I enjoyed Lauren Denton's debut novel, The Hideaway, and had high hopes for her second novel. I wasn't disappointed. This was a well written novel that kept me turning the pages. It was all about love and family and relationships -not just the relationship between husband and wife but also between sisters who are very different from each other.

Betsy and Ty own a dairy farm in southern Alabama. They both work hard to keep the farm running and secure their future. The one part of their lives that has disappointed them is that after 5 years of marriage, they have been unable to have children. Betsy's younger sister, Jenna, always the rebel in the family, drops her two kids off at the farm while she goes on an artist's retreat. Originally she is supposed to be gone for 2 weeks but as it turns into almost 8 weeks, the two little girls become very important to Betsy and Ty and magnify Betsy's depression over not being able to conceive. While Betsy vacillates between being angry at her sister for leaving the two little girls at the farm, she also loves the time she spends with them. As her depression grows, she takes her feelings of inadequacy out on her husband and their relationship becomes strained.

This character driven novel is told from three viewpoints - Betsy, Ty and Jenna and we are able to see them all struggle through the summer and deal with their problems and the healing of their relationships. This will be a fantastic beach read (unless you are getting hurricane warnings at the beach) and one that I highly recommend.

What I love about both of Lauren K. Denton's novels is how she can utterly transport me to the Gulf Coast in just a few pages.

Hurricane Season tells the story of sisters Jenna and Betsy, along with Betsy's husband Ty. Betsy was always the sensible older sister until she married Ty, a dairy farmer. Jenna always took the past of most resistance to forge her own path. Now a single mother with two young daughters, Jenna is working in a Nashville coffee shop, having given up on her dreams of pursuing a photography career. Betsy thought her life with Ty was full to the brim but after failing to become pregnant and start a family, Betsy begins to long for something more. Betsy and Jenna have grown apart over the years, but Jenna has just been given the opportunity of a lifetime to attend a special artist retreat for two weeks and concentrate on her photography career. Jenna calls the one person she knows she can depend on and of course, Betsy can't deny her, when Jenna asks if Betsy can babysit the girls for two weeks. Will this time with these young children that Betsy herself wants so badly help mend her broken heart or simply shatter it to pieces? Will Jenna return for her daughters or find the success she has longed for and leave the girls to live with Betsy?

I thought the author was able to authentically voice each character, including Betsy's husband Ty. You could certainly feel each person's struggles and relate to their setbacks and victories. The descriptions both of the retreat in Florida as well as the Alabama dairy farm and beaches were wonderful. There were a few times that the plot could have moved more quickly for me, but perhaps that was simply because I was eager to move the characters forward on their path.

A four star read for me and I will definitely look forward to more novels by Denton. I received this book courtesy of Thomas Nelson through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Hurricane Season is a great title for this book. The idea that strong storms bring about destruction but still offer the chance for new life once it's passed is not lost. The main theme here is strong and thread throughout the book as a reminder. The writing and process of character development is solid. However, the plot is not as developed.

Family conflicts, especially between two sisters who are polar opposites will always present great storylines. I found the description of farm life very interesting especially when adding two precocious little girls into the mix. These were my favorite parts of the book.

However, I felt as if I was waiting for something to happen during the entire book. It was slow but I wanted to see how it ended. Although I was happy with the ending and actual storyline, I did wish I connected with the characters better.

What a perfect family/sister/marriage book. Two sisters and one of their husbands narrate this book and to add his perspective was just right. The two sisters in the heart of this story are in their adulthood and one is a single mom of two daughters and hasn't taken the usual path when decisions had to be made. The older sister always followed "the path", but things haven't been easy and she isn't where she thought she would be at this point in her life.

I loved the underlining impending storm and the reality of the hurricane hitting this farm, but also the other storms that we can possibly predict and other storms that take a different direction. I am not a reader who reads completely into symbolism, but the storm in this book worked just right for me.

After reading quite a few books where the drama was over the top and too much, it was so refreshing to read this book where the drama was at just the right pitch. I loved the way the sister relationship wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, but it also wasn't constant screaming and fighting, it was just right.

I have read both of Lauren Denton's books and adored both. I am really close to putting her on my auto read author list! One more knock out of the park and she will make it on to that list. You can't go wrong reading this one or her previous - The Hideaway.

