Thursday, May 16, 2024

Life, Loss, and Puffins by Catherine Ryan Hyde

 

My thoughts

This is such a good book. I've never been disappointed in a book by this author. Her books leave you feeling so much better. There is always a life lesson in them and many tears on the journey between the pages. 

In this book I went all the way to Canada. A trip I'll never forget. In the bitter cold to see the aurora borealis. 

Ru and Gabriel became fast friends when Ru and her mother met him and his mother to decide whether she, Ru, could stay with them and go to a prestigious college at the young age of thirteen. Ru was what her mother called "freakishly smart." And she really was. After she loses her mother, Ru and Gabriel decide to take off on an adventure. There are a few places they want to see. 

The things that Ru and Gabriel experience are so wonderful. Along the way things just seem to fall in place for them. They work and earn cash to help them pay for gas. They meet people who change their lives. They help others also. They are good and kind kids. Ru is only thirteen and Gabriel is seventeen, almost eighteen. Things just seem to work for them. They are best friends. 

After they go through a lot of things at the Canadian boarder coming back into the states things take a different route. Things don't go quite as they had planned. Gabriel is arrested. Ru is taken back by her aunt. Things just aren't going so good. 

This author will definitely capture your heart in this breathtakingly beautiful story and not let go. It so full of meaning and heart. Filled with wisdom also. Like making you understand the true bond between a mother and child. I suppose even in a bad relationship there is a bond there. You lived in her for nine months. 

You truly don't want to miss this book. If you love good clean reads with so much heart and soul then this is one you will love. It will stay with you too. So many good life lessons involved in Ms Hyde's books. 

Thank you #NetGalley, #CatherineRyanHyde, #LakeUnionAuthors, for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.

Five big stars. It's just beautiful. Just have some Kleenex handy as you will need them.

About

An exhilarating and emotional novel about grief, hope, friendship, and taking life one beautiful and spontaneous day at a time by New York Times bestselling author Catherine Ryan Hyde.

Freakishly smart. That’s the unwelcome box Ru Evans is put into for life. After all, she taught herself Euclidean geometry at age seven, has an eidetic memory, and is about to enter college at thirteen years old.

Boarding at a house near campus 150 miles from home, Ru meets seventeen-year-old Gabriel, an outsider himself who, like Ru, has trouble making friends—until they form a fast sibling-like bond. Finding a relatable someone in the world to talk to is a first for both of them.

But when Ru’s mother dies and the threat of living with her miserable aunt looms, Ru hatches an escape. It’s an impulsive road trip that takes Ru and Gabriel from California to Canada, where Ru can fulfill her ultimate to see Atlantic puffins in the glorious wild.

Mile by mile, Ru discovers the joy of friendship, found family, dark night skies, and the aurora borealis, and she basks in going from being a smart person to just a person. Though she knows they’ll be in trouble when they’re caught, for the short time they are navigating twist by twist of an unknown road, the freedom is liberating, and she is living for what feels like the first time.



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