What a great book. This author is one of my favorites. The characters were intriguing and endearing. I loved them all. Thank you Netgalley for an Advanced Reader Copy

Another amazing book by Catherine Ryan Hyde! This is a story of family, love, and redemption. I laughed and I cried and sweet Milo broke my heart. I love the descriptions in the book as I could picture myself right on the ranch with the horses. Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for an ARC. All opinions are my own.

Thought provoking story about child abuse and the long term ramifications. Of equal importance is the love of family, in whatever form, that can help heal the heart. Catherine Ryan Hyde never fails to give us something to think about and put into practice in our lives.

Another winner from Catherine Ryan Hyde with The Wake Up. Aiden, Gwen, Elizabeth and Milo. A motley family brought together by love and trust and horses. The characters were realistic and relatable. Loved the themes of animal empathy and how some people really can feel the pain of others. The pacing was perfect as CRH slowly reveals Aiden’s “wake up” and to some extent Gwen’s as well.
I received an advance review copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Thank you Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read an advanced copy of The Wake Up by Catherine Ryan Hyde.

I had no idea what this book was going to be about. When I realized it involved a ranch and horses I was instantly in love.

Aiden Delacorte inherited the ranch from his stepfather. He learned everything he knew about cattle ranching and horses through him. Aiden experiences what he calls "the wake up" during roundup on his ranch. This experience changes his life and how he deals with the ranch.

Along the way he meets single mom, Gwen, and her two children Elizabeth and Milo. Milo is a troubled child due to being abused by his father. Knowing this Aiden still begins a serious relationship with Gwen.

The trust and love that begins with Aiden and Gwen's children in the beginning is very difficult but it blossoms into something very beautiful.

As the book continues you realize Milo and Aiden are very much alike. Much more then either of them expected.

Another beautifully written book by this author! Looking forward to her next book!

I would like to thank Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for a copy of this novel. Slated to release this December, Catherine Ryan Hyde's upcoming novel will pull you into a world of horses, cattle and people. Filled with heavy emotions, this story is as different from her others as it can be. Having red and reviewed Allie and Bea earlier this year, I am impressed at the diversity in the plots and the way the author writes. It is a pleasure to read her stories and there is always something to learn out of them.

The story revolves around Aiden, a man in his forties, who experiences something he refers to as "The Wake-up", the title of this story. All of sudden he is able to feel the emotions - fear, happiness, sadness, desperation, etc of animals around him. Being a cattle rancher, there is a lot to deal with and the decision to stop scares not only Aiden, but people around him who have known him for a very long time. This concept is a lot to take in and deal with.

As the story progresses, Aiden is left alone by his neighbours and girlfriend, mostly due to his sudden change in behaviour which nobody understands or wants to. During this time, he meets Gwen, a single mother and her two children Elizabeth and Milo. Gwen is like a ray of sunshine in Aidden's life, giving him the hope that he will be alright. Elizabeth is mature for her age and a very understanding child, the perfect child that every parent would want.

Milo on the other hand has been a victim of abuse at the hands of his father and acts out in a lot of harmful ways, especially towards animals. It is difficult to talk to him, to understand him and he doesn't get along with Aiden. Here starts the story, the journey of healing and acceptance. As Aiden starts to seek help, his therapy sessions bring out a lot about his childhood and helps the reader understand who he is and how he came to be this way, including how his own step-father took a chance on him. This inspires him to try to help Milo, to earn his trust and to show him that he is worthy of love no matter what he has gone through.

The story also shows us how if you place your trust in a person and show them that they can achieve things in their life, it will change them. The story comes full circle with a horse birthing, that being the moment which changed young Aiden's life and later something that helps Milo. As the truth unfolds, it is shocking to discover the abuse Milo has dealt with as well as the kind of dysfunctional family Aiden lived in until his step-father came into his life and helped him.

The reader will marvel at the subtle hints the author drops about the issues raised and how the simplest gesture can hold more meaning than a big grand one. A story of trust, acceptance and learning, 'The Wake Up' will leave the reader with a lot to think about and maybe the concept of being sensitive to other people's feelings if not other beings.

I’ve given 5 stars to Catherine Ryan Hyde’s latest book, “The Wake-Up”. I found the book to be emotionally honest. Hyde writes a compelling tale that illustrates how as a society we teach children to turn off their feelings, and the long-term consequences that action has on everyone. This is the first book that at I’ve read by this author, but she came highly recommended to me by a friend who has gobbled up all her books and enjoyed them thoroughly. Now I understand the reasons for that recommendation.

