From the bestselling author of the Everything series, a gripping standalone novel exploring long-buried secrets, the strength of forgiveness, and the healing power of returning home for good.After a harrowing accident tore her family apart, Molly Brennan fled from the man she loved and the tragic mistake she made.Twelve years later, Molly has created a new life for herself and her eight-year-old … and her eight-year-old daughter, Cassie. The art history professor crafts jewelry as unique and weathered as the surf-tumbled sea glass she collects, while raising her daughter in a safe and loving environment—something Molly never had. But when Cassie is plagued by horrific visions and debilitating nightmares, Molly is forced to return to the one place she swore she’d never move back to—home to Pacific Grove.
A riveting exploration of love, secrets, and motherhood, All the Breaking Waves is the poignant story of a woman who discovers she must confront her past, let go of her guilt, and summon everything in her power to save her daughter.
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A single mother has to help her daughter with psychic powers come to terms with her gift while the mother struggles to make peace with her past.
I don’t read a lot of magical realism, but I understand that there is a certain suspension of reality that you need to accept. In this case, four generations of women in Molly’s family had unique “gifts”. But the story wasn’t really about the gifts. It was about the women themselves. Nana and Molly, both feeling guilt for long-ago tragedies. Molly and Cassie – a mother protecting her daughter and her daughter protecting her right back. The author writes in a very compelling manner, making it easy to identify with these special characters and rooting for them from the very beginning. I look forward to more from her.
Molly Brennan is a single mother raising an eight year old daughter Cassie in California. Cassie is plagued with daily nightmares. These nightmares are horrible visions of life-threatening events that will happen to her friends at school. Molly grew up with these psychic abilities as did the generations of women before her.
Cassie has warned a friend at school about a future event and saves the child’s life. This is the second time Cassie has protected a classmate, and now Molly wants to protect her daughter from becoming alienated at school and the community. She decides to return home to seek guidance from her only living relative, her grandmother. Molly knows that she is going to have to confront her own unresolved issues surrounding lost love, tragedy, guilt, and mistakes. Can she get Cassie the help she needs to cope with her gifts?
The characters in this book are very likable and I enjoyed their journeys. The emotional connection between mother and daughter is very strong and realistic. This book has a magical element that is not my typical genre but I found this a fun read. I thought I had the plot figured out but the author took me on a nice ride!
This was a deeply emotional story of a mother’s love for her daughter, through generations. Each mother wanted to help their daughter down the family line. It was a bit of a fantasy to me, who honestly does not have a truly open mind to humans having psychic abilities. I just went with the story.
It was extremely well written and a page turner to find out the end of the story. The characters are flawed as in real life and very well developed. I felt as if I known them as they went through the struggle of this book.
Another marvelous book by a relatively new author, Kerry Lonsdale. If you read her debut novel, Everything We Keep, then you were probably like me, waiting for the next book. All The Breaking Waves does not disappoint the readers!
The main character is Molly, a single mother who has inherit abilities or gifts. Molly can sometimes have premonitions of things to come with those close to her and even affect the actions of others if she puts her mind to the task. She had a very troubling childhood, which is an integral part and mystery of the story. The focus of Molly’s life to support her gifted daughter, Cassie, as she is struggling with premonitions in the form of night terrors. She usually has five nights of increasingly graphic dreams about some drastic event which will happen to someone close to her. Molly is terrified for the health and emotional well being of her daughter with this gift which can have the child writhing in pain as she is dream-experiencing what is to happen.
I wont post spoilers, but this is such a good book about the sacrifices a person will make when they feel guilt, love, fear, and responsibility for past actions and future events in the lives of family, friends, and those around them.
This book started out strong and interesting. Molly and her daughter Cassie have special abilities. Molly has run from them, but as Cassie gets older, Molly has to acknowledge her daughter’s burgeoning abilities before they get out of control. They go back to Molly’s grandmother’s house to learn to harness their abilities…and confront Molly’s past.
So, good start, right? But then, as happens in too many books these days, Molly’s guilt and mind musings go on repeat and get tiresome. Between her mom guilt, her guilt about her parents, her guilt about her Nana, and her guilt about Owen – however misplaced – I got tired of reading her inner dialogue.
There was good suspense and a twist near the end that I didn’t see coming. I love love loved the sea glass visuals and now I want to buy some and wrap it in silver!
Very enjoyable read! While I’m not really into paranormal themes, this book captured my interest. Loved the characters & the setting.
This was an incredible ride, I enjoy so much the characters and the magic that brought so much to the story.
Cassie is trying to live a regular life but her gift is not letting her do that, people keep seeing her as a freak or as someone who is crazy but her mother is determined to save her, even if that means to go back to the first place she has been trying to run away from and keep it hide it from everyone especially Cassie.
Mollie has a lot of skeletons buried in her mind and soul, she is trying to hide everything from her own daughter and also the people around her, but life will keep pushing until she finally admits her true nature.
Cassie knows she has a gift that can help many but at the same time scare many, she is trying to save everybody and help everybody, but not everybody is ready to hear the truth.
a great book, with a touch of paranormal and magic that will keep you wanting more
Interesting Plot Theme.
All The Breaking Waves is women’s fiction with a twist of supernatural. The story, which centers around a family of women with psychic powers, is a unique suspense drama.
When Molly’s 8 year old daughter begins to use her “gift”, it dredges up a past she has tried to keep buried. Having no choice but to seek refuge at her grandmother’s house, Molly begins to deal with her past, her own paranormal “gifts”, and reconnect with the people she left behind.
Much different from the author’s other novels, this vivid first person narrative reveals a story fraught with guilt, misunderstandings, family secrets and death.
