In her first work of contemporary women’s fiction, bestselling author Kay Bratt draws on her own life experiences to create a raw, yet inescapably warm, novel about friendship and a wary heart’s unexpected capacity to love.A hungry, stray dog is the last thing Cara Butter needs. Stranded in Georgia with only her backpack and a few dwindling dollars, she already has too much baggage. Like her twin … baggage. Like her twin sister, Hana, who has broken Cara’s heart one too many times. After a lifetime of family troubles, and bouncing from one foster home to another, Cara decides to leave it all behind and strike out alone—on foot.
Cara sets off to Florida to see the home of her literary hero, Ernest Hemingway, accompanied only by Hemi, the stray dog who proves to be the perfect travel companion. But the harrowing trip takes unexpected turns as strangers become friends who make her question everything, and Cara finds that as the journey unfolds, so does her life—in ways she could never imagine.
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I have read other books by this author, about her adoption and novels of China and I really like her writing style. I was very interested to see how she wrote for general woman’s fiction and this story did not disappoint, as it had some elements that I love from other favorite stories such as walking, meeting people who promote growth, etc..
This is a story about twin sisters, Cara and Hanna who were sent from foster home, to foster home, never finding the right fit. As the girls grow older they learn to rely on no one but themselves, and once out of the system, they create there niche, sticking together as much as they need to.
When something happens, and Cara decides it would be better to separate herself from her sister for awhile, she decides to head to key west to see where a favorite author of hers lived, Ernest Hemingway.
First the car she had breaks down, and she decides to continue walking, all of a sudden she is being followed by a dog with a foot injury, finding out that he is not going to leave her, she names him Hemi, after Hemingway. Along her journey she meets some wonderful people, who take her in for a night or two, feed her and her dog and slowly break down the walls she had built up around herself since childhood.
She has a lot of adventures and experiences that give her the confidence she needs in her life, and once arriving at her destination, meets people that will change her life forever.
I am really looking forward to another of her stories.
I want to thank NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC.