Member Reviews
Another great one from CRH! An emotionally driven book with real people, real lives and real issues. So much going on here between mothers and daughters, rejection, being homeless, starting over and also a lot of acceptance and caring and new beginnings. All this authors books seem to have valuable life lessons and this one is no different. Thanks to Netgalley and the Lake Union Publishing for the ARC
Thank you Catherine Ryan Hyde, Lake Union Publishing and Net Galley for this ARC.
As usual CRH has given us an excellent story, emotions and feelings galore. Well written and thought provoking.
Beautifully written and emotionally gripping. When a single mom who lives with her mom gets car jacked losing her most precious gift, it unites 3 very different women. After losing her daughter in a car jacking Brooke tries frantically to find her daughter Etta. Molly was thrown away by her mother and is living on the streets. She finds a precious gift one night. She spends the night trying to keep Etta safe until she can get her back to where she belongs. When Etta is finally brought home Brooke and Molly are brought together by Etta. The two learn to heal and find strength from each other. I adored this book and how it brought so many issues to the forefront. Two very different women from very different worlds learning to love and trust and brought together by a very Brave and Quiet Girl.
Another amazing book by the very talented storyteller Catherine Ryan Hyde. I could relate to the inner struggles that the characters faced. They had to make very difficult decisions. The story is interesting and emotional. I recommend this book.
Brilliant read from a brilliant author. Thoroughly enjoyed. I have heard a lot of good things about Catherine Ryan Hyde as the author is in a book group I’m in on Facebook and I couldn’t resist requesting this book. I’m so glad I did because I definitely would recommend.
I actually liked this book more than I would've thought based on the premise. The main characters were quite special. It wasn't necessarily predictable and I think it would make a good movie.
The aspect I love most about Catherine Ryan Hyde’s writing is her focus on the small details of human reaction in the midst of a big event. Rather than being laden with heavy, wordy descriptions of the weather or the setting, the detail is in the humanity, and it is fascinating to read.
Each of the three main characters in this book are so well defined, but the detail is less their physical appearance and more the inner person. There’s a small amount of wondering how the story will end, but not enough to interfere with the enjoyment of the story as it goes. Once again, a wonderful read.
Read this book!
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This is my first foray into @netgalley (thank you!) and @catherineryanhyde and I'm definitely going back for more of both!
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I was deeply engaged in this book from beginning to end! This book hits on so many important topics: crime victims, homelessness, LGBTQ youth, foster care, policing, family dynamics... and more. These topics fit and flow well, which is no easy task. It does not delve deeply into any of these topics but it doesn't need to in order to handle them with care. It introduces the reader to these very real issues in a way that evokes emotion, and concern for the characters and their stories. It's told from the perspective of the two main female characters in voices unique to each one's stage of life. This book is thought provoking, can start a conversation, and motivate the reader to learn more while entertaining and connecting us like books can do so well.
Thank you to Netgalley for this advanced reader's copy in return for my honest review. Emotional read and beautifully written. I'm a huge fan of Catherine Ryan Hyde.
This Author is AMAZING. This book is PHENOMENAL. I love the characters (especially Etta, Molly and Brooke). The story took hold of my heart and squeezed it so tight. This is my third Catherine Ryan Hyde book and I have loved them all. There are some words that Molly says to Etta and Etta says them back. They are running in a continuous loop through my mind. I am honoured and grateful that I was given the privilege to read this ARC. I am sure this book will be at the top of my favourite book list. Many thanks to NwtGalley, Lake Union Publishing and the Author for allowing me to read and review this book.
I discovered Catherine Ryan Hyde years ago through Kindle Unlimited and she quickly became a go to author. When I found her newest book through @netgalley I was excited dive in. Fortunately it didn't disappoint.
Brooke is a single mother just doing her best for her young daughter, Etta. She has a complicated relationship with her own mom only made worse when she is forced to move back in with her. Molly is a homeless teenager (later in the book you learn because of her mother's poor parenting but I don't want to give too much away.) It explores the complexity of mother daughter relationships.
Their lives are crossed when Brooke's car is jacked with her baby in the backseat. By some miracle Molly thinks it's her lucky day that she has a carseat to sell, but instead finds a scared and afraid baby strapped into the seat. I was smitten by the relationship these young girls quickly developed. Chapter by chapter is bounces between each woman's point of view. While Hyde's writing is simple and good for a quick read, she does a good job at making me feel. I felt a mother's fear and pain, I felt a teens helplessness and eventual hope.
