Review: Memory Keeper by Jenny Hale
Rating: 4/5
Trope: Road trip, close proximity, childhood friends, small towns, widower, single dad,
Steam Level: 1
Hannah Townsend is living her best life in the upper west side of New York City with an impressive job at a magazine and a handsome and successful beau, Miles Monahan. With her thirty-fifth birthday on the horizon, she’s planning to celebrate in Barbados sipping tropical drinks in the sunshine with her boyfriend.
When she receives a call about her grandmother falling ill, she trades in her island vacation for a ticket home to Tennessee. As it happens, the sudden change of plans provides a welcome distraction from her recent discovery that Miles is cheating on her. When a winter snowstorm grounds her plane in LaGuardia, she searches for an alternate way home. Due to a snowstorm and canceled flights this leads Hannah to opt for a road trip with two other stranded passengers headed in the same direction. By chance one of Hannah’s companions is her high school friend Liam McGuire. The trip turns into more than a ride to Tennessee and gives Hannah a chance at a fresh start. When the building owner’s plans jeopardize the future of her beloved grandmother’s flower shop, she kicks into high gear to save what she treasures most.
This is more than just Hannah’s story. This is a story of finding love and holding on. The realization that just because you age doesn’t mean you should give up on your dreams.
I had a few small issues with character and story inconsistencies, for example Hannah and Liam were friends in high school, friendly enough that he drove her home after school, however his mother didn’t know her. Her parents were did not know who Liam was. It says in the story that Hannah came home for short visit just with her Grandmother but never really to visit, but no one in her family told her best friend Ethan had married and had a child? I don’t know if you can call someone your best friend anymore if you don’t know about their lives.
The Memory Keeper is a super sweet romance about coming together and realizing the importance of family and dreams. Moments of laughter as they three travel to Tennessee to hope as Hannah’s attempts to save her Grandmother’s flower shop.
Jenny Hale’s writing style makes you feel as if you are experiencing the story through the characters’ eyes. What is especially appealing is seeing how Hannah grows into the woman she has always dreamed of becoming. The story is captivating and keeps you engaged. You will fall in love with the town of Franklin and have hope that they can save the flower shop. This is a low steam, low angst romance.
