Jean Reynolds PageReseñas

Contemporary realistic fiction family drama with a terrible title and mostly unlikable characters. Some were OK, but other than Holli/Hollyanne (adult/child versions of the main character), were too thinly drawn to really care about.½

A well written story with many layer to it. It seems each chapter pulls back a layer and the reader finds out a bit more information about this family. The characters are really well written and their struggles seem realistic. I liked the fact that not all characters have a happy ending. Life isn't like that so books shouldn't be either. There is a great mix of characters as well; some are young, some are middle aged, and some are elderly. My criticism of this book is that it is a bit drawn out. Some of the middle chapters could have been eliminated and the story would have flowed anyway. This book would bring about a great discussion for book clubs as it covers many family issues½

The best part of the book was when I finished it! It wasn't very good at all. It had too much whining and drama in it for me. At page 120 I wanted to give up and I didn't I stuck with it. I should have given up when I wanted to. The ending wasn't even good. In fact it was one of the stupidest endings to a book that I have ever seen. I would not waste my time reading this book!

I’m not one to read the everyday drama kind of book, where a woman goes off and finds hope and faith and all that, but a certain storyline got me interested in reading THE SPACE BETWEEN BEFORE AND AFTER (even the name of the book makes me want to run in the other direction). Jean Reynolds Page’s novel is about a middle-age woman named Holli whose grandmother is showing early signs of dementia and whose son is having a crisis. Holli also has to come to terms with her past in order to move on with her future.
I found it weird that after presenting us with the characters we are supposed to come to care about, one death is marginalized, receiving just one paragraph. Another death is earth-shattering to Holli, but why? That particular character wasn’t even well-liked. Having a character with Cystic Fibrosis was interesting, but we aren’t told much about the condition other than patients aren’t expected to live beyond their thirties.
On the positive side, it was a fast read, so it didn’t take up much of my reading time.

Three months after losing her young husband, Ben, Gina, who lost her younger sister at age 12, is only going through the motions. But then Ben's ex-wife, Reese, shows up with her seven-year-old daughter, Angel. Reese isn't sure if Ben is Angel's father, and the child unnerves Gina, whose only argument with Ben was over children. And Reese stirs up feelings of jealousy in Gina. In spite of her emotional discomfort, Gina, who is living on Ben's sailboat in a Charlotte marina, eventually realizes that the intrusion of these two people is bringing her back to the world of the living, and piercing the fog surrounding her.

ARC won from Goodreads Firstreads

This novel is perfectly fit to be read on those cold days while you snuggle up to the warm fire or are wrapped in a silky blanket. Even more so for those rainy days when you stay in and need to curl up with a good, well written and easily devour-able read! I enjoyed receiving the ARC to this novel to review. And while it is a little late, I had to ensure that I did post my views on this book. But instead of going into detail and possibly spoiling it for those who's interests have been peaked, I will just state that this novel is thoroughly enjoyable, and I recommend it to anyone who needs to escape the stress of "Real Life" for a while.

Felt like reading a book for high school girls, or a treatment for a Lifetime movie.
Very very simplistic.
Roy Vines left his wealthy family and twin brother Mont when he fell in love with Rosalind 18 years before. Now in a small town in North Carolina with 16 year old Lola and 5 year old Janie May, he must return home to ask for money for his sick wife. While there, cuts a deal to look after his "son" with his first wife for the summer.
A boring beach book.½

Meh, disappointing after loved "The Space Between Before and After"
This felt over the top, and like it went on forever (not in a good way!)
Story about Julie, adopted at birth by Marnee and Jack,and grew up up South Carolina with brother Lincoln.
She returns home at 39, pregnant,and boyfriend -free to care of her mom who has a terminal illness. While home, she is accused by a young boy of sexual abuse. Her return brings her in touch with her first love, Sam, and a crush, Walt.
The book needed some serious editing, very felt contrived and needed to suspend a lot of belief and couldn't relate to the main characters.

I couldn't put it down!!! The characters seemed so real to me that I felt that I was reading my local newspaper. I got so involved I finished the book in one day. The storyline could be about any rural family with deep misunderstandings allowing life to be disrupted for years. We don't know in the end how this particular family sorted it all out but the reader was left to surmise that each was a whole lot better in the end than at the beginning.

