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Song For My Mother (2011)

by Kat Martin(Favorite Author)

3.31 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

128307351X (ISBN13: 9781283073516)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Vanguard Press

review 1: Book 2 of the Dreyerville series is A Song For My Mother, which I finished the afternoon of January 1st. This novella takes place the following Spring after The Christmas Clock and introduces the reader to more residents of Dreyerville while also giving updates on characters from Book 1. Much of the plot focuses on Marly Hanson. Marly was just a teenage girl when she decided to run away from Dreyerville, wanting to escape an ugly home life of abuse, constantly battling parents and her father's alcoholism. Marly runs off with local bad boy Burly, knowing she's not in love with him but feeling like he's her only way out of town. Fast forward twelve years -- Marly and Burly are no longer a couple but do have a daughter together, Katie (though again, like The Christmas Clock, ... morethis story features an absentee father). Katie is recovering from battling brain cancer and her one major wish is to meet her grandmother, Marly's mother. Marly has always been resentful toward her mother for not standing up to that abusive husband and protecting little girl Marly, but after everything Katie has been through, Marly feels like she owes her daughter this one wish. So here Marly is, back in Dreyerville, with Katie.Katie befriends the boy who lives next door to her grandmother, Hamilton, or "Ham", the son of widower / local sheriff Reed Bennett. Katie and Ham becoming such good friends ends up bringing Marly and Reed closer together, though Marly keeps telling herself she's "only visiting", having no intention of staying in town too long. There's also the side story of Emily Carter, recently widowed when her husband, a deputy with the police department, is killed during a routine traffic stop. Emily suddenly finds herself struggling to raise her three year old son in this new position as "single mom".This book left me feeling much like The Christmas Clock did -- a cute story overall, at times a little heavy on the schmaltz but a nice, easy read with some heartwarming moments. But again, this one had a pretty predictable plotline that didn't strike me as all that memorable. Good if you just want a simple read for a chill day on the porch swing.
review 2: My mom passed this book to me, and I typically read what she gives me, because they're different than my usual genre and are frequently pretty good. This book is an excecption. The story itself was sweet and I did tear up a little at parts. However, I found myself annoyed by some of her writing quirks. Everyone was having chest pains! "His chest expanded, her chest tightened, her heart swelled, her heart squeezed." In the course of two pages, Winnie went through those last three. I understand the desire to express the heartache and tension between Winnie and Marly, but it became so repetitive that I just thought, "Get these people to a doctor. Their hearts are going to explode." In another stretch of 3 pages, Reed's "jaw hardened," and Marly's "chin firmed." While the first isn't bad, the second just made me think of Jell-O, and I was more keenly aware of it because the two descriptions were in such close proximity. Another thing that frustrated me was Winnie's reason for staying with Virgil for so many years. She knew her daughter was strong enough to make it on her own, but Virgil would fall apart without her? She refused to hurt him the way his mom had? I know that's classic abuse victim mentality, but I hated it. I very nearly tossed the book across the room in frustration and anger, except that I knew it would be over in a few pages and Winnie and Marly would forgive each other.As mentioned by another reviewer, the dialog was quite good. It was very natural and fit the story and characters well. I also enjoyed the simplicity and ease of the story. The setting had just enough quaintness to make me want to visit. Overall, it's a good book, but I left it feeling that the writing needed some refinement and the characters needed a bit more depth. less

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