Chrisine Nolfi is a new to me author. She delves into the dynamics of family with a skillful pen. While The Road She left Behind is a story of family secrets and past regrets, it is also a story of love and forgiveness. An unexpected call lures Darcy back to a home she had fled years ago following the tragic accident that killed her father and sister. Darcy quickly discovers that the bad decisions in the past were a symptom of the brokenness that accompanied hidden secrets that were destroying her family.

Mostly, this is also a story of love, forgiveness and hope. Nolfi weaves a heartwarming story of family and the many relationships we share in life as a lover, spouse, parent and child that the reader will ponder long after the last page was read.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book the author/publisher. I was not required to write a review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from NetGalley. All opinions are given freely and are completely my own.

Darcy left Ohio after the tragic accident that killed her sister and father and she hasn’t looked back since. That is, until her eight-year-old nephew turns up missing. Returning to Ohio, Darcy is forced to face her past—and her mother—in order to move forward, something she’s been avoid since she left Ohio.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I struggled in the beginning to relate to characters and get into the book, but once I moved past the first several chapters, I was hooked. I enjoyed watching the relationships between the characters unfold and watching them develop throughout the course of the novel. In particular, I enjoyed the dynamic between Emerson and Rosalind as well as Rosalind and Samson. Overall, this was an enjoyable novel full of family secrets.

I’m giving an honest review for a ARC copy of the book I received from the author.
I absolutely loved this book!! It was entertaining, romantic, heartfelt, humorous and moving. It did not disappoint this reader. This story begins with a young woman Darcy Goodridge, who is leaving her job to go home to Ohio. She hasn’t been home in eight years because of events that happened long ago before she left. Losing her father and sister eight years ago was more than Darcy could handle. It was what drove her away for eight long years. She spent her time moving from one job to the next, never putting down permanent roots. Darcy has been beckoned home by the family house keeper who was more of a mother and friend than Darcy’s own mom ever was. Darcy’s young nephew is in trouble, he’s run away from home. Darcy must return home to help find him, and she is in for a few more surprises upon her return. Can Darcy mend fences along with her broken heart? Can she finally hash things out with her mother before time gets away from them again...can she keep the promise to her sister she made so long ago...
What I love most about Christine Nolfi’s books is that she draws her readers in at the first chapter and weaves a beautiful heartfelt story. You don’t want to walk away or put the book down. Her books are believable and realistic. You are drawn in until the very last page. I have to say to date, this is one of my favorite novels by her and I will re-read it again and again. I highly recommend this book to her followers, and if this is your first book by this author you will be happy you chose it. Enjoy!
Thank you to Christine Nolfi for allowing me the opportunity to read and enjoy this book. Again this is my honest review for her book The Road She Left Behind.

This book has it all - family, forgiveness, love, and understanding.

All families have some sort of dysfunction and Darcy's is no different. A tragic accident tears apart her family and sets her on a path that is lonely since she has no communication with her family other than Latrice, the nanny/housekeeper that she has known all her life. And that contact is only once per year until a call out of the blue changes Darcy's life forever.

It is hard to know who to feel sorry for in this book - there are so many characters with their own issues and I found myself rooting for various characters at different times. While the main character is Darcy, there are those that play a part in her life in different ways. Sampson is like an adopted son and Darcy is able to identify with him since he has been in the foster care system and bounced around from home to home until he turned 18 and is then out on his own. Michael was Darcy's best friend and first love, but will he be her last? A misunderstanding caused their rift, will they be able to overcome? Rosalind is Darcy's mother but she doesn't seem to have a nurturing bone in her body. This could be due to her career as a judge or it could be due to her issues in her marriage. Emerson is Darcy's nephew and quite a pistol! He is smarter than he should be and wants a family more than anyone knows.

All of these characters add depth to the book and the story is woven through time, heartache, and joy. You will even find some light moments that will make you laugh especially Michael's grandmother, Tippi. She is quite a hoot.

We give this story 5 paws up and suggest you pick it up next time you are looking for a story that encompasses everything!

Nolfi picks topics to write that easily resonates with the human experience. In The Road She Left Behind, the universal topics of the mother/daughter dynamic, grief, betrayal, devastated friendships, and relationships that are affected by years of rigid pride, loneliness, and secrets, shows that people everywhere suffer through the ups and downs of family dysfunction and that if we were to try to understand each other despite resentment and grief, before illness or tragic events force us to, we’d waste less time estranged from those we love most. There’s always room from multiple second chances if you’re courageous enough and this novel shows us that.

I loved this book from the very beginning to the end. Combines family issues with romance and left me wanting more.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC for my Kindle.
A sweet and encompassing story about multi generations in a family and the love and loss they share. A good read for every age!

I received a complimentary copy of this book through Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
After a tragic accident that killed both her father and sister, Darcy abruptly moves away leaving her judgemental mother, her newborn nephew, and her boyfriend behind. Eight years later, Darcy comes back when her nephew disappears. When he's found, she decides for his sake to stay and face her own guilt and her mother's anger and accusations.
I had a hard time connecting with the characters in this book. Rosalind was such a bitter and hateful character, I had a hard time believing she could change to loving mother and grandmother in the end. I loved the character of Samson, he seemed to tie all the characters together. Overall it was a good story of redemption and the love of family.

Darcy left her life and all she had know about 8 years ago after the loss of her father and sister. She has not spent more then a year in any place she has lived. She is summoned home by her mothers longtime housekeeper when her nephew Emerson has run off and been gone for more then a day at only 8 years old.

Arriving home is no celebration as her mother is not happy at her return.

Rosalind, Darcy's mother, has a little secret of her own. She has a genetic heart condition that is starting to affect her daily life. Emerson has noticed but feels that he needs others to help him find out what is wrong with his grandmother.

As the family rallies to help Rosalind battle her illness Darcy finds love back in the arms of her former boyfriend who also happens to be one of the people who has watched over Emerson all these years.

A family pulled together by something that could also tear them apart. This is brilliantly written.

The characters in this book are not likeable. The 2 narrators are also very hard to like and do not have any redeeming qualities.

Wow!!!! Did I love this story!! I feel in love with these characters right from the beginning and this story was so wonderful!!!! I love the way the ending was just perfect!!!!!!

I received this book "The Road She Left Behind" from NetGalley and all opinions expressed are my own. The book was about second chances and everyone in the books seemed to get their second chance. Nice, easy read. I was expecting more details on the "secrets". I rated as okay, didn't hold my interests enough.

MAGNETIC!

Christine Nolfi’s latest novel, THE ROAD SHE LEFT BEHIND, is MAGNETIC! Magnets both attract and repel and that is exactly what happens in between the characters in THE ROAD SHE LEFT BEHIND. This is an excellent book that will keep your attention from beginning to end! This may be Nolfi’s best novel to date! Her characters are complex, her story is realistic and as a reader, you will become entangled in all of it! Three women from two different families have been friends for a lifetime. Their friendship should have continued this way instead of one person barely speaking to the one of the others, two badly broken hearts and one person hating everyone else. Attracting and Repelling - Love and Hate. All of this from deeply buried dark secrets that have changed the course of all their lives. Can they possibly restore all the broken pieces of their hearts, lives and relationships? What would it take to make them WANT to make a change? I was provided an ARC of this book by Lake Union Publishers and NetGalley. The opinions expressed here are completely my own and without influence.

This is one of those books that had me reading it instead doing all the other things I was supposed to be doing!

Darcy has been running from her guilt and sorrow for eight years, moving every year and avoiding emotional attachments. After a call from home, she decides to return home to face the past.

The author keeps peeling the layers back as the story progresses, keeping the reader engaged. Christine Nolfi’s books always manage to uplift me even while dealing with difficult subject matter. Darcy finds a way to begin moving beyond the past and deal with unresolved issues.

I fell in love with the characters. Emerson is only 8 but he sure is a smart boy who stands up to his grandmother and somehow felt she was dying. He ran away so the housekeeper would call his Aunt Darcy who hasn't been home in 8 years.
Through pain, mistakes and not communicating they learn from Emerson who won't let them give up on each other anymore that they can learn to love once again. As much as I loved Emerson, my favorite part of the story was when Darcy finally confronted her mother. She told her mother she had figured out that her father was unfaithful to her mother and because of that they let the hatred of each other, put her and her sister in a prison. They didn't come home, they didn't spend time with them, it was their hatred of each other that created the life her and her sister had. She was still giving Emerson that same life and it was time to end it. Oh if this was to happen in real life, maybe life would be so much better for so many kids. But I am reviewing the book and to get everyone's attention, Emerson ran away again. Emerson and his Aunt Darcy ended up in the river and Michael saved them. After that, they began to heal as a family and the friendship that had ended years ago, thanks to Darcy telling her mother it wasn't her friend's fault. She kept her husbands secret and he was a predator and that is what a predator does, goes after women.
This was such a well-written story and I am hoping there will be another book to tell Darcy, Michael and Emerson's story.

Really enjoyed this read. Families are so complicated and sometimes dysfunctional. Darcy runs away for 8 years from her family due to a tragedy she believes was her fault. She ends up going home out of guilt and tries to make sense of all she lost by running. Ms Nolfi writes with such feeling as if she lived the story.

Enjoyed the book! Thank goodness for Samson or Darcy would still be splitting her lunch in half every day and moving to a different town every year for the rest of her life. Rosalind was an awful mother and was simply cruel to her daughter. Actually, Rosalind was mean to pretty much everyone she met. I'm not sure how she could blame Darcy for everything. She even blamed Darcy for Elizabeth getting pregnant. I hate to say it, but I found Emerson completely annoying. I couldn't believe Darcy was going to let an eight year old dictate who she was allowed to date or fall in love with. I couldn't wait to find out what happened to Darcy's dad and sister. I thought there was going to be some huge mystery behind their deaths, especially since Darcy was to blame according to her mom. What happened to them was awful and it wasn't what I was expecting. Thankfully Darcy, Elizabeth and eventually Emerson had Latrice when they were growing up. She pretty much raised them and let them know that they were loved. Tippi was quite the character. She always dressed in black, played poker and had many boyfriends.

Definitely recommend the book. I enjoyed the story and the writing style. I loved the cover of the book. I look forward to reading more books by the author.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Lake Union Publishing through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

The book was so wonderful for so many reason. This was my first book read by Christina and was very grateful to have had the opportunity to to be introduced to her work. I’m definitely looking forward to her other books. I’m not sure if this book was intended to begin a series but I hope another book can be made to continue.

I love books like this because it reminds you of how short life is and no matter what’s going on, you have time to mend relationships before it’s too late. You just know when you start reading that you will love it once you forget time and just keep going. This book was everything that I need right now. Christine truly blesses the reader with a beautifully written story, characters that leave an imprint on your heart and a reminder of the gift of time in life that some forget to cherish.

The Road Left Behind introduces us to the Goodridge family. From the outside, it would appear the ideal family. Prominent, well established with a reputation that was known to all. Behind the scenes told a different narrative. One night changed their family forever. Darcy, plagued with guilt and burdened the weight of resentment from her mother, left home with no intentions to ever come back. Out of the blue one day she received a call, pleading for her return, she made the choice to face her past and return to the place she’d tried so hard to put past her.

Secrets are revealed, truths are are told and the road to healing gives Darcy a path she’d thought would never happen. Redemption, love, forgiveness paves the way that all roads lead to home is where the heart is.

Overall, I thought this was a wonderful book that gives the reader beautiful story that leaves you feeling good. Everything characters brings something to the book that fits like a puzzle. No one is perfect. Those imperfections bring substance and depth that allow the characters to grow and embrace their journey. I think you will enjoy this one and recommend you adding to your tbr.

To start, this is the first novel by Christine Nolfi that I read. I didn't know what to expect when I picked this book. I have mixed feelings about the story in the first few pages, but as the story progressing I became fond of this book.

I liked every character of this novel (even Darcy's mother who seem cold and distant) but I love Darcy most because she tried to be the bigger person even though she hasn't been able to resolve her feelings. I am also thankful for other characters; Emerson, Michael, and the ever so lovely Samson for being a rock for Darcy.

A story about guilt, grief, secrets, resentment, and how they deal with all of them despite obstacles they're facing. In the end, while healing is not linear, it is heartwarming that the characters in this story grow and moving forward to the better.

What a beautiful, beautiful story! There are still years in my eyes as I think about this heartwarming story. All I can say is that I want more of this story, more of these lovely beloved characters! This is one of the Best of 2019!