Single mother Dessa is out for the evening celebrating the impending marriage of one of her friends when she gets a call from her babysitter telling her that her daughter is sick. As she heads to her car, an earthquake devastates the city of Los Angeles. In her determination to get home, she meets Beegie, who left her home to get away from the frustration over her foster mother and the way she treats her charges when the earthquake hit. As Dessa struggles to get home, she and Beegie bond over trauma they have both faced.

Just Get Home is a story of survival, while detailing the difficulties in the lives of both women. Many of the obstacles the women face are those that are to be expected in a disaster such as this, but the personal obstacles are much more unique and interesting. Overall, this is an average survival book that could have been much more. ( )

It was riveting...exhausting...compelling...and disheartening... and oh so shrewdly and cunningly paced. I have to say that Bridget Foley is quite the storyteller. Dessa is enjoying a rare night out when an earthquake strikes. Anxious to get home to her daughter...Dessa learns that sometimes we have no control over our lives no matter what we try to do. Fate throws Dessa a curve when the victim of one of the crimes that the chaos has unleashed ...a smart-talking 15-year-old foster kid named Beegie... shows up in the role of savior, linking the pair together. Beegie is an obviously very troubled young girl with a relentless sense of humor and a resilient spirit that enables them both to survive. Both learn to rely on each other in ways they never imagined possible, to permit vulnerability, and embrace the truth of their own lives. A bit longer than it really needed to be but a very enjoyable story. ( )

Circumstances bring Dessa and Beegie together. Choice keeps them together on their journey home. This relationship and the characters shine in Just Get Home by Bridget Foley because in the middle of this post-apocalyptic scene that is prefaced by a life of abuse, a story the family we choose emerges. Choices are made, and I am not sure how they are going to turn out. However, by that point, I am invested enough in the characters to hope that they make the "right" ones.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2021/04/just-get-home.html

Reviewed for NetGalley and the Winter 2021 mystery/thriller from Harlequin Trade Publishing ( )

This is a very emotional story. What happens after a major earthquake and there are many people dead and you need to get back to your daughter. I love how the author handles this story. The author describes the shock and the horrors that might happen on the streets after a major disaster. I love the characters of Dessa and Beegie. This story shows some of what different people can go through after a disaster. I received a copy of this book from Harlequin for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will. ( )

Just Get Home by Bridget Foley

Earthquakes in California are real…and there is always the underlying thought of, “What if this is the big one?” as the earth rumbles and shakes. Having been through a few and seen the damage they can wreak makes this story all the more real and…”earthshaking” to think about the “what ifs” should a HUGE trembler ever hit California. Two people form an unusual alliance as they make their way through devastated Los Angeles to reach safety and what they face is thought provoking, dark, and sometimes painful to read.

What I liked:
* Beegie: fifteen, orphan, in the foster system, hard backstory, a survivor, strong, resilient, and deserving of a better future.
* Dessa: single mother, conflicted, in a dead-end relationship, treading water, difficult relationship with her deceased mother, both parents deceased, loves her daughter, grew on me over time.
* That I found the story believable and could imagine finding myself in such a situation.
* The way the difficult situations were written
* Knowing the location well so being able to visualize where the two women were
* That both women were stronger than they realized and grew stronger as the story propgressed
* The alliance/friendship that developed between the two women
* Thinking about what the future for the women might be – hope it is better than their past
* Seeing glimpses of both of their lives before the earthquake
* That they both survived the ordeal and found a way forward…at least for awhile

What I didn’t like:
* Beegie’s rotten luck in life: mother, foster parents, social worker, what happened to her the night of the earthquake
* Dessa’s mother, the man who fathered her child, that she was a bit wishy-washy, and her reasoning was so much different than I wanted it to be
* Not knowing what happened later – an epilogue might have been nice
* That human beings in a chaotic situation can be so horrible to one another – opportunistic hedonistic and ruthless

Did I enjoy this book? I did but found myself skimming at times
Would I read more by this author? I might

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin-Mira for the ARC – This is my honest review.

4 Stars ( )