The story switches back and forth in time between our main character’s early childhood and his current life at age 40. Aiden Delacorte was highly empathic as a child, but he was punished by his father for displaying that empathy, and thus he shut down emotionally. Aiden learned to put his emotions in a box, and to not feel anything. At eighteen, inherited his step-father’s cattle ranch in California and has spent his adult years running the ranch. On a hunting trip when he was 40, he shot a buck. After he shot the buck, he’s knocked back on his heels as he feels the bullet enter his chest the same way the buck must have experienced it. From there, the empathic feelings start to swamp him. He has to sell off his cattle because he can’t stand the thought of their ultimate fate on American dinner plates. Those people he grew up with basically call him out for being a wimp.

Then Aiden encounters Gwen at the grocery store. She is the new checkout clerk, and has moved to town with her two children; Elizabeth and Milo. Improbably, Gwen and Aiden strike up a friendship that slowly leads to romance. Along the way, Aiden is introduced to Milo and Elizabeth. Elizabeth is a model kid who loves the ranch and the horses that go along with it. Milo on the other hand is a troubled kid who, because of serious abuse at the hands of his father, is withdrawn and can be violent towards animals.

The story centers around how Aiden, with the help of a psychiatrist, starts to come to terms with the traumas in his early life; the new empathy he feels for all living things; and how his stepfather helped him to start to trust again. It also centers around Aiden’s efforts to forge a bond with Milo. Is it too late to change the course of Milo’s life? Can he be reached with love and patience? What will it take to turn the tide and help him learn to love and trust again?

The story is not schmaltzy. Some descriptions of abuse are included as part of the plot. The depictions are not gratuitous, but if that is a personal trigger for you, I’m providing a warning that there are descriptions of a few violent scenes. I’m not going to provide plot spoilers here. Just pick up the book and read it. I didn’t have a dry eye by the end of it, and I am betting that you won’t either.

"Thank-you" to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Catherine Ryan Hyde does it again! She created characters I could relate to and gave me a story about love, family & redemption.
I felt so much for Gwen and the burden she carried but more so for Milo, who went through so much and had so much darkness taking up his heart and mind and not being able to properly communicate that. I felt so much love for Elizabeth for her never ending patience and understanding of her brother. I felt so much respect for Aiden for being able to love those around him despite their past and burden but also for being willing to work on himself and on his relationship with Milo.
I think Catherine makes a real point of showing us that with work, love & family, we can over come anything, even if we are never the same.

I received an arc copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for my review of it. I normally enjoy books by this author but was really disappointed. It was slow and boring for me and too much useless information.

Aiden Delacorte is a forty-year-old rancher who has lost his ability to raise cattle for slaughter. His "wake up" comes when he hunts and kills a buck and he feels the buck's pain. Aiden begins to feel the fear and pain from animals around him and he is haunted by his past behavior. When he meets and falls in love with Gwen, his life is further complicated by her son, Milo. Milo has been abused by his father and acts out in his distrust of anyone. Aiden begins to recall his early years with his stepfather and draws on his memories to work with and get close to Milo.

Catharine Ryan Hyde's love for animals comes through clearly in her books. Aiden gives a foal to Milo with the hope that somehow Milo will be more responsible and learn to care for his horse. Aiden's stepfather did the same for him. Hyde's books are heartwarming stories filled with love, hope, and possibility. Realistic in her portrayal of characters who are "broken" and beyond repair, Aiden is investigated when Milo breaks his arm while throwing rocks at some rabbits on the ranch. I have reviewed a few of her other books (Allie and Bea is one of my favorites) and she continues to grow as a writer and I couldn't wait to read this one. I bumped it ahead of the books to be reviewed and I wasn't disappointed!

Thank you Goodreads and Brilliance Publishing for this book. I won it in a Goodreads giveaway and was so excited to read this. However, I had no idea the emotional rollercoaster I would go on in this book. Aiden is a cattle rancher who is suddenly finding himself with the ability to feel the emotions of those around him as well as animals. He begins a relationship with Gwen. She is a single mother and has two children who are dealing with the after effects of an abusive father. Milo seems to be struggling the most. My heart broke for this boy. As I continued to read, I found out him and Aiden had a whole lot in common. More than neither expected. Excellent writing and amazing story. Unputdownable!

I am a huge fan of CRH so I was thrilled to get an advanced copy of The Wake Up

I struggled to read some of this book in all honestly. I can relate to a certain extent of what Aiden experienced. I don't feel what an animal might be feeling but I think about what they might be thinking.

CRH wrote another great story.

I received an ARC from NetGalley for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

A beautiful story of a man who learned as a young boy to hide away his extreme empathy only to find one day he no longer can. His memories of his childhood start later, after his mother remarried, but the Wake-up as he calls it begins to open his memories. At the same time, he meets the children of his girlfriend including young son Milo who pisjrs all the wrong buttons. A story about empathy, forgiveness and trust. I really enjoyed the rich characters and the honestly of the author in what it takes to overcome both childhood trauma, change and grief.

