Maggie Blount is a divorced mother of two teenage daughters Willa and Gemma and she works as a GP in Vista Del Mar, California and she volunteers for Doctors on Wheels. Maggie and her partner Alex a nurse travel in a RV van and provide free medical treatment for people effected by natural disasters. With fellow Doctors John and Lacey Bishop they leave for rural Louisiana where a category five hurricane is wreaking havoc and destroying everything in it’s path. Two teenage girls arrive, sick and drenched, and their parents died. Maggie takes care of Jean and Rose and the puppy they saved, and she notices how different they are to her own daughters.

Maggie’s been questioning Willa and Gemma’s entitled behaviour, attitude and rudeness for awhile and Rose and Jean are the complete opposite of her girls, their polite, kind, and grateful and they need a home and she and Alex decide to foster them. As you can imagine Willa and Gemma aren’t happy, they are furious with their mother, how dare she bring three strays into their house and change everything. Maggie has had enough, she decides to make a stand and it’s her house and she pays the bills and she underestimates her daughter’s reaction. Maggie’s new blended family is a mess, everything is spiralling out of control, she doesn’t know what to do and she needs help.

I received a copy of Rolling Toward Clear Skies from Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I have lost track of how many books I have read by Catherine Ryan Hyde, she’s an outstanding fiction author, her stories always have a theme and a message included in the narrative and they make me think and wonder what I would do in the same situation.

This time it’s about raising teenagers, four girls, two are the main character's biological children and the others are not. Maggie accepts she’s to blame for her daughter’s upbringing and despite being a good role model, she’s a doctor and a volunteer and Willa and Gemma don’t show empathy for others and gratitude for what they have and they take it all for granted.

A story about dealing with feelings and trauma, emotions and hormones, good and bad behaviour, expectations and consequences, leaning right from wrong and how it’s possible to love your children and not like them. Maggie set's about changing this and blending a family and creating a happier environment, you need to read the novel to discover how she does it and five stars from me.

Catherine Ryan Hyde, what can I say about her writings, wonderful! This book tells of a family of entitled children whose mother does good for people that are in disaster zones. She gives up of her own time to rescue and treat victims. Miss Hyde tells her heart wrenching story of how her entitled children don’t get it. As inlife these children grow and mature and figure it out.

Catherine Ryan Hyde has penned another beautiful masterpiece! Maggie, a doctor, and a divorcee with 2 teenaged daughters, moonlights as a rescue doctor on wheels. This volunteer gig takes over her life after she becomes attached to a couple of her patients who reflect exactly how she wishes her daughters would be. What ensues is a lot of life and personal change, as well as reflections on nature and nurture. This book niggled into a corner of my heart and there it stays. As a mother and a professional, I could easily relate. As a person, I wholly appreciate the sensitivity Hyde brings to every character and situation about which she writes. She is an amazing author. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to read this as an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. I will never have the words that Hyde’s books deserve.

I cannot say enough good things about this book. The authors stories about children and families are always her best. Heartbreak, disaster, love, and, sacrifice, and building anew. One of my favorites.

The idea of ​​the book is very interesting and I thought it had a lot of potential, but in my opinion it lacked depth. Furthermore, I had to try hard to like any of the characters, which is never a good thing if it's not a thriller, dark romance or fantasy.
The dialogue seemed forced, each discussion took place as if the character speaking was a child therapist, I don't know.
I also found the timeline and jumps very confusing and completely took me out of the story. It felt like they took place during times when most of the conflict would have occurred naturally, making it difficult to care for the story. Overall, it was not a pleasant experience for me.

This book does an amazing job of highlighting the complexities of raising teens, adoption and blended families. I found it profoundly moving and true-to-life.

Maggie Blount is a physician who runs a charity, Doctors on Wheels, where they go to disaster sites and offer free medical care to victims of hurricanes, fires and other disasters. She is also a single mother raising two teen daughters who are pretty despicable as far as their attitudes go. When Maggie attends to two very ill sisters who just lost their parents in a hurricane, she has an innate need to help them. Her daughters, on the other hand, have no such need or want.

The author handled the situation of dealing with biological versus adopted children with grace and balance. Catherine Ryan Hyde is always a must-read author for me and she just gets better and better. This 5-star book will always be a favorite of mine. Do yourself a favor and pick this one up. Thank you, NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the advanced reader copy.

