The Sound of Glass by Karen White

426 Pages
Publisher: Penguin Group Berkley, NAL / Signet Romance, DAW, NAL
Release Date: May 12, 2015

Fiction (Adult), General Fiction (Adult), Women’s Fiction, Family Relationships

In 1955, Edith found a suitcase from an airplane explosion. Considering the damage, she is amazed the suitcase survived. She opens it up and finds a letter. The police and chaplin come to tell her that there was an accident. Her husband, Calhoun, must have been distracted by the explosion and drove into a tree. He did not survive.

In 2014, Merritt Heyward’s husband, Cal, a firefighter died two years ago. Now she is meeting with an attorney. She has inherited his family home in Beaufort, South Carolina. In their seven years of marriage, Cal never told her anything about his family, including that he had a brother. Loralee Purvis Connors was married to Merritt’s father, and they had a son, Owen. When Loralee learned Merritt inherited a house, she packs up their house and heads to South Caroline.

The book has a steady pace, the characters are well developed, and it is written in the first and third points of view. This is a very emotional story about the relationships between families. Just when you think you know what is happening, you find out you are wrong. The book made me laugh and cry. If you like family dramas, you will enjoy this book.

A character driven story that Karen White writes so well.
A family based story and historical family discoveries that affect the now and the future.

I warmed to this story effortlessly and found it near on impossible to put down.

Each character has their own uniqueness that you can’t help but warm to, yep, even the ratty one!

Highly recommend to those who love a family with secrets.

I really liked this book but just got a little tired of it near the end. I'd like to give it a 4.5. Karen White is an excellent writer who always seems to really know her audience.

KW writes fine Southern Fiction. She is a master storyteller with lyrical prose. There are many elements to this story and all are blended together to tell this touching tale. I loved Loralee,s words to live by and have even written some of them down so I can continue to enjoy them. This is a story that will stay with me a long time.
Many thanks to Berkeley Publishing and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

What a joyful and sad story! The farther I read in this book, the better it got. Merritt, a widow, is moving to her late husband's hometown-- and, in fact, his very house which she has inherited. She's never been there before, which is either bold or desperate, depending on your point of view. Merritt isn't what you would call a friendly or warm person, despite the residents of her new town being perfectly welcoming to her.

A parallel story of the now-deceased Edith (the mother-in-law Merritt never met) and Edith's late husband forms a large part of the story. The theme is secrets. Merritt and Edith have some whoppers.

Early in the story, Merritt opens the door to two strangers who turn out to be her widowed step-mother Loralee and half-brother, Owen. She agrees to let them stay with her until they get on their feet. More secrets.

This is a lovely story with some very ugly background. It's clear these secrets need to be revealed for healing to occur.

This is one of the best books I've read. The history of crime reproduction scenes was an intriguing subplot. Karen White excels at writing family relationships and secrets. Her characters feel like your close friends.

This story of friendship between two unlikely women brought tears to my eyes. The story proves you are stronger than you think.

I loved this book so much! It reminded me of all the reasons I'm proud to be southern. I loved the snippets of wisdom and fierce spirit of Loralee. I also loved the strong themes of family and healing. I haven't cried this much from reading a book in a very long time. Highly recommended!!

Loralee and Merritt are the main characters in this story. I felt for them both. While Loralee had found her happy place, Merritt was still searching for hers. Together they just worked. I found it hard to remember that Loralee is Merritt’s step-mother. Loralee seemed so young to me. She was full of life and never let her situation pull her down or distract her from those around her. Yet, she had been married to Merritt’s father. Merritt had an old soul or maybe just had a rough enough life that she grew old quicker than she should have. She had tough skin and a lot of fears to overcome. Loralee is so good for her.

Ten year old Owen, Merritt’s half brother and Loralee’s son, is a great character. He is smart, almost too smart for his own good. Yet he understands life. He has lost his dad, has moved across the country to meet a sister for the first time, and still manages to be happy and accepting of life. I felt like he ties all the characters together. Everyone who meets him loves him, making them all have a connection to each other.

Then of course there is Gibbes. Sigh, a pediatrician who is good looking, understanding, and an all around good person. I so wanted him to find his place in Merritt, Loralee, and Owen’s lives. They were his family, whether he wanted them to be or not. He understood that Owen needed a father figure yet didn’t push it. He was there for Merritt even when she didn’t want him to be. He kept Loralee’s secret.

The Sound of Glass is a great story. There is intrigue, a mystery, romance, and truth. I would recommend this story to all adult lit readers.

This was a book club selection and my first book by Karen White. I loved the beautiful writing with the setting of South Carolina. While this book's cover makes it seem like a nice beach read, the book deals with a lot of dark issues including domestic violence. I liked the mystery though out the book and I need Loralee's book of truths personally. It was a quick read but it had a lot of depth to it that I think sometimes is lacking in beach reads. I would recommend grabbing it from your local library.

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Johanna Sawyer's review Mar 25, 2018 · edit
it was amazing

Thanks Netgalley for a copy to read and review!

