It was okay. I don't care for this type of story really but I read this for book club. I thought the writing was okay. Nothing wrong with it but it was of the type which just told the story rather than used the language in a superlative way. By that I mean no wonderful images or lovely turns of phrase.

The story was one sure to be hotly debated at book clubs. I didn't care for the mother, Jude, at all. Maybe she was realistic but I would hope a person in that particular situation would be a little more truthful about what actually happened. There was plenty of blame to go around. The teenage girl made poor choices as did the boy. Although I basically liked both of them.

Mostly the story was oddly paced. There was a lot at the beginning when they were young that didn't really feel true to teenagers to me. The author didn't hit the right note somehow. I didn't believe in the true love between the boy and girl. The author just didn't sell it. Then there was a bit in prison and a bit of the boy being distant and the mother being a bad mother and grandmother. Then it was 5 years later and it was all bad then it was all better. There was a whole lot more telling than showing and the only person who got significant page time to develop her personality was Jude and she was not a sympathetic character at all. The little girl was written too old in my opinion.

It felt like the author didn't really know what story she wanted to tell and crammed too much in. ( )

Remember the Old Lady who swallowed a fly? The song? She then swallowed a spider to catch the fly, she swallowed a bird to catch the spider, a cat to catch the bird... so on and so forth. She swallows larger and larger animals until finally she swallows a horse and "she died, of course"�.
The Farradays and Lexi are, collectively, the Old Lady. Lexi & her daughter Mia are the worst offenders IMO. (I said what I said.) They created a problem that shouldn't have been. Then when the thing they forbid inevitably happens, they swallowed a spider. And the silly, vexing decisions keep coming. Unlike the Old Lady's song, though, the facepalm moments keep coming long after the horse tragedy.
My issues started with how surprisingly poor the writing was, then it just escalated the more I realized our characters were tag-teaming in bringing each other down. A simple conversation would've drastically changed the outcome and this would not have been such a depressing soul-suck.
Luckily, I have no soul to begin with (which is probably why I feel as strongly as I do). However, I'm not completely heartless. I did cry once. ( )

This book is mostly centered on a girl named Lexi, but the story has three main characters. This book is about a young girl (Lexi) who moves to a new town where she meets Mia and Zach, who are twins. Lexi and Mia become best friends and Zach and Lexi fall in love. The story describes both Lexi's childhood and Mia and Zach's childhood which are completely different. The book then tells the story of friendship, love, heartbreak and loss, when the three teens go out one night and nothing was the same. I enjoyed reading this book. It is a little sad, but kept me on my toes. I would recommend this book to high schoolers because they can learn from some of the mistakes our three high schoolers went through. ( )

Review: Night Road by Kristin Hannah. 4.5* 09/05/2021

This is a well written story with amazing characters. The main characters are Lexi, who came from a trouble past and Mia and Zach, who are twins that are brought up wanting for nothing. This is a story of friends when one night tragedy struck. The amazing story was about love, friendship, family, loss, and grief.

Once you start to read you have a hard time putting it down. There is so much to the story that every page was memorizing. There were so many twist and turns that the author takes the readers emotions all over the place. Sometimes you’re laughing along with one of the characters than next your angry at what’s going on and then all of a sudden you have tears running down your cheeks.

There are many messages throughout the story about love, forgiveness, acceptance, loss and most of all teens dealing with tragedy, and who’s to blame, and the consequences of poor choices and taking responsibility. ( )

Alexa (Lexi) has been shunted around to various foster homes most of her young life. At the start of high school, she is brought to her Great Aunt Eva to raise. Eva enrolls her in the best high school in the area where she meets the Farraday twins, Mia and Zach, and their parents, Jude and Miles. Lexi immediately feels a connection to the handsome Zach and becomes friends with Mia, a girl who has few friends. Jude is a very controlling parent but welcomes Lexi into her family. Eventually, the stresses of their senior year in high school with applying to colleges and partying changes all their lives forever. ( )