The well rounded characters and rich detail added depth to the plot, but it was just too outlandish for me to stay completely involved with the story.
Very much reminds me of Jodi picoult in that the book makes you think, but in a good way. It was very different and unique from anything I’ve recently read and I thoroughly enjoyed it!
This novel moved me very much, the love Molly has for her daughter Cassie and will do everything she can to keep her safe. Owen and her Grandmother help her with all of it and shows what love of family does. This story goes from the past to present so well that you enjoy it as part of the story, it brings the past and present togethers so well.
Molly Brennan fled her hometown after something terrible happened, leaving behind the man she loved and swearing never to go back. Twelve years later, she’s living a new life, with her beloved daughter Cassie. When Cassie suffers with frightening visions and repetitive nightmares, Molly is forced to return home for the sake of her daughter. In doing so, she must confront the past—and the man—she left behind.
All the Breaking Waves was a very enjoyable book. The magical realism aspect of the story was an unexpected surprise, as the blurb didn’t indicate (to me) that it would be featured. I was thrilled by it, however, as magical realism is something I love to read.
The characters were easy for me to connect with, and Lonsdale’s writing was excellent throughout. I’m looking forward to reading more of her books!
This book was just all right to me. Yes, I stayed up a couple hours past my bedtime to finish it, but that has more to do with my lack of self-control than it does with the quality of my reading material. For some reason I had to see this book through, and so I read it in one setting, which is becoming a pattern with me in 2019. [YIKES! Insomnia ahead…]
Anywho, this book is similar to other books I’ve encountered about troubled women running from their problems and straight into the arms of another man along with more mayhem elsewhere. Yes, we often carry our problems with us (or discover that we are the problem), and so a new environment or location doesn’t actually fix us. This book fits this formulaic pattern. Nothing new here, but it was a quick read and kept me going, and so it gets 2 1/4 stars from me.
I really enjoyed reading this book! After tragic experiences in her childhood Molly believes her psychic powers are bad and dangerous and has been living with secrets. Molly wants to protect her daughter Cassie who also has psychic abilities and had a vision that has them both fearing the future. So they are forced to return to Molly’s childhood home to get help from the only person who can her Nana. Nana welcomes Molly back with open arms, but she has secrets of her own she is hiding. Nana helps Cassie with her powers but Molly is upset with what is happening. Molly hadn’t expected to run into her first love Owen and when she sees him she realizes she never stopped loving him but must keep her distance. Owen has just finished remodeling her childhood home and still cares deeply for Molly and wants answers to why she left him. This story is about Motherhood, heartbreak, forgiveness, protecting, first loves, abuse and it’s after affects and how with love and trust healing can happen. Molly is an amazing woman and I fell in love with her character. I will forever be on the look out for the treasured Red Sea glass!
Loved this book. I never expected the ending.
This book tiptoed into my To-Read pile and whacked me across the face. It was a shockingly developed story with heartbreaking moments that nearly made me cry. Not quite, though. I loved the characters, and the underlying subplots were all executed to near perfection. A feel-good book, All the Breaking Waves was a nice, quick, and enjoyable read.
This book pulled me in quickly and I was fully invested through the last page. I love the premise and the characters. I LOVED the setting. The relationship between Molly and Owen couldn’t have been written better. I loved them and their story. I also got great joy out of Cassie and Owen’s relationship. The author did an amazing job with these characters. I feel like her love of the characters really shows in this book.
****************Some spoilers below.****************
I hold a star back on my review because as I read, the main character, Molly, often became obtuse and a little annoying. If someone I trust tells me they believe my grandmother is dying, I’m going to find out what’s going on NOW. I’m not going to put it off or let anything else interfere with finding out the truth. I feel like important talks and important information was withheld or delayed throughout the book on purpose to prolong the story when it didn’t need to be. There is plenty of story in this book. There was plenty to keep me interested without using plot tricks to keep me hanging on and I feel like the ‘drowning’ and ‘choking’ bit was a trick. As a reader, I didn’t need the revelation that “OMG! Cassie never said I would drown.” I came to that conclusion on my own, it didn’t need to be said.
The visions where suggestive and Cassie never got the entire vision since she didn’t have the dreams, we readers understood that without the over dramatic OMG moment. That being said, I would have believed this ending better without the ‘misunderstanding’. It would have been a little more realistic if Molly would have just admitted to being confused. As I read, I imagined a million other scenarios for the outcome of Cassie’s visions and while I think choking was a good alternative, I take issue with the way it was presented and resolved.
I’m still very much a fan of Kerry Lonsdale, and I must admit, the soulmate aspect of this book really pulled me in. Well done!
All the Breaking Waves is a mesmerizing, heartfelt book about family secrets, lost love, and the sacrifices we all make for the people that we love. Molly Brennan’s young daughter, Cassie, has been plagued by horrifying nightmares; nightmares which are preceded by premonitions about her friends at school. Seeking help from her grandmother, Molly reluctantly returns home, a place filled with tragic memories for Molly; a place where Molly must learn to reconcile her past in order to provide a future for her daughter. Like Cassie, Molly, her mother and her grandmother all possess special abilities; abilities which Molly has suppressed out of shame, and out of the fear that if she doesn’t control them she endangers those she loves. This book takes us on a journey that is fraught with tension as well as tender, heart aching moments. There were times that my heart was in my throat, pulse-pounding, holding my breath; and other quiet, poignant moments that made my heart melt. This book is filled with very special characters, characters who will take up big chunks of your heart. At the heart of this story is love; romantic love, enduring love, steadfast love; and most of all, the love that a mother feels for her children, a love that forces difficult decisions; a love that will protect them and guide them and keep them safe.