This book had me from the first pages and right to the very end. The characters were well developed which is very important to me. There was enough unknown to keep me guessing all the way through. It is a different way to see family that I would not see in my normal life.

This was initially shaping up to be a very good read, then came the hidden agendas. A little content warning would be nice so I could’ve decided whether or not I wanted to read it. Great author, but disappointed.

This is a story of abuse. It will take you on an emotional journey that you won't be sorry you took. I enjoyed this book, but it was a slow read for me.

I did not finish this one, it was not for me, I couldn't relate to the characters, and just did not care for the story.

"A Light in the Forest" is a heartfelt and captivating tale that skillfully tackles important and timely subjects. Vega Jones, who grew up helping abused women alongside her mother, finds herself trapped in an abusive relationship after becoming a mother herself. Seeking solace, she discovers the charming mountain town of Crystal, despite warnings about its residents.

As Vega forms friendships with eccentric characters like Eve, Heff, and the elderly couple Carl and Betty, she realizes her mother's perceptions were misguided. However, as Vega confronts her own past and stands up against bigotry, tensions rise. This beautifully written story combines compassion, magic, and a slowly unraveling plot that keeps you engaged until the end.

A Light in the Forest by Melissa Payne is a gripping novel that explores the themes of abuse, secrets, and redemption. The protagonist, Vega Jones, is a young mother who flees from her violent partner with her baby and her van. She arrives at a small town in Ohio, where her mother used to live before she died. There, she hopes to find some peace and answers about her past. But she soon discovers that the town has its own secrets and mysteries and that she is somehow connected to them.

The novel is well-written and engaging, with a fast-paced plot and realistic characters. Payne creates a vivid setting of the rural town and its surroundings and draws the reader into the suspense and emotion of Vega's journey. The novel also tackles some difficult topics, such as domestic violence, trauma, and mental health, with sensitivity and compassion. The novel is a testament to the power of friendship and family, and the possibility of finding light in the darkest of times.

Interesting story. Kept me reading. Thanks for allowing me to read this advanced copy. I liked the characters and how the story develops.

It grabbed me from the first few pages until the end. The characters were rich and there were enough secrets to keep me wondering right up to the end. I'm glad I took the chance. I recommend it to anyone who loves books that are absorbing and look at families with a different lens.

Thank you Netgalley, the publisher and the author for having this available as an ARC. I am a bit behind in my reviews and wished I had got to this sooner.

This book's opening chapters has major triggers of DV, an abusive partner, transphobia as well as homophobia. Please check before proceeding.

The story follows Vega who has been abused by her partner Zach and flees the situation. Her late mother Renee had always taught her to run if she found herself in this type of situation, though Vega didn't really see the signs as they were happening. With no one to turn to, all Vega has is a postcard her mother kept from a town called Crystal. With no plan and barely any money, she takes her son Riley and heads for this remote town. The town is mostly welcoming and Vega is a bit hesitant that so many people are kind enough to help. She wants to establish the link her mother Renee has to this place, though it seems that no one knows who she is. Vega had spent majority of her life on the road with her mum, helping other women in situations like hers, so maybe Crystal was just another town that Renee passed through. Eve, one of the town's residents, gives Vega a home and as they start to get close, the past starts to unfold and some realisations come to the surface.

I liked that this had elements of a mystery thriller, but then ends up being a found family story. Told across two timelines, I did guess how Renee was linked to the town of Crystal. Because Vega never really knew her mother's past, it was as much of a mystery to her and us the reader. Slowly pieces were unravelling and the ending was sweet.

The town was small so everyone knew of each other's business, but it was good in the sense that as the players came into the story, they had to come together in order to figure out how Vega and Renee were a part of Crystal's past and present.

There is so much trauma whether it's between generations or personally. Though it's told in third person, we get the internal feelings of those suffering the trauma and a real world view of what that's like. Vega was kicking herself that she didn't see the signs of abuse, but sometimes you don't notice until you can truly reflect on it. Renee also suffered and then Eve, a trans woman, had her challenges also - mostly being attacked by closed minded people existing in this town.

What I loved about this book was the comradery. The town is small but even when faced with adversity, they would always come together when needed. People can place their differences aside to band together for a cause. It was exactly this that allowed Vega to find her true home.

It's a bit of a slow burn and I can understand why people may not like it, but I felt like it worked well. We get to know so many characters in depth and it never drew away from the main plot. At its core, it's a mystery and the two timelines has you confirming/guessing along the way. I enjoyed how it came together at the end because Vega never really had friends or a support network besides her mother, and Crystal was where she needed to be.

A brilliant book about a woman leaving her abuser with her baby daughter. She eventually makes her own little family. I loved this as it felt powerful and emotional.

🚍Book Review:
Title: A Light In The Forest
Author: Melissa Payne
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/3 stars

Vega Jones is on the run with her two month old baby, from her abusive boyfriend and the baby's father, Zach. In her head, she can hear her mother's voice telling her to, "RUN!" Her destination is the small town her deceased mother once lived in, Crystal. It's the ideal place for her to hide because it's a nowhere, nobody type of town.

As she becomes slowly acclimated with her new surroundings, she begins to realize that there's a reason she was pulled back to Crystal. This town has some secrets that Vega really needs to unearth to understand her own situation.

I chose the audiobook for this one. It was sometimes a little difficult to understand some of the accents, so I had to slow it down more than I usually do. It was a pretty good story. There are some strong topics discussed, including domestic abuse, sexual assault/abuse, homophobia, animal abuse/cruelty.... just for the heads up!

