This book is not a common romance. It is not a lighthearted jaunt through the lives of pretty people as they navigate everyday problems with a few silly hijinks to make the book interesting. It is a book about finding love and some degree of peace after suffering unthinkable loss.
Kathy's loss is horrifying and not the kind of thing you can ever come back from completely. Kathy is not magically healed by the selfless love of Charles; he helps her move forward with her life, not move on from her loss.
I really liked Charles. He is a genuinely decent and caring person without being annoyingly good. He does not look at Kathy like a weekend fix it project, but as a person worth helping and loving.
I liked Kathy and found her character believably written as well. (I have read the Firefly Hollow series so I knew her already from those books.)
Strangely, this book is not a depressing tear jerker. (Not that I didn't cry my ass off.) It is a romance about finding hope and love when circumstances are so overwhelmingly soul crushing that you cannot imagine surviving them.

Kathy, written by T.L. Haddix, is the tenth book in the Firefly Hollow series. The main character, Kathy, was first introduced in the first book of the series, Firefly Hollow, but this book can be read as a stand-alone.

The storyline of this book takes place in the 1960's, and the main character is Kathy Browning. Kathy has not had an easy life. She was married to Randall, a man that was both physically and emotionally abusive. She has two children, one with her husband, and one that was the result of an affair she had. Thinking she is in love with the other man, she makes plans to take her children and leave Randall. Randall finds out, and does the unthinkable...he kills the other man, the children, and then beats and rapes Kathy before he kills himself. Kathy survived the brutal attack, but didn't escape the emotional fallout from that horrific day, and she sinks into a deep depression. Trying to escape the memories, she relocates to Georgia. What she doesn't realize, is her memories didn't stay behind, and she wants to commit suicide. This is the point in her life in which this story begins.

Charles Huston Kelly is sitting on the beach, trying to escape from a hectic day at work. He sees a woman walking into the waves, hesitating as she walks further into the pounding surf. Not a stranger to suicide, he recognizes the signs, and stops her from being lost under the waves.

Through her therapy sessions with Dr. Milton, Kathy begins the slow road to recovery. She is trying to learn to cope with that horrific day, and heal so that she can move on with her life. Charles is also a key factor in the healing process.

This is not a light-hearted read, but a very powerful story of survival. The author brilliantly deals with the topic of guilt and the depression that resulted from it. Kathy is a character that suffered the unimaginable, but through her therapy and the support of Charles, she begins the road to recovery, and slowly learns how to deal with her demons. This story is written in a manner that brings the story to life, the characters are true to life, and the pain is real. You feel for Kathy, and want her to heal. Charles is amazing, and was my favorite character. He was Kathy's rock when she needed it the most. He saw the woman she could be, and helped her to achieve that. Although this book deals with a sensitive subject matter, it is not nearly as depressing as it is uplifting. The courage and strength Kathy has is truly amazing, and the road to her recovery is beautifully written. I honestly can't stress enough just how good this book is! This is by far, my favorite of this series. I would definitely recommend this book, as well as the previous books in the series.

I was given an advance digital copy of this book from Streetlight Graphics Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

This book is set in the 60's but doesn't seem dated. It is book 10 in the Firefly Hollow series , I have not read any other book in this series but I had no problems getting into this book. Kathy is a woman who is trying to put her life together after an unimaginable tragedy. She is thinking of taking her own life when she is saved by Charles who has admired her from afar. This story is a journey by Kathy and it's fascinating to travel with her though a year in her life.

Healing is an unfinished process…

How a married woman survives the worst tragedy in the 60’s society?

This book opens with Kathy about to take the most drastic decision… till Charles crosses her path and decides to interfere.

This sets the beginning of a very hard journey of healing… or if not completely at least letting the dead in the past and forgive herself (if we consider Kathy is “guilty” of something here).

The author did an absolutely wonderful job here. The subject is too dark to deliver a cheesy and utopic denouement.

I really had the feeling I was making this journey with Kathy, the day by day with the ups and downs, the immense guilt she feels, the very long process to opening herself again and to analyze her own situation in the past.

Because if today women have still to fight for their rights even in the most developed countries, the 60’s, a women like Kathy could find herself trapped in a “matrimony”, a society where appearance is most important that what really happens behind the door of a home.

There was a moment in the book where we read how can a religion consider that cheating is a worst sin that beat a wife?”
How can people justify what Roy did to Kathy?
I even consider Kathy wasn’t guilty of anything. The assassination of here children was a “consequence” of the decision of her husband, the real monster here. They don’t die because of here, they die because the bastard (the real one indeed) wanted to punish here in the worst way possible, being coward enough to kill himself after torturing both paramours and raping her in all possible ways…

Hypocrite society has it: once a woman get married (for getting pregnant or not), she makes her choice and have to deal with consequences, in a great matrimony or in the worst case, in a matrimony that becomes a jail. Kathy is guilty for getting pregnant of an abusive boyfriend, who cheated on her once they married and beat her after begging her to come back, causing her a miscarriage in the process.

How can we blame a woman turn to another man (not necessary better, but who makes her believe he loves her for good?
How can people and even family can think Kathy caused those deaths?
How many beaten women were they in the 60’s?
How many Kathy? How many died behind their door or couldn’t escape their home, being prisoner with her children, of the husband, the monster?
What happened to Kathy was a tragedy caused by an egocentric man, who never respected her and treated her like a belonging.
I admired Kathy’s mother, her perspective of all this is so brilliant.
And what about Charles… He gives us some closure with masculine mentality in those days… even today, we need so much Charles in this world, for us women and for our daughters…
I’ll finish this review saying the author did an excellent job, with a very realistic story, in a journey that gives Kathy some kind of closure. She’s still healing, and certainly always be, but she’s stronger, she has her family, Charles and she’s learnt to really be herself.

A very touching story.