Heaven Adjacent

I have only read 2 of her books so far. She lets you realize that the simpler things in life are what really matter. Kindness that you show to others can change their lives and your own. I want to read "Pay it Forward" next. I definitely recommend this book.

Like all of Ms. Hyde’s books, this one is sweet and easy. I loved the characters, even crusty Rosie. The story is gentle, yet thought-provoking, and left me with questions for myself that I’ll be mulling over for quite awhile. It made me wish the zoo was real so I could go visit. All in all a nice read for a rainy weekend.

I read all of Catherine Ryan Hyde's books because she explores relationships with such facility. Her characters are believable, showing their strengths as well as weaknesses. In Heaven Adjacent, Hyde creates an older woman searching for peace, but before she finds it, she must sort out her relationships with her son and her law partners, especially with Alice who has died suddenly. She faces other challenges when a variety of people take up temporary residence on her newly purchased property, an abandoned farm outside of New York City. The quirkiness of these characters reminds me of work written by Anne Tyler, another of my favorite authors. They worm their way into the readers' hearts when they bring surprises to the story. A liberal dose of humor adds enjoyment when Hyde uses it to underscore her understanding of people in a variety of situations. I further admire Hyde for tackling different and difficult topics such as sexual orientation. She handles the topic with her main character, the mother of a gay son, realistically and sympathetically. Finally, I admire Ryan's ability to bring closure to her stories. I am not a fan of novels that leave the reader wondering what happened.

I have read many of Catherine Ryan Hyde's books and have never been disappointed. This one seems to receive less 5 star reviews than most of her others. I believe that this is because of the stage in life of the individual reader. I am retired, have lived through several very occupationally difficult periods, have grown children, some of which we can honestly say we don't really know each other as adults, and wished for something that would ultimately not be the best for me. This book touches on all of the above. Roseanna 'retired' herself suddenly following the unexpected death of her best friend and partner Alice. She has a grown, independent son but they both lack strong parent-child bonds and certainly a good adult relationship. She is being sued by her remaining business partner for abandoning the partnership. She longs for a life of isolation and solitude. If the reader has not dealt with some or most of these issues personally, they may think poorly of it. I think that Ms. Hyde's characters are wonderfully developed and fulfill the beautiful story. The book has encouraged me to work on building better parent/child adult relationships.

My Review of “Heaven Adjacent” by Catherine Ryan Hyde Lake Union Publishing, June 19, 2018 I appreciated and enjoyed the thought-provoking novel ” Heaven Adjacent” by Catherine Ryan Hyde. The Genres for this novel are Fiction and Women’s Fiction. What would you do if a tragedy made you re-evaluate everything in your life? How would you handle a terrible tragedy? Roseanna Chaldecott is a high-powered and successful attorney in Manhattan. Roseanna is wealthy and has the opportunity to live in a materialistic and extremely comfortable way. When Roseanna’s partner and best friend pass away unexpectedly, she takes off in her Maserati, unsure of where she is going or what she is going to do. The author describes the colorful cast of characters as complex, complicated, quirky and unpredictable. This is a story of second chances, searching for what is important, finding meaning, love and forgiveness. It is also a story about finding where you belong, and where your home and heart is. Roseanna, finds over seventy acres of land and is looking for serenity, peace and quiet. She purchases the land without really looking at everything. What Roseanna doesn’t realize is that she does have a story to tell. Also she seems to find a knack of finding some quirky people, and animals that already are living on the land. Roseanna thinks she wants a simple life. She has to climb a steep hill to use her cell- phone. In reality, she is hiding. A newspaper reporter is fascinated by Roseanna’s story and writes about it in the newspaper. When it is published, her estranged son Lance comes to take her home. Her partner threatens if she doesn’t return to the law practice he will sue her for everything. This is a heartwarming novel that I highly recommend to readers of Women’s Fiction. Of course, some of my favorite parts center around the animals in the story. I received an ARC from NetGalley for my honest review.

Heaven Adjacent begins when Roseanna Chaldecott, a rich and powerful lawyer in Manhattan, leaves the city in her Maserati on one tank of gas on a whim in search for solitude. This is because her best friend Alice, one of her partners in the law firm, suddenly dies, possibly due to overwork, which makes Roseanna realize that her life, too, doesn’t make sense with so much work. This is the setup and the beginning of the book. I have read quite a few of this author’s books and liked them very much, but in this book’s case, I couldn’t warm up to the main character. Her actions just didn’t make sense. Supposedly, she ended up being kind and sort of adopted her squatters later, only after threatening to throw them out of her very large land in the Adirondacks, several times over. That’s okay, but she did fail to keep her word to the company she founded and worked in. A kind person, no matter what happens to her, wouldn’t backstab her coworkers by suddenly taking off and leaving things undone and her clients without an attorney. Then her relationship with her son is another messed-up matter, too, which she repairs later. Roseanna might have been scared and upset but for a smart attorney, to run from the life she built up like that didn’t make sense to me, even if she might have snapped somewhat and she acted on a split-second decision. If she were so smart and wise, she could still search for her solitude in a different way without hurting her law firm, and she would weigh the consequences of her actions, the lawsuits, etc. that almost left her penniless. Had she been astute enough, she would also notice her friend Alice’s true feelings about her, too. I liked the squatters much more than Roseanna. At least, their actions resulted from desperation. Then, of course, they were all quirky. The little girl’s effect on Roseanna was positive, and cute, too. The storytelling, however, is seamless and beautiful as is usual with Hyde. Scenes are constructed beautifully and the setting is something one could dream about. Despite my dislike of the protagonist, I still enjoyed reading this book, and I will still read other books by Catherine Ryan Hyde because the messages in all her books target human emotions, actions, and their outcomes.

I loved the dialog in this book! It was funny, sarcastic and at times, profound. This author always comes through and this book is no different in that respect, but this book had more. It was dialog-driven, which is not as usual for Ryan Hyde. Her books are usually story-driven, and this was an enjoyable divergence. Which is not to say that this book isn't a cracking good story, because it is! The story is about Roseanna, a high-powered New York attorney, who rashly it seems, decides to give it all up after the sudden death of her law partner, Alice. She gets in her car and starts to drive and ends up in upstate New York, out of gas and in the middle of a fog bank, near a piece of property that is for sale. The property presents her with squatters and a whole new and strange set of rules about how to live in the wilderness. We see how Roseanna copes, sometimes, with each new obstacle. We see her change and adapt in her own, unique ways. This is a lovely, touching story of finding what really matters in life.

How can a book just drop into your hands when you really NEED it? I just know this book is a treasure and it spoke to my heart. I have a friend who walked away. Smart, smart woman. Told her she needs to read this book too. It is so very true that we fit our life around our work but really the goal should be to fit our work around our life. Making sure you are where you are supposed to be, to be open to change, even when it is hard and to make every moment count down deep in your heart. So that you can be sure when you leave this world you made time to actually live before you go…

A nice book although not as much as the other books that I have read by this author. Focuses on the importance of doing things in life which make you happy .

I love how the author has a way of delving into the characters thoughts and feelings and weaves them effortlessly into her story. Her description of people’s expressions and movements, puts you right in the room with them. Once again she touches on experiences that many of her readers can identity with in some shape or form. Another enjoyable read.

Wonderful characters, great storyline-couldn't wait to get back to it. Tears and laughter, just like life. And an ending making me want for more.

I have rarely read an author who so ably connects with the human condition - whether she writes about men, women,children or young adults she has such empathy and wisdom. Definitely one of my all-time favorite authors.

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