Rolling Toward Clear Skies superbly reflects the complexities of blended families, but what I loved about this book was the kindness, the compassion and the mercy that spilled from the pages.
This story demonstrates how life is full of change. Change can be hard, but it’s those hard times that allow a person to grow.

Wonderful storytelling from Catherine Ryan Hyde. The pace and flow were perfect; the characters were compelling and I was easily absorbed into the story.
My first experience of Catherine Ryan Hyde novels and it won’t be the last!

I am grateful to the publisher, Lake Union Publishing, via NetGalley for an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

It is always a delight to read Catherine Ryan Hyde's trademark emotionally heart tugging, thought provoking novels, here featuring divorced Californian medic, Dr Maggie Blount, a mother of 2 children, Willa and Gemma, with a nurse boyfriend, Alex. She is a principled woman who puts her private practice, when required, on hold, when disaster hits, the children staying with their father. Emergency response charity, Doctors on Wheels, takes her and Alex to the latest nightmare of a devastating category 5 hurricane in Louisiana, which is where she encounters 2 homeless and traumatised orphan sisters, Jean and Rose,and the puppy, Sandy. Her bond with them will not allow her leave them behind when it is time to come back.

Maggie returns to Vista del Mar into a world of troubling conflict and the fallout from becoming a foster parent, her spoilt, entitled, self absorbed teen daughters are far from happy to have their home opened up to these interlopers. Jean and Rose are their polar opposites, shell shocked, they find themselves in unfamiliar, well off surroundings, but they are lovely, kind, grateful, and appreciate what they now have. Maggie is more than aware that she has played her part in how Willa and Gemma have turned out be like, as she tries to tackle the issues that arise with a newly blended family. It is not easy to address the damage done to her girls as foster mum Maggie endeavours to meet the needs of all the girls, not to mention the puppy!

Once again the author charms and engages in her ability to weave a sensitive, spellbinding, and captivating story as we wonder if Maggie can make her new family work. Perhaps some of her characters are little too black and white in their depiction, but this did not spoil my enjoyment of this uplifting family drama, with its core issues of identity, inequalities, being a teenager, social media, along with the nature of blended and flawed families. Fans of the author are likely to love this, as indeed are those readers who are new to her. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

In Rolling Toward Clear Skies Catherine Ryan Hyde brings the reader another realistic, heartfelt book. A divorced female physician travels with her boyfriend to disaster areas to help those in need. When away she leaves her two privileged daughters with their father. On one of these trips she connects with two humble teenage girls who have been through devastating loss and have no one to care for them. A new family is created even though the girls couldn’t be more different. A heart warming story!

Sadly this one is a DNF at 40% for me, I really like the premise of this novel but found the characters so unrealistic, her biological daughters were so unrealistically unpleasant and the adopted / rescued girls far too sickly sweet and nice that it was almost impossible to connect. I also found the main characters thoughts and then the reality were too coincidental and everything seemed too neat.

Not my favourite by this author but will definitely not be the last I pick up as I have enjoyed earlier works. If you like the author then I would recommend giving this a go.

Catherine Ryan Hyde has been consistently writing at least two books a year. Readers are presented with the wonder of a new book twice a year. I don’t know how she keeps coming up with new, fresh subjects so often, but I am glad she does it. This one is about a couple, she’s a doctor and he’s a nurse, who operate a doctors on wheels with two other doctors. They make their way to disasters and help the people involved for free. At one disaster, Maggie ends up bringing two teenage girls and a dog home. She already has two teenage daughters from a previous marriage so you can imagine the conflicts that occur. This is such a great story, I didn’t want it to end. Bravo to Catherine Ryan Hyde for another winner!

The thing I love most about a Catherine Ryan Hyde book is that it is going to make you think. It make you look at yourself and situations in a new light or from a new perspective.

This book has so many great things about it. You have Maggie, a doctor that travels to disaster areas and provides free medical care. This doctors on wheels was started by her younger boyfriend and nurse Alex. They along with two other doctors travel and help people when they are probably at their lowest. Maggie has two teenage daughters she shares with her ex-husband. Maggie is concerned that her daughter maybe a selfish and entitled.

