Night Road made me ugly cry

Love her books, but no happy endings here.

The Women is one of her weakest books in my opinion. But yes, they all have lots of trauma in them.

My favorite is The Great Alone.

I LOVED Great Alone, and hated Firefly Lane. I can’t believe they are both by the same author, which has made me a little hesitant to try another of hers. I do want to try Four Winds based on other reviews.

I have read

Magic Hour - it was fine, maybe solid 3.5/5 but I didn't love it
Firefly Lane - I hated it, I thought the one friend was basically abusive, I'd give it a 2.5/5 at best
The Nightingale - I liked it, it was depressing but then again, it was WWII, I'd give it a 4.25/5
The Great Alone - I loved it, it was also depressing but so good, I'd give it a 4.75/5
The Women - I hated it, I thought it was boring and the main character was really dull, I'd give it a 2.5/5

So I am all over the place with her!

I do think her books are generally kind of depressing, so if you don't like that, then maybe give up? I'm about to start Four Winds because I read a lot and I'm willing to keep giving her chances although who knows if I'll love or hate that one. The only one I was ambivalent about was Magic Hour, it wasn't great but it didn't make me angry.

Anonymous wrote:OP here, thanks. So maybe I'll read Four Winds, but not if the main character's significant other is killed etc... am I safe to assume this will happen?

No, the SO isn't killed. But it takes place during the Great Depression and bad stuff happens.

OP here, thanks. So maybe I'll read Four Winds, but not if the main character's significant other is killed etc... am I safe to assume this will happen?

I've read several of her books and have cried at some point during each. She writes a lot about the mother-daughter relationship and other female family relationships, which can be hard to read at times (emotionally). But there is an element of trauma and emotional pain in each of her books, and the settings are often challenging, too (war time, the Great Depression, the Alaskan wilderness). These are not light-hearted beach reads.

Similar themes but I liked The Great Alone - takes place in Alaska.

I know people rave about The Nightingale, but I just wasn't super-impressed with it. It was fine, but not the extraordinary work it was made out to be, in my opinion.

I really liked Four Winds, but it was a total downer too.

I read "The Women" and couldn't even finish it because of the complaining. I also loved Four Winds.

I loved The Four Winds

You've read her two best books so maybe not. I'd say both books were such a "downer" because the Vietnam War and WWII were kind of a downer for those involved.

Just read the The Women. It was really engaging and and I learned a lot about the Vietnam war, but I feel like the book was such a downer for the main character like I just foresaw bad things happening to her and they did.

The Nightingale I also loved, but again hated the ending because it was a downer and I feel like it was the same in The Women. Are all Kristen Hannah books like this? It seems somewhat formulaic. Unsure if I should read any of her other books.