I'm sorry but this book blew me away. I have tears.... I recently put my life on hold because my father passed with cancer. Every cancer it seems in the end when it spreads and has no real foundation besides blood. My truth is nothing lasts forever and you only have today. Two real quotes I have tattooed on my arms. This book was a mind bender. In a moment where I am lost. You are stronger than you think. I have endured so much in the last few years that this is my next tattoo. I willfully bow down to Karen White as a beautiful author. I seek Charleston as a way of escape as only a southerner does. Five stars of beautiful entertainment. Magnificent book.

I had difficulty plodding through this book, though I tried it on 2 seperate occasions.

Thank you to Net Galley for an ARC of this book.

Other People's Houses is about a high income neighborhood street in LA. It starts out with Frances, who is a carpool mom who takes all of her neighborhood kids to school each day. One day, one of her neighbors kids forgets something important at home, so after dropping the kids of at school, she runs back to her neighbors house and ends up walking in on her neighbor Anne "in the act" with a younger man. It turns out Anne has been having an affair.

Basically, Other People's Houses is about how we don't know what's going on in other people's houses, even our closest friends and neighbors that we might see everyday. This book explores this theme with all of these different characters in Frances' neighborhood. There are revelations in each home that surprise and shock and aren't always as they seem.

I gave Other People's Houses 3 stars on Goodreads. I liked it, but it didn't blow me away, but it was a good read.

Karen White has a way with writing a story that is just right on the pacing of the story and all the characters make you like them almost immediately. I have never read one of Karen White's books, but I fell in love with this one immediately. Such a great read that will leave you thinking about it for days after you finish it.

Merritt is still trying to get over her husbands death from two years ago. When Merritt gets news that Cal's grandmother that lived in South Carolina has died, she also learns that she is not the owner of her house. Merritt makes the journey to South Carolina to deal with the house and see what all she has to deal with. While Merritt is there, she uncovers some secrets that she never knew and come to find out, Cal's family never knew about her.

While Merritt is trying to figure everything out, she gets another surprise thrown at her. Her step-mother and her ten year old half-brother. The secrets that Merritt uncovers at the house will definitely change her forever as well as change the course of the rest of her life. This was a great book that dealt with some serious issues that could help others out as well.

I am a fan of Karen White now and will be looking for more of her books to read. Thanks for a great read!

This was my first time reading a novel by Karen White. The book is entertaining--a good balance of heartache, southern charm, and hope. There were moments that struck me as a little cheesy, but I still enjoyed being swept up in the story. The Sound of Glass is a solid read--maybe not my favorite book of all time, but I'd definitely read something else written by White.

I struggled through this book. I have enjoyed a few of Ms. White’s other books.

Review placed on Amazon, Goodreads

2 Stars

First, let me say that I love Karen White's writing. I seek her books out and have enjoyed each one a bit more than the last. Until this one. I am not sure what happened, but it was like pulling teeth to get me to read this book. Unlike past works, I found the main protagonist of this work totally unapproachable or warm. I just could not connect with her. Therefore, the story kept losing me and I found myself having to repeat page readings, etc. to get through to review.

Now, will this be my last book by this author? Nope. Reading another one right now and enjoying it thoroughly.

Three lonely souls find themselves thrown together after 2 tragic deaths. They each must face the past and push through the hurt before they can move forward. Merritt has lost both her parents and her husband. When her husband’s grandmother dies, Merritt finds herself the owner of the family home in South Carolina. Her husband had never spoken of his family but Merritt knows deep down she needs a new start and so she leaves everything behind in Maine and heads south. Meanwhile, her father has died leaving a widow and a son. They too need a fresh start. Loralee picks up stakes and drops herself and her son Owen in Merritt’s lap. Loralee needs something from Merritt but they are like strangers and she knows she must gain her trust first, before she runs out of time. With the help of Merritt’s previously unknown brother-in-law, Gibbes, these three will unravel the mysteries of the past and set a new path for the future.

This is a beautiful story. It’s tragic and heartwarming, sad and uplifting all at the same time. I loved the South Carolina setting where life seems to move a little more gently, which is just what Merritt, Loralee, and Owen need. Merritt’s marriage was traumatizing for her but Loralee’s cheery outlook on life is just what she needs. I found Merritt and Loralee to be much more complex than they at first appeared and one of my favorite parts of the story was how the author gradually made the characters know to the reader. It was like watching a dying plant slowly come back to life. I think Owen was my favorite character though. He’s smart as a whip but he struggles to make friends. I especially loved how the author wrote the interactions between Owen and neighbor girl Maris, and how Maris was able to bring Owen out of his shell so he could be a kid again. Loralee turns out to be the wise one in the group and she has such an insight into what makes people tick and knows just what they need to hear and when they need to hear it. The story itself moves at a steady pace but without the feeling of plodding. Overall, I found “The Sound of Glass” to be a great story and a perfect pick for a summer read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed this book by Karen White, but I must admit that I like some of her previous books more.