”Now there was nothing to do. The empty stretch of hours ahead frightened her. She’d pledged till death, but it didn’t end there. Love didn’t end anywhere. It simply endured the absence of the beloved.”

Safe Within is a book about end of life issues, as Carson comes back home to North Carolina to live out his last weeks. No; this book is about widowhood, as Elaine struggles to live in a world with half of herself gone. No; this story is about a son who hasn’t found himself yet. No; this is about an elderly woman whose son has died, leaving her with decades of regrets. Yes, this novel is about family. A family real with love and hurts, memories and wishes, hope and heartache.

A lakeside treehouse in North Carolina is the unlikely abode built by Elaine’s father, and in which she grew up. It is there they return for peaceful lake view talks as time dwindles out. Now back in their old hometown, Carson’s mother comes for visits with her son, while still holding prejudices against her daughter-in-law and grandson.

Jean Reynolds Page offers a real slice of life in the pages of this book, presenting characters whole in their personae, in a setting vivid, with a story slow and captivating. Loved it.

A sad story of a man dying of pancreatic cancer who is brought back to his hometown area for his last days. His wife and son have no relationship with his mother and the book centers around trying to bring their lives together, I enjoyed the book tremendously - would recommend it. Really loved the character development in this book.

An easy read, with like able characters and a story to keep you interested. The end came a little abruptly, and the whole thing about twins was a bit contrived, but it was worthwhile for light summer reading.½

Carson is dying of pancreatic cancer when he asks his wife Elaine to take him back to the small North Carolina town they both grew up in and to the quirky treehouse on the lake that is Elaine's family's home. Going home transports them back into the small community with its gossip and undercurrents. It means Elaine and Mick, Carson and Elaine's adult son, will have to face Carson's mother Greta, nearly blind but still holding a grudge against them, and that the past will surround them every step of the way at a time when they most need love and compassion.

Elaine and Mick haven't spoken to Greta in more than twenty years. The source of the rift is that Greta has never accepted Mick, believing, despite Carson's assurances to the contrary, that Mick is not Carson's son. Although her animosity towards this stubborn old woman hasn't waned, in the wake of her beloved Carson's death, Elaine tries to extend an olive branch to Greta, knowing that it is what Carson would have wanted. After all, she and Mick are all that remain of Greta's family. The one thing that she draws the line at though, is explaining the truth surrounding the rumors over Mick's paternity, insisting that that information was between she and Carson and not for public consumption. And although she wants to do the right thing by her mother-in-law, Elaine is still prickly, defensive, and struggling with forgiveness.

As Elaine is trying to negotiate a tentative truce with her mother-in-law, Mick is feeling rudderless and completely adrift. He's met a girl who used to idolize him when she was small but she's 18 and beautiful and as interested in him as ever now. As he wonders if he can pursue something with her, rumors from the past about an old girlfriend, Kayla, rise up to challenge him. Kayla, who was of mixed race and whose family was extremely poor, was his first great love but also the girl who made him face the worst of himself. Although she is long dead in a car accident, he is still coming to terms with the hurt he caused her and the reality of who he was then. That her sweet six year old little brother might in actual fact be her son instead of her brother has sent him reeling, questions about Kyle's paternity and his responsibilities adding to his uncertainty about his life and future.

Greta, mother-in-law and grandmother, so certain of her convictions, is fighting battles on many fronts. She is in a dispute with her neighbor over her land. He wants it so he can expand his alpaca operation and she has no desire to sell, not even entertaining a single thought for his continued offers. She is perfectly content living with her long-time friend Mattie, who is a sort of housekeeper, companion, and lately Greta's eyes as well. Having Mattie's family living in the guest homes out back means that Greta always has company and she doesn't have to look too closely at her determination to shun her daughter-in-law and only grandson. But then Mattie has a stroke and her family moves to town, and although they are concerned about Greta, Mattie is their more pressing concern, forcing Greta to entertain the notion of relying on Elaine and Mick.