Every extraordinary book has that moment when you fall irrevocably in love with it. For me, that oh-I-just-love-this-so-much moment in Catherine Ryan Hyde's Brave Girl, Quiet Girl came from the mouth of a babe. You can pretty much count on a two-year-old to get right to the heart of the matter and Etta doesn't disappoint. When she whispers "brave girl, quiet girl" to her trembling rescuer, the story is made... the book's soul is revealed... and this reader was completely smitten.
Because you can find and follow links to the official synopsis, I won't spend time rehashing what you can discover for yourself. Let me just give you the broad strokes and then cut to the chase. After all, that's what I want in a review—not so much facts, as the alchemy of what makes for an unforgettable reading experience.
I have already mentioned Etta. If you ask me, this amazing toddler is the pivot upon which everything turns. As the story begins, Etta is ripped away from her family in the course of a carjacking. Her mother, Brooke, is desperate to find her baby, but the odds are stacked against a safe return.
And then there is Molly, a cast-off teen living on the mean streets of L.A. after being discarded by her rigid, unaccepting parents. It is so perfectly fitting that a child who has lost all sense of worthiness is the one who comes to find, and protect, Etta after the jackers abandon her to freeze alone in the dark of night.
Despite the bleak circumstances that embrace both Brooke and Molly (or, I'm now thinking it is because of that bleakness), the broken pieces of two psyches will discover a way to fit together in perfectly imperfect ways to form a new sense of acceptance, belonging, and family.
Brave Girl, Quiet Girl is ultimately the story of how the light gets in through the broken places to illuminate the beauty that was formerly hidden within the bleakness. Those who deeply appreciate the humanity at the center of Catherine Ryan Hyde's writing are sure to find much to love, just as I did, in this book. Highly recommended!
This is the first book I have read by this author and I must say it was not my favorite.
It starts out pretty exciting with a child abduction, rescue, and reunion. That is where is starts to just drag. It seems like it takes a really long time for anything to happen and when it does it is very predictable. It was a book that I just wanted to get done with so I could go on to another one.
Catherine Ryan Hyde is one of my faves and she has struck gold again. I absolutely loved this book. Molly, a homeless teenager, and Brooke, a single mom, are two broken souls brought together by a twist of fate. They mutually distrust each other, but through difficult conversations, they each help the other gain self awareness and acceptance.
The story's ending was pretty obvious, but I didn't really care. The journey was well worth it.
I highly recommend this book. Thanks NetGalley for this ARC.
I love Catherine Ryan Hyde and absolutely loved reading Brave Girl, Quiet Girl. Within seconds of starting, I was hooked! The entire plot was exciting and emotional. This book would be a great choice for a book club! I’m looking forward to telling everyone I know about it.
Oh Catherine Ryan Hyde you always make me dig deep within myself to see that not everything is black and white, and how our interactions with people shape and affect them and ourselves.
Brave Girl, Quiet Girl took everything I thought I knew and showed me I didn’t .
Brooke is carjacked, while her baby daughter is in the backseat in her car seat.
Molly is the homeless teen living on the street who finds baby Etta, this begins the story of Molly and Brooke and how they interact and how the world see things.
An amazing book with such important issues being brought into the light
I fully recommend this book and I think it may be my favorite book of this author ( I think I say that about every new release)
First off, I must say that I love this author's writing style. I love how she gets down into the real connections that people make , sometimes unintentionally. She pushes people into emotional situations and then it's like you watch a painting slowly come to life .
I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys stories about people and their interconnectedness . Can't wait to read your next book!
This is such a wonderful story! I have read this writer's last 4 books
and so far I like this one best. It is written very well. I was able to
understand where each of the characters was coming from and what
made them who they are. This one to me is a special book I must own
and would feel good about purchasing it as a gift. I highly
recommend it!
Thank you so much, Catherine Ryan Hyde, the publisher, and NetGalley
for giving me the chance to read and review this great book!
I love Catherine Ryan Hyde. All of her books are emotional and this one was no different.
As a mother this is one of my worst fears, watching someone go off with child and I'm not able to do anything. Brooke's heart ache as she worries about Etta, where she is, what they are doing to her and all she's doing is hanging on to hope.
A broken teenager, Molly, comes across Etta who was left in an industrial area. Molly takes Etta under her care, trying to care for her and leads her right to Brooke.
As always, Catherine Ryan Hyde creates an story about people. A story about hope and a story about family and friendship.
This isn't coming out till May, but please please put it on your TBR list now!
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.
A gripping story about an unlikely friendship that developes from a strange starting point, but ends moree like a family.. This book keeps you wanting to find out more,