What another great book by this author. The story is about a family of 2 girls becoming a family of 4 and was really gripping. The book was so spot on with modern day life, its issues an adversity. I could not put it down which is typical of this author's books.

Alex is a nurse who got together Drs who attend disasters called Drs On Wheels, Maggie one of the Drs is his girlfriend and has two teenage daughters.
While attending one disaster they come across two teenagers slightly younger than Maggie`s daughters who have lost their parents in the floods and Maggie relates to them and ends up fostering them, though things are not easy at home as her own children are very spoilt especially after her divorce and they don`t want anything to do with the foster girls.
Things get very difficult and emotional and lessons are learnt in difficult ways.
A very emotional book.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC and I give my honest review.

Dr. Maggie Blount and her partner, Alex, a registered nurse, have a program called Doctors on Wheels that goes to where disaster strikes. Maggie leaves her two teenage daughters with their father when she goes into these danger zones, offering medical care at no cost to people who may have just lost homes, but in any case, hospitals are overrun at these times, and they provide needed backup.

When Maggie and Alex and a husband-and-wife team of doctors come to rural Louisiana after a hurricane, Maggie immediately feels a connection to teenage girls Jean and Rose. Unlike her own spoiled daughters, they are polite and helpful. Maggie takes the dog they found and ultimately becomes a foster mother to them, much to the consternation of her biological daughters.

I enjoyed this, but the fact that Alex can always hold his tongue when Maggie’s biological daughters behave like brats, the fact that Maggie is so aware of having made mistakes after her divorce (in my experience, people get defensive and while acknowledging they’re not perfect, don’t always say exactly the right thing without any anger) was a little hard to believe.

NetGalley provided an advance copy of this novel, which RELEASES NOVEMBER 12, 2024.

A heartwarming story of family and the challenges faced when fostering and then adopting 2 teenage girls while having 2 teenage girls at home.

As much as Dr. Maggie Blout wants everything to be perfect she soon learns to lower her expectations and allow the girls to grow, as painful as that can be.

Ultimately, they realize that "When you love somebody, they get prettier", and that they are truly a family and that is irreplaceable.

Rounding up to a weak four. Nice quick read while traveling, not requiring a lot of deep thought, but presenting an enjoyable story. Hyde is a pro at presenting sticky relationship stories, and this was no exception.

In this story of blending two sets of teenage girls into one family, two of whom were fostered, then adopted after personal disaster, one has to suspend disbelief to just relax and enjoy the story. Biological daughters were stereotypical mean girls, and fosters were too good to be true. Despite all that, it was a lovely read.

Name of Book: Rolling Toward Clear Skies
Author: Catherine Ryan Hyde
Publisher: Lake Union Publishers
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Pub Date: November 12, 2024
My Rating: 5 Stars
Pages: 300

Dr. Maggie Blount is a divorced mother of two teenage daughters Willa and Gemma living in California. Maggie is in a relationship with Alex who is also a professional partner. They recently were in Louisiana on a humanitarian mission with “Doctor’s on Wheels’. While there Maggie helped two young sisters Jean and Rose who are suffering from pneumonia and also now orphaned by the hurricane. Their only living relatives are their elderly grandparents, who are willing to take the girls however not willing to take in the rescue puppy the girl found. Maggie has been taking care of the girls medically as well as their emotional needs. She tells them if their grandparents won’t take the puppy she will. Actually she would love to take in the girls as well.
Maggie loves her daughters - Willa and Gemma but also knows they are not likeable – they are spoiled, entitled and selfish. Maggie knows they would not be happy if Maggie offered Foster care to Jean and Rose.

I don’t want to give away too much as I know you will love reading every page as much as I did.

I got on board the Catherine Ryan Hyde train somewhat late when I read "Brave Girl, Quiet Girl” in May 2020 and I have been a big fan ever since!
She has had 40+ book published. As well fifty of her short stories have been published in professional Reviews and Journals.
Now I have been willing to read anything she writes! When I saw this I knew I wanted to read it without knowing anything about it!

Catherine Ryan Hyde's writing style is different than any other author I read and I love it! Her stories are character driven but there is always a message and thoughts that linger long after I am done reading.
The quotes throughout this story are wonderful; nothing magical but common sense.

At the end of the book you will find thoughtful Book Club discussion
Questions which you will find interesting if you are in a book club or not!