Flipping between the past and the present, the narrative fills in Elaine and Carson's relationship and marriage, the foundation of the so many loving and now much mourned years, fleshing out Carson in a way that would only be possible through other characters' views if the entire novel took place after his death. Elaine, Mick, and Greta, as main characters are all sunk in their own grief but their faltering attempts to right their worlds in the wake of Carson's loss are realistic and human. They are each multi-faceted and their relationships with each other are complicated by history and feeling. The plot is intricate and Page weaves the many threads together deftly. Her writing is true, beautiful, and detailed and she has captured masterfully the deep ache of grief as it stands alongside continued living. Having tapped into a small town setting, she has placed her characters at the mercy of the secrets and gossip that have eaten at the edges of their lives for so many years. But with the whimsical treehouse above the lake, she has also given these characters a nest of imagination and uniqueness in which to find safety, forgiveness, and the ability to move forward with hope. Engrossing and frequently humorous, this compassionate look at living after a loved one's death amidst the tangle that family can be is a wonderful read.

I received Safe Within in exchange for a review. I found that I was having trouble reading for any length of time, in the beginning. It wasn't that the story was bad, it just seemed to be too slow to unfold. When I kept at it I found the story got moving, for me, about one quarter of the way through. At that point, the story came to life and I found that I was thinking of excuses to sit and read, not the opposite. The story is about death, but it is also about the living and the lives that need to be rebuilt after a death. While the book was sad, it had many light, funny times. I felt that the underlying theme was that gossip can take on a life of its own and destroy many lives. When a situation is seen and taken out of context, it breeds curiosity and when no one sets the record straight from the onset, it can be used as a weapon for someone wanting to hurt another.

Carson has lived a wonderful life, with a loving wife & son. He also has a mother he loves deeply but his wife, son and mother do not get along. By way of rumor and gossip, Greta, Carson's mother has held a deep seated anger toward his wife, Elaine and through that she has chosen not to have a life with her only grandson, Mick. Carson has always asked his mother to trust him and to let Mick in, but she will not. Carson has cancer and upon his death Elaine wonders if his mother will be out of the picture for good. But, that and actions beyond her control bring them closer instead of further apart. While all are dealing with the grief of losing a father, husband or child they also have their own lives to rebuild, a lost past to overcome and the knowledge that righting a wrong can sometimes be too much to deal with.½

Carson is dying. Elaine brings her husband home to die and comes face to face with her estranged mother-in-law, a woman who has refused to speak to her for twenty years.

I should have known what I was going to get with a cover like this one. The cover shows two pairs of women’s legs in rolled-up pants, hanging out of a canoe, with a book in their laps. The story, of course, has absolutely nothing to do with canoes or reading at all, but the cover photo does foretell that the story inside will be a comfortable tale of women’s fiction, a story you might like to read with your pants rolled up and your legs hanging over the edge of a canoe.

I did know what I was going to get after reading nothing more than chapter one. It is that predictable.

Nothing wrong with that. Just don’t go into this book expecting anything more.

Safe within is about a North Carolina family dealing with Elaine's husband's death (Carson); with some family dynamics thrown in. Although the story gets off to a slow start, it does pick up. I'm glad I stuck with it. It does have twists and turns, and I found the book intense at times. Although the ending left me hanging, I would recommend this book.

So happy that I stuck this book out and finished it... not only finished but came to really enjoy it and the ending left me at peace... just as I feel the characters were. It did drag a little after the first 100 or so pages and I thought I might put it down, but the treehouse kept me so entertained, I will look for her next books and check out the ones she has already published.½

Elaine Forsyth was raised in a tree house, and that is where her soon-to-be-late college professor husband wants to go to die. His mother, with whom Elaine has been estranged for twenty-five years, lives nearby. One night before Carson dies, mother Greta turns the neighbor's alpacas loose, and Elaine must go spring her from jail. Elaine's son, Mick, is also there for the death. After Carson's death, relationships are re-defined within the family and also with neighbors and friends from the small North Carolina town in which the book takes place. The plot has some interesting twists and turns along the way. This would make a good read for a summer vacation if one needed to while away some hours.½