Excellent read about a woman who leaves her abuser, and makes a new life for herself and her baby. Along the way she finds that family isn't always who you share blood with, but that you can make your own family.

Thank you Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC!

Loved this story of a woman escaping an abuser and finding a new family and finding herself. Great characters and great themes of acceptance, diversity., love and family.

This book took me surprise. I wasn’t sure what to think initially as Vega worked to escape and stay hidden from her boyfriend.

Seeing Vega grow and adapt in Ohio, as she searched for what her mother’s secret was and slowly got to know people she learned had known her mother was so well done.

There are many secrets in this book that are slowly peeled back like layers of an onion. The end result was amazing and beautiful. Sometimes family is what we choose for ourselves and Vega’s journey illustrates that beautifully. Her slow trust and reliance on people around her made for such a captivating part of the story.

Thank you to Lake Union for the copy of this book. All views are my honest opinion.

This was a fantastic read!! I couldn't put it down and finished it in one sitting. Thrilling and full of girl power. Go get this book you will not be disappointed. Highly recommend

If I could give a book a standing ovation, it would be A Light in the Forest.

I had read The Night of Many Endings, previously and knew instantly that I loved Melissa Payne's writing style. When I heard the word that she would be releasing another book, I knew without a doubt in my mind I had to have it.

I never read the synopsis, I wanted to go in not knowing a thing and be able to feel the suspense of each surprise. However, I did want to know more about Payne, so I feverishly stalked the internet to learn a little more about this talented breakthrough author. Fun fact, Melissa refers to her cat as being "a very loud cat" , I chuckled a bit when I read that. I also, have a very loud fur-child.

So as I snuggled up with my very large fur ball and my book, I was one happy girl.

This book is going to break the internet...

I was instantly thrown into a suspenseful page turner that had grabbed my attention early on and set the bar for what was to come. The character development was executed with perfection. The twist was a doozy and left me breathless.

Here is a little teaser for you :

Vega Jones escapes an abusive relationship with nothing but her two-month-old baby and the van she grew up in. Her destination is a small Ohio town her late vagabond mother left years ago. It’s one full of nobodies, her mother warned. That makes it the ideal refuge for Vega to lie low, feel safe, and maybe learn more about a past her mother never spoke of.

Vega warms to the town and to new acquaintances like Heff, the young deputy and artist who prefers his yard art to actual policing, and empathetic Eve, a local farmer whose near-death experience gave her more than just her life back. But even in this welcoming community, there’s an undercurrent of something unsettled, talk of a tragedy that unfolded in the woods years ago, and a mystery connected to Vega in ways she couldn’t have anticipated.

As a mother on the run and following a path of mounting risks and illuminating secrets, Vega discovers that even during the darkest of times, there’s light in unexpected places.

Thank you NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing and Melissa Payne for for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

I absolutely loved this book. Read it in almost one sitting. Vega and her Mother have been on the road since Vega was an infant. They help abused women find new lives. When her mother dies, Vega enters into an abusive relationship and soon finds out she is pregnant. After her son Riley is born, things get worse. She ends up fleeing for Crystal, Ohio because of a postcard she found in her mother's belongings. Crystal is a magical place with one dirt road with several stores on it. There she finds neighbors and family and home. I don't wan to spoil this amazing book for you but it is unputdownable. I would give it five stars but there were some points that were never resolved which I wish they had been.

As I have mentioned in my previous reviews, I started accepting Advanced Reader Copies in exchange for reviews, in the hopes that I may discover someone new who can take a place amongst the select group of few authors I love. Of the many authors I have introduced myself to in the past year, Melissa Payne is according to me the most outstanding of them all and a new member of this select group.

"A Light in the Forest" is the first book of her I am reading; I can also see that she has three more books to her credit, all of which are well- received and having read this book, I am totally not surprised. All her previous books seem to have explored the various vagaries of human nature, their capacity for cruelty and kindness. "A Light in the Forest" is a story of trauma, cruelty, overcoming said trauma and rising out of the ashes like a phoenix.

The story follows two significant people in two different timeliness, Vega and her mother Renee, and the people who touch their lives - both good and bad. The story centers mainly on the marginalized people, whom the society often misunderstands and expects to confine to what they consider is the norm. Melissa Payne keeps a mirror in front of us readers, and forces us to walk in these misunderstood peoples' shoes, in the same hardened paths they are forced to navigate, thus compelling us to acknowledge the pain and trauma we put them through owing to our own limitation of understanding. In fact, she wrings out the unconditional empathy these people deserve from their fellow beings.

It is usually difficult to build tension in a fictional story which deals more with human emotions than action. But the author uses the alternating timelines between the 1990s and 2021 to spin an engaging tale which grips our attention, engages our heart and doesn't let us keep the book down. I am glad I got to read this book and couldn't recommend it more to lovers of contemporary fiction which focuses on human beings rather than the events surrounding them.

*Trigger Warning* - The book portrays various events that might trigger past trauma - both physical and sexual.

This is a difficult book for me to review. It was an emotional journey through a lot of ugliness to get to a place of beauty on the other side. I'm so glad I took the trip because I'm left with feelings of hope for a better world. You never know what another person is dealing with or going through. Be kind.

Wow! This phenomenal story was heartbreaking, yet filled with hope and is one I highly recommend. The author's representation was on point and her writing brought the characters to life through the pages. This story touched on so many dark and difficult, yet very relevant topics. She handled each with sensitivity and her in-depth research of these issues was apparent. While not all likable, the characters were true to life and realistic. The storyline that was told in the past and present was gripping and kept me on the edge of my seat, reading late into the night. Even though I knew in my heart how the story would end, I couldn't stop until I finished the last page.