"How can we harness the future if the past will not set us free? Opposites attract?: Laura Brown, interior designer and James Morgan-Jones, horse whisperer - and Midnight Sky, a beautiful but damaged steeplechaser. Laura seems to have it all, glamorous job, charming boyfriend. Her sister, Maggie, struggles with money, difficult children and an unresponsive husband. She envies her sister's life, but are things as idyllic as they seem? She might be a farmer's daughter but Laura is doing her best to deny her roots, even deny her true feelings. Until she meets James, but James is very married, and very much in love, to a wife who died two years ago. They both have issues to face from their past, but will it bring them together, or push them apart?" ~Amazon Description
Brittney Joy's Review ~ I was in the middle of a flight and the middle of this book, welling up with tears and wiping my nose with my sleeve. I thought I was being discreet with my sappiness, but the woman next to me (who was also reading) noticed my sniffles and offered me her napkin. I then proceeded to gush over Midnight Sky while patting my eyes with a tiny cocktail napkin ... yes, it's that good! And, I'm certain the woman next to me purchased her own copy as soon as she got off the flight.
This is my first Jan Ruth novel and I found myself engrossed in her writing and her characters. The majority of this story is set in the English countryside (at a stable) and many scenes involve horses, but you don't have to be a horse person to love this story. The true jewel of Ruth's story is the honesty in her writing. Her characters have true thoughts, feelings, and reactions -- even those that you are not "supposed" to have as a wife, a mother, or a sister. Her characters were flawed, yet beautiful and the honesty and hardships of relationships truly touched me. They resonated with me to the point of tears and the joy of laughter.
Furthermore, I thoroughly enjoyed the dual point of view. Midnight Sky rotates from the point of view of two sisters: Laura & Maggie. This helps to reveal the full story and shines light on multiple women's issues: marriage, pregnancy, raising children, body image, x-wives, depression, insecurity, death, love. I mean, there isn't much that this story doesn't touch on! My only complaint is that the last chapter is a bit of a cliff hanger, but I guess that means I'll be reading the sequel (Palomino Sky)!
Some of my favorite lines from Midnight Sky:
"The words had just fallen out of her mouth, glad to escape because they'd been there for such a long time."
"He followed her into the dining room and pushed the door closed. The muffled hum of laughter and music was still discernible from the sitting room, and Laura thought it somehow epitomized the last few months of her life, that feeling of being on the wrong side of a closed door."
"Outside, the horses moved like ghosts between the trees in the dark fields, and there was a pale moon in the sky."
"'Don't you think I know that?' he said, and the brooding anger in him took her right back almost to the first time they'd met, as if all the feelings in-between had been wiped out or never existed."
