Books*Reviews*Etc: SAY GOODBYE FOR NOW

ARC TO BE RELEASED DECEMBER 13, 2016

SAY GOODBYE FOR NOW

A Novel

Catherine Ryan Hyde

Number: 9781503939448
Release: December 13, 2016
Author: Catherine Ryan Hyde
Availability: Print-Book
Genre: Mainstream
Tags: Diverse Books, Historical Fiction
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

On an isolated Texas ranch, Dr. Lucy cares for abandoned animals. The solitude allows her to avoid the people and places that remind her of the past. Not that any of the townsfolk care. In 1959, no one is interested in a woman doctor. Nor are they welcoming Calvin and Justin Bell, a newly arrived African American father and son. When Pete Solomon, a neglected twelve-year-old boy, and Justin bring a wounded wolf-dog hybrid to Dr. Lucy, the outcasts soon find refuge in one another. Lucy never thought she’d make connections again, never mind fall in love. Pete never imagined he’d find friends as loyal as Justin and the dog. But these four people aren’t allowed to be friends, much less a family, when the whole town turns violently against them. With heavy hearts, Dr. Lucy and Pete say goodbye to Calvin and Justin. But through the years they keep hope alive…waiting for the world to catch up with them.

MY THOUGHTS
Some are born into families, Some choose their families. Families are to be loved whether you are born with them or choose them.   That is the basis of family, LOVE. Or should I say, it should be that way. Dr Lucy is trying hard to let her past be in her past, not by facingg it but by avoiding it. She lived on a Texas ranch, very alone in it's setting. Here are abandoned animals that need care and Dr. Lucy does just that.   This allows her to push out any memories of her past.    This took place in 1959, when
women weren't meant to be doctors or professionals of any kind. They didn't take kindly to her and now two new foreigners come on the scene, Calvin and Justin Bell, African American son and father. Justin befriends Pete Soloman, who is also a neglected child of 12 years of age. The author is bringing together people and animals that have been neglected and abandoned. A sanctuary for her and her friends.   A wolf dog that was wounded is brought to Dr. Lucy and this dog became a bounding between the two boys. They were outcasts and so was the dog.   The author brings romance into the picture between herself and Pete, something she never thought was possible.    But do-gooders couldn't leave well enough alone. The author shows how people, outsiders can put a big monkey wrench into something that can be healing and loving. The towns people weren't going to be allowed to be a family, not even friends.
So the towns people won in a weird sort of way. Dr. Lucy and Pete say goodbye to Calvin and Justin. But the love it took to say goodbye would stand for ever. Through the years, hope of that love was always there. IT was just a matter of time before love caught up. Sometimes we have to say good bye to those we love, not because we want to but because of others "well meaning" or hatefulness? It doesn't destroy the love. Sometimes that love will stay there forever. But there's a dark hole it creates and nothing but reconnection can ever light that hole up. Even if there is a reconnection, there will always be a shadow there.   The author made the heart weep, feel joyous and then weep again.   The author couldn't have touched the emotions any more than she did. Probably if the reader stops and thinks, this story relates in some way to them. I know it hit me hard. We all want a loving family but that always isn't to be. But whether your family is near or far, your family is yours and no one can take away what is inside your heart. Never.    A sad book and I myself had a hard time reading it.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author and Night Owl Reviews and voluntarily decided to review it.

I would give this book 5 STARS.

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THE AUTHOR

Catherine Ryan Hyde is the author of thirty published and forthcoming books. Her bestselling 1999 novel Pay It Forward, adapted into a major Warner Bros. motion picture starring Kevin Spacey and Helen Hunt, made the American Library Association’s Best Books for Young Adults list and was translated into more than two dozen languages for distribution in more than thirty countries. Her novels Becoming Chloe and Jumpstart the World were included on the ALA’s Rainbow List; Jumpstart the World was also a finalist for two Lambda Literary Awards and won Rainbow Awards in two categories. More than fifty of her short stories have been published in many journals, including the Antioch Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, the Virginia Quarterly Review, Ploughshares, Glimmer Train, and the Sun, and in the anthologies Santa Barbara Stories and California Shorts and the bestselling anthology Dog Is My Co-Pilot. Her short fiction received honorable mention in the Raymond Carver Short Story Contest, a second-place win for the Tobias Wolff Award, and nominations for Best American Short Stories, the O. Henry Award, and the Pushcart Prize. Three have also been cited in Best American Short Stories.
Ryan Hyde is also founder and former president of the Pay It Forward Foundation. As a professional public speaker, she has addressed the National Conference on Education, twice spoken at Cornell University, met with AmeriCorps members at the White House, and shared a dais with Bill Clinton.