Tome Thursday: Letting Go

 

Hello everyone!

 

Welcome back.

 

Tonight, we're going to take a look at a very special book that I REALLY wanted to talk about, but ended up needing to take a mini break because, well, life happened.

 

Anyway.

 

So most of you know (or should know, based on this blog of course) that I'm a religious fan of Serenity Woods and a part of her ARC team.

 

Well, she was spreading the word about a writing friend of hers, Ms Angela Day, who was going to be launching her first book in a small town contemporary series, and who at the time was looking for some readers to, you know, get things going.

 

Turns out she's an absolute sweetheart. And guess who got so very kindly sent an ARC of this first book of hers?

 

Ladies and gentlemen, Letting Go.

 

Now, since this is the very first post I've ever made concerning Ms Day I don't really have anything else to link back to, but don't worry, there'll be PLENTY of more once we get there.

 

This is an ongoing series, after all!

 

Letting Go tells the story of Callie Winters, and it tells it a little bit backwards in that you get to first see her in the past when she makes the decision to start working for a big pharmaceuticals company in San Francisco, and then jump to present-day Callie when she's been there for eighteen years and has an eighteen-year-old son Brett.

 

I'm going to tell it in a straight arc, so that you can follow along closely:

 

Callie is a super intelligent individual and highly interested in natural healing products, but she's also a bit rebellious and, after graduating, heads off to New Zealand where by sheer circumstance she meets Robert - who she ends up falling head over heels for.

 

They have a child together, Brett, but then unfortunately tragedy strikes, Callie has to bury whom she considers the love of her life, and she returns to the States with her infant son to raise him with the help of her parents, effectively cutting off contact with his New Zealand relatives and never looking back again, no matter how much the boy asks questions over the years and pushes for answers.

 

She also knuckles down to specifically make smart career moves and decisions which will ensure Brett's future and financial stability, and honestly? She makes it work.

 

I have nothing but admiration for Callie as she picks herself up by the bootstraps and eventually, in present day, is on the verge of becoming partner in the firm that's been so great to her most of her adult life.

 

Then comes the first shock.

 

Which is, a hostile takeover by another firm, and her NOT becoming partner, but the new firm does in fact want her to carry on working for them, and acquire a smaller business out in Jackson's Bridge, the small community her parents live within, which she questions mostly because it feels like a step back, and also because she has second thoughts about letting such a business shark close to someone's business baby.

 

Then the second shock.

 

Brett needs to finish a photography course with a project that'll tell people about himself, and he feels like a huge part is missing because his father's never been in the picture - for good reason, of course, since he can't be. Callie manages to divert him a little once again, with the purchase of a really great apartment, but then comes the third shock.

 

She gets a call from her ex-sister-in-law that her son is in New Zealand, after Brett snooped around and found some old postcards and letters and contacted his family there, then hopped on the first flight out.

 

Callie leaves her work stuff - and handsome outdoorsy man Dave who seems to have feelings for her - and hot-foots it after him, because there are things he doesn't know about his dad which might actually break him.

 

As in, the reason that it all went down in the past? Daddy-o had a problem with alcohol. In fact, his entire family did, and once Brett was born, only Callie seemed to realize the responsibility they now had, she was the only one to actually be the grownup, and Brett's father ended up dead because of drunk driving.

 

Of course it's not all that simple, either, as is revealed once the family all congregates - something they had tried to tell Callie over the years but since she cut them off it was impossible.

 

The truth is multi-faceted: the dead guy is unfortunately dead because the designated driver for the night, one of his brothers, also got drunk, and they'd been out drinking to begin with because the second brother wanted to be gung-ho about it. AND to boot, the new dad was going into rehab to try and sort himself out after Callie basically walked out on him, telling him he needs to sort out his priorities.

 

So all in all, it's an unfortunate set of circumstances, but Brett at least knows the truth now and has family he feels like he's been missing all this time, and Callie quits her job in San Francisco to move to Jackson's Bridge and help that natural, home-made healing items business take off and get FDA approved.

 

And this is where we leave them!

 

MAN did I cry 😭

This is a story about forgiving the past, taking a hard look at what you want, and living life for yourself rather than other people.

Ms Day perfectly encapsulates the raw emotion from a broken family, starting with a young man trying to figure out his identity, through to the extended family members he never knew about until now.

But Callie is the one who shines the most, going through a gamut of emotions. Her second chance love story is in the backseat, with other relationships and problems taking center stage, but I'm kind of hoping we see more of her and Dave as the series unfolds!

It's a lovely, emotional, gripping read about how a traumatic event leaves tremors in the foundation of a family even almost 20 years after it happens.

My hat off to the author. Well done, ma'am, well done.

10/10 recommend.

 

xx

*image not mine