Want to thank NetGalley and Lake Union Publishers for this wonderful early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for November 12, 2024.

This is the first book I've read by Catherine Ryan Hyde. It was a quick read. It's a feel good story which I found to be sappy and extremely predictable.

Text Rewriter

Edit Prompt
Maggie Blount, a physician from California and a divorced mother of two, temporarily steps away from her private medical practice to volunteer with Doctors on Wheels in the wake of a devastating hurricane that strikes rural Louisiana. During her time there, she develops a meaningful connection with two orphaned sisters, Jean and Rose, along with their rescue puppy, which motivates her to bring them back to California. As Maggie endeavors to integrate her family with these new foster children, she encounters a stark juxtaposition between her self-centered teenage daughters, Willa and Gemma, and the modest, resilient nature of the sisters. This tumultuous family dynamic compels Maggie to reflect on her own parenting shortcomings while imparting lessons of empathy and gratitude to her daughters amid the backdrop of persistent natural disasters.

While the narrative is engaging, it follows a somewhat conventional trajectory and leans significantly on the contrasting depictions of the two sets of sisters. Maggie’s daughters are characterized as entitled and challenging, which stands in sharp contrast to the idealized and forgiving dispositions of Jean and Rose. This dichotomous portrayal complicates the readers' ability to connect empathetically with any of the characters. Nonetheless, Catherine Ryan Hyde crafts an emotionally resonant story that explores substantial themes, including the influence of social media on younger generations. Ultimately, the narrative concludes on an optimistic note, although some readers may perceive its predictability and character representations as less fulfilling compared to Hyde's earlier works.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance review copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rolling Towards Clear Skies takes us into the lives of a family dealing with adopting two teenage girls who suffered tragedy and heartbreak. So you can imagine what happens when they are mixed into the home with the two other teenage girls who have to learn to share.
This story has some real life drama that makes us realize that bad things are sometimes needed to help us move forward.
Thank you Netgalley and Lake Union Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

3.5 stars rounded up
Rolling toward clear skies is the story of 41-year-old Dr. Maggie Blount, a divorced mother of 2 teenage girls who volunteers with Doctors on wheels. Her boyfriend, Alex is a nurse who established the organization to respond to disasters such as forest fires, hurricanes and tornadoes. During one such disaster Maggie assists 2 teenage sisters with pneumonia, and through various circumstances ends up fostering and then adopting them. How this blended family manages completes the rest of the story.

This novel did hold my attention throughout but I did struggle with the portrayal of the 2 sets of sisters. Maggie's 2 biological daughters are spoiled brats with no redeemable qualities throughout most of the book., while the foster sisters are perfect teenagers being kind, gentle and forgiving all the time. This very black & white portrayal set me on edge and made it hard for me to empathize with any of the characters. The impact of social media posts on young lives is also addressed here and the story resolves with the author's typical uplifting ending. Thank you to net galley and the publisher for an e.Galley of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

Another ‘couldn’t put it down’ book by Ryan Hyde. It’s really refreshing to read books with a strong sense of rightness and morality. Once again the author didn’t disappoint. I, like many others no doubt had no patience with Willa and Gemma, however, there were many insights into why they were acting the way they were, and how they overcame the negative aspects of their lives. Highly recommend this book.

The writing style of this book seems much different than previous novels by Catherine Ryan Hyde. I have read almost all of her books. Her novels always teach a lesson and usually have a feel good ending . This newest endeavor stands far above the last half dozen. She has taken really at least two topics – one of those who go into harms way to help their fellow man, and the other of adoptive and blended families, along with their many complicated issues, and woven everything into a beautiful novel. Ms. Hyde makes it all sound so simple, yet for those going through such trauma it must be horrific. I think everyone can relate to one or more of the characters. A must read for all the millions of Ryan Hyde fans.

Loved it. Having been a teenage girl I could relate to their issues. Also grateful not to have raised teenagers. Don't think I was as bad or as good as either pair of girls. Parents deserve much credit for their patience. Delightful story. I was eager to see things resolved.

Another excellent book by this Author. She is an automatic read for me. I just love her books. Dr. Maggie Blount was a Saint. I wanted to smack Willa and Gemma! This was such a great book. Put it on your TBR list for November 12. I highly recommend it and everything this Author writes. Thanks to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing and the Author for allowing me to read and review this book.