Alex and Maggie head to a hurricane to offer relief to those affected by the tragedy. There two teenage girls come for medical care. They soon find out the girls were orphaned by the hurricane. Maggie after caring for the girls and due to circumstances regarding their family decides to foster the girls. The differences between the orphaned teens and her own soon become obvious.

I loved how Maggie went about bridging the gap between the girls. She loves her own daughters but becomes a mother to Jean and Rose easily. The transition for all the girls is difficult. Through counseling and some hard learned lessons this family becomes just that. This story was heartwarming and realistic.

I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

I've read a few Catherine Ryan Hyde books and she never disappoints! This is a story about a mother, Maggie who has two teen daughters and decides to adopt two more teen daughters when their parents are killed in a hurricane. When the four daughters are living together, there is chaos but it ends up being a heartwarming story.

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc!

I have been a fan of Catherine Ryan Hyde since 1999 and she has never disappointed me. She always finds new and interesting emotional topics to write about. This was a timely one to read because after a natural disaster (Helene anyone?) two teenage girls are left parentless and homeless. Maggie Blount is a doctor who volunteers at such events and is a divorced mom of two teenage girls. When she decides to foster and then adopt the newly orphaned teenagers what follows is a dramatic tale of the impact the adoption has on everyone in the family.

I was quickly absorbed into this tale. Maggie's biological daughters were not very likable and I tried very hard to sympathize with them. While I liked and related to the adopted daughters a lot more I found them to be sickly sweet and not as realistic as the other two. I think the author did that on purpose to show how polar opposites the teens are. I really enjoyed this book about nature versus nurture, the haves and the have-nots. It's about growing up, helping others and blended families and it was told with Hyde's typical sensitivity and wit. This one really touched my heart.

Catherine Ryan Hyde remains one of those authors I consider to give me a comfort factor when reading, like putting on my favorite sweater or sweatshirt. I decided to read her latest “Rolling Toward Clear Skies” for that reason.

Dr. Maggie Blount is a divorced mother of two teenage daughters who lives in California. When natural disasters strike, she and her partner, Alex, head out as part of Doctors on Wheels. The idea for Doctors on Wheels came from Alex, who’s a Registered Nurse. He got Maggie to agree to join, along with another couple who are also doctors.

I read this book in one evening. Maggie meets two sisters, who have been orphaned, and their puppy when Doctors on Wheels arrives in Louisiana after a category five hurricane. Reading this book was a timely choice for me since Hurricane Helene and the aftermath of her destruction was still fresh and present in the news and social media.

As the book progresses, Maggie becomes a foster mother to Jean and Rose while also dealing with her daughters’ resentment of them. Maggie adopts Jean and Rose and continues working on her relationship with Willa and Gemma. The entire time, Maggie learns to navigate the challenges of not only her blended family, but also trying to undo Willa and Gemma’s privileged views on life.

Overall, I recommend this book. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my ARC.

I so enjoyed this book. Loved the way the story unfolded and delved into the subject of blended families and how they mix. Would recommend this book.

“Rolling Toward Clear Skies” by Catherine Ryan Hyde is a book about family—how sticky they can be and how families are made up of people who love each other. Dr. Maggie Blount lives with her two teenage daughters (Willa and Gemma) in California. Maggie is a part of the humanitarian mission “Doctors on Wheels” and she and her partner Alex go to Louisiana when a major hurricane hits. Maggie decides, quite on the spur of the moment, to foster two girls (Jean and Rose) who lost their parents in the hurricane, and a puppy they’d found.

I enjoyed this book and found it to be well written, but I have to say that I didn’t like the characters very much. I found it hard to believe that Willa and Gemma were so constantly awful, with almost no redeeming qualities to them at all. And I find it hard to believe that Jean and Rose were perfect saints. This story was really told in terms of “black and white”. Having said that, I continued reading to the end, wanting to know what would happen. So I'm rounding up from three stars. I would definitely read more by this author, but I hope other books are a bit more nuanced when it comes to the characters. Many thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for an ARC of this novel and my opinion is my own.

