Have I mentioned how much I love Kristin Hannah’s writing? Oh wait, I have, in the review for The Great Alone. I was browsing my favorite neighborhood bookstore, Unabridged, after I finished The Great Alone looking for my next read because ya know, the pile of about 10 books on my nightstand that don’t fit into my bookcase just aren’t cutting it right now. I’m very strategic with my book browsing: new releases up front first, then the sale section, then the fiction section in the back. In my head I always go through authors names I want to look for in the fiction section since it’s organized by author last name. I was delighted to see a Kristin Hannah book I hadn’t yet read with, of course, amazing reviews!

Night Road is a very emotional and detailed story about friendship, forgiveness, motherhood, and loving without boundaries. It was a lot more emotional than I thought, but I can’t share too much on that without spoiling it.

Lexi has lived in the foster care system for as long as she can remember thanks to her drug addict mom who would pop in and out of her life like it was nothing. When Lexi witnessed her mom dying from an overdosing, much to her surpise a relative came forward to care for her. Lexi moved to a small island outside of Portland to live with her elderly aunt in her small trailer. Because she’s moved around her whole life, Lexi doesn’t really have friends or know how to make them. On the first day of freshman year as she’s about to ditch out on lunch to read her book, Lexi meets Mia, a freshman equally as dorky and friendless as she.  It also doesn’t hurt that Mia’s twin brother Zach is the cute boy Lexis spots in first period.  They strike up a friendship that is unbreakable, finding similarity after similarity and soon Lexi has become an important part of the Farraday family.

Jude, Mia and Zach’s mom, is your typical helicopter mom. She’s overly involved in every aspect of the twin’s lives, so much so that they are fearful to do anything that may go against Jude. She’s a stay at home mom who lives and breaths through Mia and Zach’s social life, academics, and sports. She needs to be in control of every aspect and when she isn’t, she spirals out of control. To be honest, Jude stressed me out. Many times as I was reading I would notice my heart fluttering or beating just a bit faster because I knew Jude was about to have a heart attack about something! But that’s why I love Hannah’s writing, it can do that to a person with simple words.

Mia, Lexi and Zach are inseparable. Mia and Lexi have a bond like no other but while their friendship grows, so does Zach and Lexi’s love for each other. Caught in a triangle that is unexpected and unwanted on Jude’s part, the three find themselves wondering what life will be like when they graduate high school, Mia and Zach at USC and Lexi at community college, and if their relationships can withhold the distance.

They think they have a plan in place for college that will allow the three of them to still remain best of friends, much to Jude’s despise, until tragedy strikes and leaves everyone questioning how to move forward, to forgive, and how to find love amidst the chaos. For those who believe in second chances and fate, you will love this (hopefully) just as much as I did.

“In the sea of grief, there were islands of grace, moments in time when one could remember what was left rather than all that had been lost” – Night Road, Kristin Hannah