Book Review: Night Road, Kristin Hannah

Night Road is Kristin Hannah’s newest novel and one that I (yet again) preordered. I was so excited when it came. A lot of Hannah’s novels deal with similar topics, namely close friendships, mother/lack of mothers, and sisters – all of which are topics I love. The one dealt with pretty much each one of these in some form. Night Road is the story of Lexi, a former foster kid, who moves in with her aunt and befriends fellow weirdo Mia. Subsequently, Mia’s family, including twin brother Zach, mom Jude, and dad Miles take Lexi in as their own child, and Zach and Lexi fall in love. Life is great, until one night toward the end of their senior year, when there’s a terrible accident, and everything that the Farraday family and Lexi had built together is shattered.

This has to be one of my favorite Hannah books, and in the last year or so I’ve read several. I think Jude is a little bit obsessive when it comes to mothering, but that’s a very real portrayal. Hello, I work at a college and you’d be amazed by the kinds of things parents call and email me about. Welcome to the term “helicopter parents.” Anyhow, I really like all of the characters – Lexi, of course, is my favorite, as I am a former foster kid. Zach and Mia are fun kids with great personalities. Jude is just a mom who wants to love her kids. These relationships are very real to me – Lexi and the twins, Lexi and Jude, Jude and her kids. They’re not perfect, but that’s what I love about them. Plot aside, the relationships were what made me like this book so much. Even if Jude was slightly overbearing a lot of the time.

It’s not a perfect novel, however, and something that bothered me a little (and other readers, according to Amazon) was how the Farradays accepted zero responsibility for what happened the night of the accident. I don’t want to be more specific than that because I don’t want to be the one to spoiler the plot, but man, poor Lexi. I know Jude was hurting but she came across as the most selfish nut job at times during the middle portion of this book.

I like to liken Kristin Hannah’s books to just under those of Jodi Picoult, but way, way above Danielle Steel. I thought this book was a nice read, a bit sad but with (mostly) good characters, and for those who don’t want a fluffy book but also don’t want serious literature, a perfect pick.

Rating: 8.5/10