Fly Away

Pin It

Awww, do you ever pick up a book and it just feels right?  That's how I felt when I picked up Fly Away, Kristin Hannah's sequel to Firefly Lane.  I'll premise this review by saying that Kristin Hannah has quickly become, if not one of my favorites, at least one of my most read authors.  I LOVE Winter Garden and Firefly Lane came in a verrrry close second.  If you'd like a recap of my review of Firefly Lane, simply click here.  Seriously, one of the best books I read last year.  So, when this book came out recently I did something I rarely do, I let it skip to the top of my over-year-long book queue.  If you haven't read Firefly Lane yet, then don't worry because this post will not have a spoiler! 

This book does start off where Firefly Lane ended and follows three of the main characters from the original work: Tully (of the infamous TullyandKate), Marah (Kate's daughter) and Cloud/Dorothy (Tully's mom).  Without going into detail, there was a traumatic incident at the end of the previous book...so, imagine what the worst possible reaction could be for each and every main character?  That's pretty much where Kristin Hannah takes this.  This book gets pretty dark in places, but at the same time you can't really fault the characters for reacting the way they do. 

My absolute favorite part of this book starts a little over halfway through the book.  Cloud becomes a major player in the storyline and you finally get to learn how and why she is the way she is.  In Firefly Lane she's a pretty two-dimensional character; you can pretty much guess what she is going to do and how she's going to do it.  In Fly Away you learn her past and why she has done the things she's done.  It was very eye-opening for me and I really appreciated reading the full story that you didn't get the first time around...and you didn't even realize you were missing much before. 

I really enjoyed this sequel.  It didn't tie everything up in pretty bows, but it was realistic and ended in a way I thought was "right."  I would definitely recommend picking this one up, especially if you've already read the first.  Four out of five stars and a big thumbs up for Kristin Hannah yet again.