Catherine Ryan Hyde is excellent at finding new contemporary topics to write about. This time it’s about two teenage girls and their reaction to their mother suddenly inviting two orphaned girls into their family.

Dr Maggie Blount is a busy woman, a divorcee with two teenage daughters, a medical practice in California and a role volunteering in a disaster medical response team set up by herself and her partner Alex, a nurse. Her daughters resent that she is often away at disasters but they have always had everything they’ve asked and have grown up spoiled with a sense of entitlement. Maggie loves them dearly but doesn’t like who they’ve become. When Maggie and Alex return from a hurricane in Louisiana with two orphaned teenagers who witnessed their parents dying, they flounce out of the house to go and stay with their father.

Over the next year Maggie works on changing her (biological) daughters’ attitudes and tries to meld her broken family back into something new where everyone can be respectful of others and get along together. As always the characters were well drawn, although I found Maggie too calm and considerate to be real (no one ever seems to think about her feelings) and the orphaned girls a little too good to be true for teenagers who’ve suffered a great trauma on top of being placed in a difficult living environment. Overall, I enjoyed the novel, loved Maggie and Sunny, the giant lost puppy the orphans adopt and the hopeful ending.

Life is about to change for Maggie Blount, her two daughter and her partner. Maggie is part of Doctors On Wheels, along with her partner. When there is a disaster, they go to help out, leaving the girls with their father. When they arrived after a hurricane hit, there were 2 girls, that came to them, and they were really sick. The roof had caved in, and their parents didn't make it. As the doctors were treating the girls in their RV, a dog appeared, that was skinny and needed nutrition. The girls wanted the dog to stay, and the dog stayed. When it was time for them to go back home, Maggie talked to the girl's social worker, and the girl's only relative, was an elderly grandmother and grandfather, that couldn't take care of the girls. Maggie turned around and went back and got the girl's and the dog and went home.
When they got home, Maggie's daughters weren't happy and moved out to live with their father. Life has a way of when you need to change, it makes things happen, that forces you to think about things, and decide what you are going to do. We find out all the things life has in store for them all, and what they decide to do. Will they learn the lessons life wants them to learn, will they continue to do the same thing they have been doing, you will enjoy reading the book to find out?
I received an ARC from Lake Union Publishing through NetGalley.

Rolling Toward Clear Skies is another beautiful, comforting novel by Catherine Ryan Hyde. This time, she tackles families blended through foster care and adoption. CRH gets it. My family is also formed by blending birth and adopted children - three sets of older sibling groups. What I love most about CRH's depiction is how she covers the period it takes to really blend a family and what happens along the way. What I didn't appreciate as much was the extreme personalities she gave the two sets of sisters. The birth kids come off as entitled brats with few, if any, redeeming features. The new kids come off almost too perfectly - they never seem to go through an acting out stage, which happens, but not so much. But it's still a CRH book where I try to internalize how her adults speak to children and teens.

If you are already a CRH fan - you'll enjoy this book.
If you are interested in older sibling group fostering or adoption, add this to your resources.
If you just want to feel like life's challenges can be overcome, then you might enjoy this encouraging novel.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an eBook version of this novel in exchange for a review.

Another awesome book by a really good author. I just could not put this book down. Once I started reading I was hooked. She tells the story in a way that you forget you are reading and think you are actually there.

Maggie is a divorcee with two very difficult spoiled rotten teenagers. They are used to getting everything they want because Maggie didn't want them doing without. Now they feel that they are entitled to have everything they ask for.

Maggie is a Dr and her boyfriend Alex is a Nurse. Alex started the Non Profit group called Drs on Wheels. This consists of Maggie and Drs Bishop. A two Dr team, husband and wife, and Alex . They go to places that have natural disasters such as hurricanes where the hospitals are overloaded and people who don't have medical insurance and just lost their homes and all their belongings can go to get care at no cost to them.

