Welcome to Shelf Control — an original feature created and hosted by Bookshelf Fantasies.
Shelf Control is a weekly celebration of the unread books on our shelves. Pick a book you own but haven’t read, write a post about it (suggestions: include what it’s about, why you want to read it, and when you got it), and link up! For more info on what Shelf Control is all about, check out my introductory post, here.
Want to join in? Shelf Control posts go up every Wednesday. See the guidelines at the bottom of the post, and jump on board!
Title: Night Road
Author: Kristin Hannah
Published: 2011
Length: 385 pages
What it’s about (synopsis via Goodreads):
Jude Farraday is a happily married, stay-at-home mom who puts everyone’s needs above her own. Her twins, Mia and Zach, are bright and happy teenagers. When Lexi Baill enters their lives, no one is more supportive than Jude. A former foster child with a dark past, Lexi quickly becomes Mia’s best friend. Then Zach falls in love with Lexi and the three become inseparable. But senior year of high school brings unexpected dangers and one night, Jude’s worst fears are confirmed: there is an accident. In an instant, her idyllic life is shattered and her close-knit community is torn apart. People—and Jude—demand justice, and when the finger of blame is pointed, it lands solely on eighteen-year-old Lexi Baill. In a heartbeat, their love for each other will be shattered, the family broken. Lexi gives up everything that matters to her—the boy she loves, her place in the family, the best friend she ever had—while Jude loses even more.
When Lexi returns, older and wiser, she demands a reckoning. Long buried feelings will rise again, and Jude will finally have to face the woman she has become. She must decide whether to remain broken or try to forgive both Lexi…and herself.
Night Road is a vivid, emotionally complex novel that raises profound questions about motherhood, loss, identity, and forgiveness. It is an exquisite, heartbreaking novel that speaks to women everywhere about the things that matter most.
How and when I got it:
I bought a paperback edition about two years ago.
Why I want to read it:
I know Kristin Hannah has been a bestselling author for many years, but I’ve only recently read anything by her, and the two books I read (The Great Alone and The Four Winds) both blew me away. I feel in love with the books, the characters, and the settings, and have been wanting to read more of her books.
This sounds like a dark domestic drama. I love stories involving family secrets and found families. The description does make me a little nervous that the events will be too heartbreaking for my poor tender feelings, but I’m also intrigued to find out more about what happens and how the family is changed over time.
What do you think? Would you read this book? Or are there any other Kristin Hannah books you’d recommend?
Please share your thoughts!
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Bookshelf Fantasies 
I vaguely remember that I thought the pace was a bit uneven, too much before and not enough after, but it was moving
Good to know! My impression is that Kristin Hannah has really shifted the types of stories she tells over the last few books, but I’d need to read more to be sure.
I hear so many good things about this author as well! I have grabbed one of her newer releases (The Four Winds) but have yet to actually start it which really is the story of my life! This one sounds good! I also love a dark drama so I hope this will be a good one for you when you get to it!
Thanks! I really loved The Four Winds. I didn’t think a book set during the Depression would appeal to me, but it was so powerful and well written.
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Haven’t read her myself but I’m interested now… I hear you on the poor tender feelings, though. 😂
Yes… I’m very delicate. 🙂
Kirstin Hannah is another author I keep meaning to read but haven’t yet. The Nightingale is where I’d probably start I guess. Night Road sounds emotionally wrenching, but from the impression I have of Hannah, I guess most of hers will be. So one would need to be prepared.
Yes, based on the two I’ve read so far, I expect to be put through an emotional wringer! I forgot about The Nightingale — I have that one too, haven’t read it, but I’ve heard it’s really good.
As have I. I have it in my shopping cart; but I haven’t been checking out things lately since I have a pretty large pile waiting and I only seem to be catching up with my NetGalley pile lately.
I’ve never read Kristin Hannah but I would love to try this one. I don’t read enough domestic thrillers😁
It’s not really my preferred genre (at all), but I know she’s a terrific writer!
I would definitely read this, Lisa. I read The Great Alone and enjoyed it very much. I’d also like to read The Four Winds!
I think you’d really enjoy The Four Winds. I was fascinated by all the descriptions of living through the Dust Bowl years — it really felt alive to me in a way that just reading about history doesn’t.
Oh good – I’m sure I will like it too. Thanks, Lisa!
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