By: Kerry Lonsdale
ISBN:1503941833
Publisher: Lake Union
Publication Date: 12/6/2016
Format: Other
My Rating: 4 Stars Featured Weekend Read From the bestselling author of Everything We Keep comes a gripping tale of long-buried secrets, the strength of forgiveness, and the healing power of returning home for good. After a harrowing accident tore her family apart, Molly Brennan fled from the man she loved and the tragic mistake she made.Twelve years later, Molly has created a new life for herself and her eight-year-old daughter, Cassie.
The art history professor crafts jewelry as unique and weathered as the surf-tumbled sea glass she collects, while raising her daughter in a safe and loving environment—something Molly never had. But when Cassie is plagued by horrific visions and debilitating nightmares, Molly is forced to return to the one place she swore she’d never move back to—home to Pacific Grove.A riveting exploration of love, secrets, and motherhood, All the Breaking Waves is the poignant story of a woman who discovers she must confront her past, let go of her guilt, and summon everything in her power to save her daughter.
My Review
A special thank you to the author, Lake Union, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Kerry Lonsdale continues with another heartfelt tale, following her debut, Everything We Keep, with her latest upcoming, ALL THE BREAKING WAVES —an emotional family domestic suspense saga of dark secrets, mystery, and magical realism.
Lonsdale paints a vivid portrait of a family filled with secrets, strife and ultimately—love.
ALL THE BREAKING WAVES is a mystery suspense with strong twists of romantic, historical, and paranormal elements. A talented sea glass artist, Molly Brennan whose daughter, gifted with visions, predicts Molly’s death. Molly has five days to outwit fate or make the ultimate sacrifice any parent can make. The daughter’s premonitions come with dangerous side-effects.
Molly Brennan grew up in the Pacific Grove, a coastal town on the Monterey Peninsula in California. She loved the ocean and combing for treasures. She had once believed the surf-tumbled glass had come from mermaids.
When the mythical creatures wept for sailors lost at sea, their tears hardened and washed ashore by the latest storm front. Mermaid tears were treasures, meant to be guarded close to one’s heart. They brought wishes of true love and kept you safe from those who meant harm.
However, time had taught her two valuable lessons: Fairy tales and fables paled in comparison with real nightmares, and psychic abilities were a power, the human body should not possess.
Years ago, Molly had left her home following a tragic accident. In the process, she also left the man she loved, Owen. Telling him she did not love him, but she did and always will. She was only trying to protect others around her. Her mom was murdered, and her dad died in a fatal car accident. She had no one left but her Nana, and she was getting old. And her daughter, she has to protect.
Four generations of women with "the gift." A gift which could be a torture and misunderstood by many. Ordinary to extraordinary.
Since this time, twelve years later Molly has made a home for herself and her eight-year-old daughter Cassie. Molly teaches art history at a local community college and makes jewelry from the glass she collects with a side business, selling to boutiques. They live a quiet life in San Luis Obispo in a small bungalow.
However, now her worst nightmare is facing her head on.
Cassie is experiencing horrific visions and debilitating nightmares. She is making predictions at school to keep her friends out of harm’s way. She is being bullied and frightening the parents, students, teachers, and her friends. Everyone thinks she is a freak.
Mollie’s daughter Cassie has dreams, with premonitions. They were getting worse and more gruesome. The accidents she foresaw were followed by nightmares that recurred until the premonition came to pass.
Her latest, she told her friend Grace she would be hit by a car on her bike, so she keeps telling her to be safe and wear a helmet. Maybe she could keep her from dying. To keep her from having brain damage. Both mother and daughter are desperate to have the visions go away.
They were vicious little monsters. They only echoed Molly’s own grammar school experiences. The taunting and jeers, the cautious glances. It was easier to play the role of the social outcast than to explain the odd things she saw or seemed to make other people do.
Cassie’s abilities had only recently manifested and Molly was worried she was already a social outcast. If only she could learn not to talk about them at school.
After all, Molly knew how bad her father hated her abilities, so it was hard to force her daughter to keep quiet when those close to her were in danger.
Things get out of control at school. Molly is called in by the principal and teachers. Instead of seeing a child psychologist, Molly knows there is only one person who could possibly help Cassie. Her grandmother, Nana Mary. In hopes of understanding and harnessing her gifts.