This book leads you through some of the times that they went to these disasters and helped people that were complete strangers to them. It is a really touching book and I read it in one day. It is that good.

If you want a really good book that will pull at your heartstrings a little then this book is for you.

Dr. Margaret Blount (Maggie) is a divorced single mother of two teenage daughters ages 17 and 14. Willa and Gemma come across as spoiled and entitled, as Margaret would say she was raising two teenage monsters.
Maggie is a primary care physician, as well as a volunteer with Doctors on Wheels. Her boyfriend Alex is a nurse who established the organization that responds to disasters such as hurricanes, forest fires.
When a hurricane hits Louisiana, Doctors on Wheels goes to help. Maggie treats two very sick, shellshocked girls, Jean and Rose whose parents died from the storm. These girls are everything her own daughters are not, polite, humble and kind. She brings them home as well as a puppy.
How is she going to blend this family together?
A captivating story that totally captured my heart from the start. A story that deals with emotions, trauma, consequences, feelings and much more.

Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity to read this book.

Maggie Blount is a divorced mother of two teenage daughters Willa and Gemma and she works as a GP in Vista Del Mar, California and she volunteers for Doctors on Wheels. Maggie and her partner Alex a nurse travel in a RV van and provide free medical treatment for people effected by natural disasters. With fellow Doctors John and Lacey Bishop they leave for rural Louisiana where a category five hurricane is wreaking havoc and destroying everything in it’s path. Two teenage girls arrive, sick and drenched, and their parents died. Maggie takes care of Jean and Rose and the puppy they saved, and she notices how different they are to her own daughters.

Maggie’s been questioning Willa and Gemma’s entitled behaviour, attitude and rudeness for awhile and Rose and Jean are the complete opposite of her girls, their polite, kind, and grateful and they need a home and she and Alex decide to foster them. As you can imagine Willa and Gemma aren’t happy, they are furious with their mother, how dare she bring three strays into their house and change everything. Maggie has had enough, she decides to make a stand and it’s her house and she pays the bills and she underestimates her daughter’s reaction. Maggie’s new blended family is a mess, everything is spiralling out of control, she doesn’t know what to do and she needs help.

I received a copy of Rolling Toward Clear Skies from Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I have lost track of how many books I have read by Catherine Ryan Hyde, she’s an outstanding fiction author, her stories always have a theme and a message included in the narrative and they make me think and wonder what I would do in the same situation.

This time it’s about raising teenagers, four girls, two are the main character's biological children and the others are not. Maggie accepts she’s to blame for her daughter’s upbringing and despite being a good role model, she’s a doctor and a volunteer and Willa and Gemma don’t show empathy for others and gratitude for what they have and they take it all for granted.

A story about dealing with feelings and trauma, emotions and hormones, good and bad behaviour, expectations and consequences, leaning right from wrong and how it’s possible to love your children and not like them. Maggie set's about changing this and blending a family and creating a happier environment, you need to read the novel to discover how she does it and five stars from me.

Catherine Ryan Hyde, what can I say about her writings, wonderful! This book tells of a family of entitled children whose mother does good for people that are in disaster zones. She gives up of her own time to rescue and treat victims. Miss Hyde tells her heart wrenching story of how her entitled children don’t get it. As inlife these children grow and mature and figure it out.

Catherine Ryan Hyde has penned another beautiful masterpiece! Maggie, a doctor, and a divorcee with 2 teenaged daughters, moonlights as a rescue doctor on wheels. This volunteer gig takes over her life after she becomes attached to a couple of her patients who reflect exactly how she wishes her daughters would be. What ensues is a lot of life and personal change, as well as reflections on nature and nurture. This book niggled into a corner of my heart and there it stays. As a mother and a professional, I could easily relate. As a person, I wholly appreciate the sensitivity Hyde brings to every character and situation about which she writes. She is an amazing author. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to read this as an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. I will never have the words that Hyde’s books deserve.

I cannot say enough good things about this book. The authors stories about children and families are always her best. Heartbreak, disaster, love, and, sacrifice, and building anew. One of my favorites.