The In-Between Hour: Barbara Claypole White

Author: Barbara Claypole White
Book Name: The In-Between Hour
Series: *
Order:*
Genre: Romance
Rating:  Really Good

Blurb:  WHAT COULD BE WORSE THAN LOSING YOUR CHILD? HAVING TO PRETEND HE’S STILL ALIVE…

Bestselling author Will Shepard is caught in the twilight of grief, after his young son dies in a car accident. But when his father’s aging mind erases the memory, Will rewrites the truth. The story he spins brings unexpected relief…until he’s forced to return to rural North Carolina, trapping himself in a lie.

Holistic veterinarian Hannah Linden is a healer who opens her heart to strays but can only watch, powerless, as her grown son struggles with inner demons. When she rents her guest cottage to Will and his dad, she finds solace in trying to mend their broken world, even while her own shatters.

As their lives connect and collide, Will and Hannah become each other’s only hope–if they can find their way into a new story, one that begins with love.

Review: This isn’t a lighthearted read.  It is loaded with heavier emotions that are bracketed by anger and denial, so it is a little hard to say that I liked it because it is so heavy, but it was really good.

Will’s character is great.  It was incredibly easy to feel him and move through the story along his emotions.  Hannah was a bit harder, but I believe that was kind of the point.  Her character falls more into the denial category and tries to only focus on the lighter, more positive emotions which don’t seem to fit what is going on.  It is hard to connect with a character when their emotions don’t match the scenes, but her character is missing connections because of that, which is how she was written.  It worked.

The focus of this is more on the family dynamics and dramas rather than on the romance.  I think the lack of focus on that made that aspect of the story harder to connect with, so it seemed a tiny bit off for me, but overall it was a pretty good story.