Thanks to Netgalley and the Lake Union authors, I was chosen to read an ARC of Catherine Ryan Hyde's new book, The Wake Up, in exchange for an honest review. I thought it was a very emotional read, one that really makes you "feel" as the characters do. It's the story of 40ish year old Aiden, who is trying to trust and bond with his stepson Milo, who has been abused by his father and acts out. After reading the story, I felt it was uplifting to know that with a little work and patience, sometimes what seems like a dire situation can have a positive outcome. That those you sometimes find hard to like, end up being easy to love. This is a book I would definitely recommend to anyone who has a family and especially those families with step-parents and step-children. This is the 2nd book I've read by this author and am definitely looking forward to reading more by her. I hope you give her books a try, I'm sure you'll enjoy them as much as I do.

I loved it! It was really good! I am defiantly going to reread it soon. It was a heart warming story.

I really enjoyed this book. Once I picked it up I fell in love with the characters and couldn’t put it down. What a beautiful story about love and redemption and trust. It breaks your heart and then heals it again. I loved the setting of the ranch and I really enjoyed the character of Aiden. A “mans man” who is having to deal with deep emotions and huge changes.

Catherine Ryan Hyde has done it again with a heartwarming story of second chances. Aiden is a cattle rancher who begins to have strange, unexplained experiences. He meets Gwen, a single mom with two children - Elizabeth and Milo, who is very off putting and cannot seem to relate normally to people. As Aiden and Gwen's relationship grows stronger, Milo seems to withdraw further and act out. Treading carefully, each character learns more about themselves, and what is needed to grow into the family they may yet become. I received an early reader's copy through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

'The Wake Up' is an archetypal Catherine Ryan Hyde read. The plot is very simple, but the emotion and feelings of a small number of characters and their relationships really make the story.

At times this was difficult to read as there is so much pain for one of the main characters but the growth of the individual characters and their bonds strengthening throughout the novel make for a satisfactory ending.

'The Wake Up,' isn't one of my favourites from this author but nonetheless it is still worth a read.

Aiden Delacorte, a cattle ranch owner since his step father died and left him the family ranch some forty years earlier, suffers the sudden onset of a crisis of conscience. He had gone out deer hunting and shot dead a fine specimen. But then he realised he could no longer dress it and prepare it for the table as he had done dozens of times in the past. He felt sad at the death of the deer, he imagined its suffering and no longer had the heart of a hunter. He felt the pain of the fine animal and knew he could never hunt again. Then, after a young calf of his is ill-treated right before his eyes, he decides that he could not go on with raising calves, castrating them without pain relief, slaughtering them when the time came; it just felt plain wrong. He made a life changing decision to give up his herd of cattle and continue breeding horses. He called this episode his ‘wake up’.
He meets and falls in love with Gwen, who was new in town, and whose first marriage ended when she discovered that her husband was abusing their youngest son Milo, who is left deeply traumatised. Her husband didn’t touch his kind and gentle daughter, just the son, who he felt needed hardening up to become manlier. When Gwen and Aiden first meet, he feels an immediate fizz of attraction, Gwen too, but they take things slowly, bearing in mind the impact a relationship could have on Gwen’s two children. Milo is especially very closed up and troubled. He is surly, difficult, prone to tantrums and angry outbursts; he is strong willed and cruel. Aiden tries his hardest to try to figure out a way to help Milo be a happier little boy, hoping that he can show him the right way to behave. He remembers his own childhood through rosy glasses; the good times he had with his step father, how he taught him by being a fine role model and how he always wanted to grow up to make his father proud of him. He leads by example, and gradually Milo begins to turn a corner.
'The Wake Up' is not only a story about How Aiden and Milo learn to interact, but also a lovely romance story of a more mature couple; Aiden and Gwen. As Aiden looks back to his own boyhood, so he finds ways to engage with Milo. He comes to terms with his ‘wake up’ and uses his experience and natural instinct to guide Milo. They share quality time together and grow to enjoy and look forward to those times. Catherine Ryan Hyde is a superb storyteller. She understands emotional issues so well and writes about hard topical subjects like abuse with compassion and empathy. She, like Aiden, is an animal lover and she draws on her own emotional involvement to paint a vivid picture of how he feels. I loved his character because he was so kind and caring. He stepped up to take responsibility for Gwen and her family and to provide a happy and stable family life for them.
I would like to thank NetGalley and publisher Lake Union for my copy of this novel, sent to me in return for an honest review. I absolutely loved it. I have no hesitation at all in recommending it as an excellent read. Catherine is a prolific author whose novels never disappoint. In fact they are a joy to read and this one is amongst my favourites.

Another exceptional read by CRH! Loved the wake up experience; I could practically feel what Aiden was feeling. Amazing relationship between Aiden and Milo; loved how it seemed full circle to his own childhood.