She had to do something to help her daughter. The psychological damage, the nightmares, and the lack of sleep. The visions had become horrific. Tormenting. Now that Grace’s accident had come true, she was having the worst visions yet. Cassie sees her mother drowning. She couldn’t breathe and sees her dying.
Molly is frantic and decides they need to pack up for a short visit with Nana Mary. She will be able to help control Cassie’s visions. However, how was she going to avoid the water when her Nana’s house was so close to the ocean?
From guilt and regret, the unexpected. Her Nana is in poor health, and Owen has purchased the family home next door to her Nana. The one place she swore she would never come back to. The haunting memories. Returning to Pacific Grove always roused Molly’s own fears and doubts about her own abilities.
From the past to present the author takes us back to four generations of women. All with psychic gifts. However, somewhere along the way, they were handled differently. From loss, love, and tragedy and second chances, Lonsdale takes delivers a compelling story of the strong bonds of family, and fears which haunt and destroy.
Molly is forced into the unraveling of the events of the past: Her shame, her internal journey; guilt, her mother Shelia, domestic violence, her controlling father, her Nana, and her love for Owen and her daughter Cassie. As she faces her own fears she finds the healing she needs in the salt air of the Pacific. Discovering unexpected treasures.
A contemporary fiction, combined with suspense, mystery, romance, and magical realism the multi-generational saga has many parallels from the sea glass as trash turned into treasures similar to the lives of the characters. Their psychic gifts, on one hand, are viewed as evil, versus helpful or extraordinary. The twists and comparisons with Owen’s guilt, and Mollys.
At the heart of the novel: Molly represents every parent faced with difficult, and sometimes life-threatening choices about a child’s well-being. Sacrifices for our children. An ongoing theme of facing decisions to either embrace or dismiss life choices. From acceptance, death, forgiveness, family, love, motherhood and sacrifice.
For fans of Jayne Ann Krentz, Christina Dodd, Karen Robards, and Lisa Unger (romance, suspense, mystery, psychic, paranormal); Karen White, Sarah Addison Allen, Lisa Van Allen and Alice Hoffman (historical, magical realism).
A multilayered mystery where interlinked stories, and generations, as well as unearthed secrets of a damaged family lead to courage and healing.
Look forward to the sequel to Everything We Left Behind, Coming July 1, 2017.
Review Links:
Everything We Keep #1 Amazon Kindle Best Seller
Wall Street Journal Best Seller
"Aimee’s electrifying journey to piece together the puzzle of mystery surrounding her fiancé’s disappearance is a heart-pounding reading experience every hopeless romantic and shock-loving fiction-lover should treat themselves to." -- PopSugar
Advance Praise for
All the Breaking Waves
“Blending elements of magic and mystery, All the Breaking Waves is a compelling portrayal of one mother’s journey as she grapples with her small daughter’s horrific visions that force her to confront a haunting secret from her past. Examining issues of love, loss, and the often-fragile ground of relationships and forgiveness, this tenderly told story will have you turning the pages long past midnight.” —Barbara Taylor Sissel, author of Faultlines
“With a touch of the paranormal, All the Breaking Waves is an emotional story about lost love, family secrets, and finding beauty in things people fear . . . or simply discard. A perfect book club pick!”—Barbara Claypole White, bestselling author of Echoes of Family
“A masterful tale of magic realism and family saga. With its heartfelt characters, relationships generational and maternal, and a long-ago romance, we are drawn into Molly's world. While her intuitive gifts may be ethereal, her fears and hopes for her daughter and personal desires are extraordinarily relatable. Woven with a thread of pure magic, Lonsdale crafts an intriguing story of love, mystery, and family loyalty that will captivate and entertain readers.” —Laura Spinella, bestselling author of Ghost Gifts
About the Author
Kerry Lonsdale believes life is more exciting with twists and turns, which may be why she enjoys dropping her characters into unexpected scenarios and foreign settings. She graduated from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and is a founder of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, an online community of authors located around the globe.
She resides in Northern California with her husband, two children, and an aging golden retriever who’s convinced she’s still a puppy. Her debut novel, Everything We Keep, was published by Lake Union in 2016. Connect with her at www.kerrylonsdale.com.
