We Live and Breathe Books: One Old, One New

One Old, One New features two books – one old, one new, which are connected in some way. This week, I am featuring two books by Kelly Harms. I read my first Kelly Harms book last year, and I loved it so much! With both these books rating high for me, I think I may have found a new author to add to my list of auto-reads.

Wherever the Wind Takes Us by Kelly Harms
Published by Lake Union Publishing on October 18, 2022
Age/Genres: Contemporary, Fiction
four-half-stars

Goodreads

When life stops making sense, it’s time to raise the anchor and follow the tide.
Twenty-two years of marriage, and all Becca Larkin’s divorce settlement includes is a live-aboard sailboat and a huge helping of heartache.
So when normally cautious Becca proposes a girls’ trip with her daughter, Liv, boating from Maine to a ready buyer for the boat in Miami, it seems like a recipe for a fun summer and a fresh start. After all, how hard can this sailing thing be?
Enter Grant Murphy, a stunning Irish sailing coach that Liv can barely stand—and Becca can’t seem to resist. Grant’s too young for Becca, but he’s insightful and kind, and his passion for sailing is contagious. Through his eyes, Becca sees for the first time in years a future she might want to navigate toward.
There are seventeen hundred miles between Maine and Miami, but the journey Becca’s on can’t be charted on any map. And the only way to get there is to hoist the sails and throw caution to the wind. From the bestselling author of The Overdue Life of Amy Byler comes a sparkling novel about mothers and daughters, change and escape, and learning to love again.

Becca married young and remained in her broken marriage out of worries about her future and obligations. Then came the straw that broke the camel’s back, and she was finally ready to leave her husband, his family, and their money behind.

This was a quite a journey, and I loved it! Becca stayed with her husband as long as she did out of fear, and even following the divorce, she was still be driven by fear. Delivering that boat to its buyer was so critical for her as she tried to figure out her next steps and life on her own terms.

This was a tough journey, both physically and emotionally. Becca found herself in some rather precarious situations at sea, but she learned so much. She not only grasped the art of sailing, but she also discovered that she was stronger and more capable than she ever gave herself credit for. This woman whose life had been dictated by the Larkin family for over twenty years pushed herself in a way she never had before. She reawakened parts of herself she thought were lost forever, and it was such a wonderful thing the bear witness to.

The mother-daughter relationship was also explored. Becca didn’t want to come between her daughter and her ex-husband. She wanted to both be honest with her daughter while not creating friction between them. At the same time, she had to begin seeing her daughter as an adult. It was a rocky road for these two, and I was frustrated with both Becca and Liv, but sometimes growth can be painful.

I am trash for stories about rebuilding your life. Becca did an admirable job rising from the ashes of her failed marriage, and Harms did a wonderful job telling her story. The blend of exhilarating action, humor, romance, and warmth was perfect for me. It’s also always a pleasure reading a story that reminds me that it’s never too late for my second act. This tale took me through a wide range of emotions, and it ended in a way that left me happy and satisfied.

*ARC PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER

The Overdue Life of Amy Byler by Kelly Harms
Published by Lake Union Publishing on May 1, 2029
Age/Genres: Contemporary, Fiction
four-half-stars

Goodreads

Overworked and underappreciated, single mom Amy Byler needs a break. So when the guilt-ridden husband who abandoned her shows up and offers to take care of their kids for the summer, she accepts his offer and escapes rural Pennsylvania for New York City.
Usually grounded and mild mannered, Amy finally lets her hair down in the city that never sleeps. She discovers a life filled with culture, sophistication, and—with a little encouragement from her friends—a few blind dates. When one man in particular makes quick work of Amy’s heart, she risks losing herself completely in the unexpected escape, and as the summer comes to an end, Amy realizes too late that she must make an impossible decision: stay in this exciting new chapter of her life, or return to the life she left behind.
But before she can choose, a crisis forces the two worlds together, and Amy must stare down a future where she could lose both sides of herself, and every dream she’s ever nurtured, in the beat of a heart.

Imagine you just spent the last three years trying to recover from your husband abandoning you. You had to find a job, care for your children alone, figure out how to pay all the bills on your own, and then your husband returns. I could imagine this would be a shock to the system, and it was quite a disrupter for Amy.

When her husband reappeared and requested to spend the summer with their children, Amy was left trying to figure out what to do with herself. Her whole identity was wrapped up in being a mother, and now, she was a childless mother left to her own devices.

I really related to this part of Amy’s story. I was a single mother my daughter’s whole life, and I was mostly known as “Kiersten’s mom”. When she left for college, I felt a bit unmoored. It was easy for me to understand what Amy was feeling, but I was also excited for her as she embarked on her so-called “momspringa”. This was a healing journey filled with fun and lots of self-discoveries.

I am very much enjoying Harms’ backlist. She writes fun, entertaining, and relatable stories about women. Though Amy’s personal story was about a person who lost their identity outside of being a mother, there were also characters who were defined by things such as their jobs. Even if one cannot relate to Amy’s quandary of trying to figure out who she was outside of being Cori and Joe’s mother, I think readers can relate tangentially. And if they can’t, the story was still a lot of fun to read. Overall, I had a wonderful time taking this journey with Amy. There was laughter, some tears, and lots of smiles.