Safe Within tells the story of a family dealing with the death of Carson who is the husband and father of Elaine and Mick. Carson's mother Greta has never liked Elaine and suspected her of cheating on her son. When Carson dies, Elaine trys to mend fences, but Greta is not having it. Greta cannot see well and has a helper, but when the helper has a stroke she has no choice but to accept Elaine's help. I found the story to be unbelieveable and a little too neatly wrapped up. I didn't like the ending either. It left you hanging and the story did not seem finished.½

Wow, this book might be for anyone who might not get along with their inlaws, because I am pretty sure Greta at the beginning of this book can trump them all.The tension between Elaine, Mick and Greta are so thick I was actually uncomfortable reading about this at first, especially when you mix in the grief caused by the death of a parent, husband and son.

Carson Forsythe was greatly beloved by his family - his mother Greta, his wife Elaine, and his son Mick. Unfortunately, Greta had always hated Elaine and her boho parents, and consequently hated Mick, not believing him to be Carson's son. There was so much bad blood between the families, you wondered if things could ever be reconciled.

I had my fingers crossed the whole book for this to happen, for who better to grieve with and share stories with and heal with then the people who loved the deceased the most? This book kept you wondering what could be next, and was emotionally intense at times to read. However, I couldn't put it down, rooting for this family to heal together the whole time.

Newly widowed, 40-something Elaine and her 20-something son Mick are trying to figure out how and when to restart their lives after the death of Elaine’s husband--Mick’s father--Carson. Meanwhile they are living in Elaine’s childhood home, a tree house built by her bohemian parents near a lake in the North Carolina hometown that Carson wanted to come back to for his final few weeks. Apart from the usual difficulties of life after the loss of a spouse, Elaine is forced to deal with her stubborn, hot-headed mother-in-law Greta, a woman she’d just as soon forget. Greta has never liked Elaine or her ‘hippie” parents, never believed that Mick was her grandson, and recently she has been acting erratic enough to get herself arrested by releasing her big shot neighbor’s herd of alpacas. Both Elaine and Mick have secrets and unresolved issues from the past that are making it more difficult to move forward. With its nuanced look at issues of trust and rebuilding a meaningful, connected life after loss, its interesting, multi-dimensional main characters, and its appealing, well-evoked Southern small town setting, Safe Within has a lot going for it. A mild mystical quality occasionally surfaces that isn’t completely to my taste: an abused puppy who trusts no one instantly bonds with the unwilling person who needs him most, blue lights appear in the sky just before someone dies, and Greta’s home companion is eerily insightful about someone she’s barely met. That personal preference quibble aside, this is a penetrating and heartwarming book with an ending that is satisfying without tying everything up too neatly.

I received a copy of Safe Within for possible review from the publisher, but there was no obligation and the opinions are all mine.

I received a copy of this as an Early Reviewer. After getting off to a slow start, the story picked up and began to emerge as a good one. I read steadily during an airline flight, and the time (literally) flew by. The author tells a story that switches back and forth in time from the early lives of the protagonists, with their current day situations. The message I got is, the best laid plans for your life will likely go awry. But that's not necessarily bad. Friendships develop in unusual ways. I recommend this -- perhaps a good beach book.

I am so behind in my reading. I have compression fractures of my lumbar spine and am in a pain flair right now...I will catch up asap.....I have a tree house in my back yard that my father built for my son 30+ years ago....It has always had magic surrounding it....Thanks for your patience. Kathy

I finished it......So good. The charactors are rich and alive. Their dialogue believable. This would be a great airplane or summer beach read. I want them to continue to live on and get what they want in their lives....Even Greta. Worth a read folks.

Jules and Lincoln discover it's time to grow up -- finally. The crises of a summer can be traced to the relationships and choices of the past, and families and friends come together. I would have liked to see more depth in the characters, but it was a relaxing read that doesn't ask the reader to work too hard. But what's with the cover? Nothing about beaches in the story....I guess it's just a marketing ploy.½

This is the story of three generations of the Vines family. It is beautifully told by the author, Jean Reynolds Page. The conflicts and challenges encountered by each generation are dealt with in such a manner that the reader devours the story. I highly recommend reading this book.