Julia's Daughters by Colleen Faulkner - Reshelved Books

Guys, I think I found a new favorite author!

I stumbled across Julia's Daughters by Colleen Faulkner in the dollar store where I was looking for a bucket.  As someone who is in the process of moving and renovating a home, did I need a new book? No.  Should I be buying a new book? No.  Do I have the money for a new book?  Not really... I need housewares.  But I was drawn to this book not only because the cover is gorgeous and #bookstagram worthy, but because it sounded SO good and authors like Susan Wiggs, Holly Chamberlin, and Cathy Lamb have raved about Faulkner's other work. So I came home with both a bucket and a new book.  

Isn't this book just beautiful? 

  

Imagine you had a daughter who died as a passenger in a tragic car accident because the person driving ran a stop sign...But what if the person driving was your other daughter? 

Julia's Daughters explores the story of a family who lost a daughter to this type of tragedy, following the grief, guilt, and healing that parallels a journey of a mother and daughter road trip from Las Vegas to Maine.  The premise for this book sort of reminded me of Night Road by Kristin Hannah. (It's an awesome and gut wrenching read. You should definitely check it out!) Anyway, Julia's Daughters switches between the voices of the mother, Julia, and her two remaining daughters, Haley and Izzy, to show not only how grief effects them individually but also how they come to heal together. Lately I have been reading a lot of young adult fiction and have been in a reading slump regarding adult fiction.  Reading a novel like this, with both adult and young adult character perspectives, was a surprising and nice transition between genres.

This novel was such a quick read.  I started it on a Sunday evening and finished it on a Tuesday.  When I wasn't reading it I was WISHING I was reading it.  Aren't those the best kind of books?

And so I leave you my dear For the Love of Dewey readers, with a rating of 5 out of 5 Coffee Beans.

And the best part?  Faulkner's other novels look just as good.  

~Jessica