotes:

“I see children.  I hear laughter.  I see a childhood spent outside in the heat and air and light.  I see our future.”

“Part of her wanted to blame it all on her parents, but she was old enough to know that was a weak excuse.  She’d made her own choices.”

“Yet it also left behind unexpected beauty and bursts of new life.  A tiny green shoot pushing through the garden soil.  Hope shining like a beacon in the dark places.”

Overall, Hurricane Season is a riveting southern family drama.

Book Source:  Review Copy for being a part of the TLC Book Tours.  Thank-you!  For more stops on this tour, check out the tour schedule at this link.