An emotionally charged tale of a family you won’t soon forget!
"Because he was hoping to save Tara, just like in Mom's fairy tale. But in the fairy tale they had all saved each other."
Tara is finally free: she's done her time in a prison called Taconic, and is aching to get back to the real world outside the walls of confinement. But Tara knows that with a drug charge and prison time on her record forever, finding a new way of life won't be easy. She was formerly an art teacher and has kept her skills sharp by making drawings for the kids of some of her fellow inmates...but with a criminal record, teaching art is out of the question. Will anyone take a chance on her...or will she be forced to take a job befitting of her troubled past?
Aside from her employment woes, going back home means moving back in with her family: high strung accounting whiz Geraldine, who has always kept the family together but may finally be in a BIT over her head, and Eddie, Tara's brother who suffered a traumatic brain injury years ago. Despite his limitations, Eddie still gives his all at his construction job AND tries his hardest be a good father to his adorable son, Connor. While Tara looks at her nephew as though he were her own son, Connor's real mom Andrea is still in the wings of the Connelly's lives also....meaning her drug dealer isn't far behind.
But when the handsome cop who initially arrested Tara offers to drive her home from prison...and keeps showing up on her doorstep...what could he possibly want now? Is he simply trying to get more information about the misdeeds in Tara's past and figure out the secrets that bind the Connellys together? Or is he on a quest to really KNOW Tara ...even better than she knows herself?
Though I had the misfortune to miss out on Lange's debut We Are the Brennans, after reading countless rave reviews, I considered Lange a must-read author and was VERY excited to get the chance to read an early copy of this one...and now I see what the hype was all about! The first couple of chapters in this one felt a bit slow and wordy to me, while Lange was establishing character...but by the end of chapter 3, I was COMPLETELY hooked! There are plenty of thriller-esque just-one-more-chapter endings to Lange's chapters...so consider yourself warned!
The Connelly family is so beautifully penned, and each character and side character not only has RELEVANCE, but feels fresh off the pages of life itself. Lange doesn't waste a word or a moment; you get a very early sense of who these characters are early on, but at the same time, as the story unfolds, these truly feel like friends that you've gotten to know over several YEARS, with all the frustration and joy that comes with TRULY knowing the good, bad, and ugly about someone you love unconditionally. While teeny parts of the plot might have been predictable, there is so much about these characters (particularly Tara) that will surprise you. If you loved Mare in Mare of Easttown (a simply PHENOMENAL show you need to drop everything and watch RIGHT NOW if you haven't already) I promise you will LOVE Tara. So much about this book reminded me of that dysfunctional family and the ebbs and flows of their relationships in the wake of trauma and strife.
Lange also captures some of the feelings of unresolved frustration between children who are abandoned by their parents and subsequently had to grow up too fast: the matriarch of the Connelly clan passed away when the children were young, and their father flat-out abandoned them. Before she passed, though, their mother used to tell the children a magical tale about the Connellys of County Down, where each member of the family has magical powers that could save them....IF they can only dig deep enough to rediscover them. Between these journeys of exploration as a family unit and Tara's own personal journey towards self-love, acceptance, and trust, the narrative is full to bursting with emotional tension, highs and lows, and the reader has no choice but to be swept away with the current..and despite the bumps, it's a lovely and touching journey.
Though the Connelly clan might have started their journey living in the fairy tale world that seemed far beyond their reach, by story's end they come to realize that Hans Christian Anderson might have summed it up best: "Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale."
4.5 stars
#CeladonReads #TheConnellysofCountyDown
Tara is finally free: she's done her time in a prison called Taconic, and is aching to get back to the real world outside the walls of confinement. But Tara knows that with a drug charge and prison time on her record forever, finding a new way of life won't be easy. She was formerly an art teacher and has kept her skills sharp by making drawings for the kids of some of her fellow inmates...but with a criminal record, teaching art is out of the question. Will anyone take a chance on her...or will she be forced to take a job befitting of her troubled past?
Aside from her employment woes, going back home means moving back in with her family: high strung accounting whiz Geraldine, who has always kept the family together but may finally be in a BIT over her head, and Eddie, Tara's brother who suffered a traumatic brain injury years ago. Despite his limitations, Eddie still gives his all at his construction job AND tries his hardest be a good father to his adorable son, Connor. While Tara looks at her nephew as though he were her own son, Connor's real mom Andrea is still in the wings of the Connelly's lives also....meaning her drug dealer isn't far behind.
But when the handsome cop who initially arrested Tara offers to drive her home from prison...and keeps showing up on her doorstep...what could he possibly want now? Is he simply trying to get more information about the misdeeds in Tara's past and figure out the secrets that bind the Connellys together? Or is he on a quest to really KNOW Tara ...even better than she knows herself?
Though I had the misfortune to miss out on Lange's debut We Are the Brennans, after reading countless rave reviews, I considered Lange a must-read author and was VERY excited to get the chance to read an early copy of this one...and now I see what the hype was all about! The first couple of chapters in this one felt a bit slow and wordy to me, while Lange was establishing character...but by the end of chapter 3, I was COMPLETELY hooked! There are plenty of thriller-esque just-one-more-chapter endings to Lange's chapters...so consider yourself warned!
The Connelly family is so beautifully penned, and each character and side character not only has RELEVANCE, but feels fresh off the pages of life itself. Lange doesn't waste a word or a moment; you get a very early sense of who these characters are early on, but at the same time, as the story unfolds, these truly feel like friends that you've gotten to know over several YEARS, with all the frustration and joy that comes with TRULY knowing the good, bad, and ugly about someone you love unconditionally. While teeny parts of the plot might have been predictable, there is so much about these characters (particularly Tara) that will surprise you. If you loved Mare in Mare of Easttown (a simply PHENOMENAL show you need to drop everything and watch RIGHT NOW if you haven't already) I promise you will LOVE Tara. So much about this book reminded me of that dysfunctional family and the ebbs and flows of their relationships in the wake of trauma and strife.
Lange also captures some of the feelings of unresolved frustration between children who are abandoned by their parents and subsequently had to grow up too fast: the matriarch of the Connelly clan passed away when the children were young, and their father flat-out abandoned them. Before she passed, though, their mother used to tell the children a magical tale about the Connellys of County Down, where each member of the family has magical powers that could save them....IF they can only dig deep enough to rediscover them. Between these journeys of exploration as a family unit and Tara's own personal journey towards self-love, acceptance, and trust, the narrative is full to bursting with emotional tension, highs and lows, and the reader has no choice but to be swept away with the current..and despite the bumps, it's a lovely and touching journey.
Though the Connelly clan might have started their journey living in the fairy tale world that seemed far beyond their reach, by story's end they come to realize that Hans Christian Anderson might have summed it up best: "Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale."
4.5 stars
#CeladonReads #TheConnellysofCountyDown