Road to Tomorrow by Mary A Metcalfe
From the Publisher…
Andrea Garrett is trying to escape her abusive marriage. Fearing for her life, she leaves her two small children with her twin brother and flees her home the day before her husband is due to arrive back from a tour of duty. After falling asleep at the wheel and landing in a ditch, her life takes on a new direction when strangers step in and introduce her to a life she could only have imagined and one that could save her soul and give her children the future they deserve.
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From Me…
This story was very endearing and heart warming. I went into the book expecting something typical, but the story took an unexpected turn, which honestly delighted me. The main character was compelling and loveable, though not entirely complex. This is not a bad thing necessarily, as the depth of the character depends upon the intent of the author, and not all authors need tortured or conflicted main characters. Andrea is almost entirely good, which I think worked for this story.
I had a few issues with his book, however. Some were purely formatting and editing errors. There were many point-of-view shifts in this book that were not formatted correctly. At one point, the character speaking in a conversation with Andrea is suddenly in a different place with a different person. At first it appears that he is saying something to Andrea, but in reality, he was somewhere else, in a truck talking to Andrea’s husband. I figured out the problem, but it definitely took me a couple of re-reads to understand.
Also, I had an issue with the plot and story-telling. At times this story felt too rushed. I wanted a little more build up, more struggle or turmoil before Andrea became stable. I know that the point of the story was to follow Andrea building her life after leaving an abusive husband, but I guess I would have liked more building in the beginning. Andrea crashes her car into a ditch and a passer-by stops to help. That same passer-by, with the help of some friends, pays Andrea’s hospital bill, gives her a place to stay, a job, a lawyer, an apartment, and babysitting. Not to mention the fact that Andrea has an undisclosed inheritance which gives her money to start her life with less complications. In between getting each of these things, there is some explanation, but I still felt like it wasn’t very plausible. It would be great if women her truly suffered from abuse were able to find this town with these people, I just have a hard time believing this could really happen. But hey, it’s called fiction fro a reason, right?!
As I said before, this was a really good story with a strong female lead character. My guess is that given another 100 pages to work with, this author would have hit it out of the park. Definitely will recommend this for a really quick easy read.
About the
Book – About the Author – Prizes!!!
Andrea Garrett is trying to escape her abusive
marriage. Fearing for her life, she leaves her two small children with her twin
brother and flees her home the day before her husband is due to arrive back
from a tour of duty. After falling asleep at the wheel and landing in a ditch,
her life takes on a new direction when strangers step in and introduce her to a
life she could only have imagined and one that could save her soul and give her
children the future they deserve. Get Road to
Tomorrow through Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
Metcalfe lives in the foothills of the Laurentians, northeast of Ottawa, Canada
with her husband, three cats and a very large dog. Love of writing runs in the
family. Their daughter is a published literary non-fiction author. Clarion
Review described Mary’s debut novel as a “sparkling debut… readers will love
being swept along by Winds of Change.”Road to Tomorrow is her third
novel in the Look to the Future series. Connect with Mary on
her website, blog, Facebook, GoodReads, or Twitter.
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Hi Amy. Thank you for jour thoughtful review. Not sure who Andrew is… think you meant Andrea. The scène where Sean and Richard chat was set à part on its own. I'm On the road this week and Will check the formatting. Thanks for pointing it out.
Great review, Andrea. I've noticed the abrupt POV shifts too and am highlighting them for Mary, so she can add some *** to distinguish the sections. Otherwise, I love how fast and deep this read is! Thank you for joining us on this tour, and please take a moment to cross-post to Amazon and GoodReads.
Em 😀
Aw, such a sweet review! I'm so glad you enjoyed the book 🙂
Hi Amy.
A great review. I am looking for more information and opinions about this book.
Well the book was good and I liked the plot, especially dealing with traumatic brain injuries. I just wish the author had more time and pages to really explore the stories and characters.
It does seem like the perfect town which would be hard to find! I agree though and liked reading about Andrea standing up in her new found strength. More struggle and turmoil would perhaps help her to be more credible and inspiring to readers facing the same troubles.
I actually hadn't thought about some of those issues. I remember one point of confusion, and I did feel that the story was a little rushed at the end. Great review!