Favorite Quotes:

… the battered gray school bus from Bankston Detention pulled up out front, and twenty teenage boys shuffled off, hormones and pent-up energy swirling around them like almost visible steam.

She smoothed her hands across the blanket, straightened the corners, and imagined the room holding two little girls after holding nothing but dreams and damaged furniture.

Jenna always hated icebreakers like this. They reminded her of the week in college when she lost her mind and thought she might actually want to join a sorority. Five grueling days of prim parties, saccharine conversation, and ridiculous icebreakers where one by one, girls explained through tears how their future happiness depended on having a certain arrangement of Greek letters tied to her name.

It’s what I do when these storms come in. I bake till the power goes off, then I eat. It keeps me calm. And fifteen pounds over my goal, but calories consumed during acts of God don’t count.

My Review:

Ms. Denton has gifted us with a stealthily crafted and slowly developing yet highly satisfying story with most of the action and progression of the narrative occurring within the major characters’ inner musings, memories, regrets, and observations. Their exteriors were quiet and politely guarded, while their interiors were fraught with a myriad of concerns, tension, heartbreaking disappointments, and unspoken aspirations. The writing was emotive and Ms. Denton took me into the story with her highly descriptive and lushly detailed scenes; I felt the pressure of the humid heat of the gathering storm as well as the crack of heat lightning, and I coveted their refreshing and lip-smacking lemonade and sweet tea. The characters were multi-layered and complex, surprisingly gentle and sweet, and cleverly observant. I enjoyed hitchhiking in their headspace although I now seem to be contending with an unusual impulse to dig in the dirt and plant something just to watch it grow.

HURRICANE SEASON is bodged by the pointless and prolonged metaphor not subtly alluded to in the book's title. Apparently the weather's volatility is supposed to represent relationships of the story's protagonist's, but like the anti-climatic hurricane itself the novel's characters are not exciting and are afforded little development. Namely sisters,
Jenna & Betsy, and husband, Tyler, who share POV throughout the novel, are given substantial conflict to produce growth. Instead they work themselves up to disappointingly tenseless arguments which result in almost no change whatsoever. Meanwhile, after openly foreshadowing, for what seems like ages, to a big storm, basically nothing happens. A couple trees lose some branches and the ground gets muddy. Denton has a good start here, the novel could really delve into the tensions between the two sisters and explore the relate-able story of a couple's infertility, instead it remains predictable and uneventful. Still, the story is interesting enough that patrons will check it out. As a library selector, I will purchase this book for our library.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and Thomas Nelson in exchange for an honest review.

Hurricane Season is a beautifully told family drama about the things that push apart and the things that bring us back together again, as well as finding yourself amidst the chaos of life. This book is the story of two sisters who have drifted apart and are struggling to find themselves and a way back to each other. While I enjoyed the storyline and the writing, the plot moved along slowly and it was hard to stay focused on the book at times. I wish there had been a little more something to really pull me into the story. The end of the book picks up the pace a bit but it feels like a lot is crammed into the last few chapters. If you like slow burn contemporary fiction with inspirational messages about family, love and parenthood then this book would be a great fit for you!

This is a book about two sisters who have grown apart, each has their own struggles to deal with. Each wanting what the other sister has. This was a quick read and I enjoyed it.

I just finished Hurricane Season by Lauren K. Denton. First of all, the cover is just beautiful. It definitely drew me in at first glance. I really wanted to love this book. It read just like a day to day between the sisters. I kept waiting for a climatic happening and it really never came. Even the hurricane was just like any other day. I liked the characters and the setting. I think it just needed a little more excitement for me. Overall, I guess if you are looking for a book about the day to day living of two sisters, this is your book. Special thanks to
Thomas Nelson and Netgalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
#Tnzfiction #NetGalley

Two sisters who couldn’t be more different are bound together through one hurricane summer by the two young daughters of one sister.

Betsy lives on a farm with her husband Ty in Alabama. They are updating the farm to provide educational opportunities to children and are trying to make it in a world where dairy farms need to grow and change to keep up with the times. What both Betsy and Ty really want is a child, but after five years, they have faced disappoint through the years as hope turned to sadness as they are unable to conceive.

Betsy’s younger sister Jenna has always been the wild impetuous sister to Betsy’s responsible one. Jenna is trying to turn her life around with being a single mother to her two daughters Addie and Walsh. She’s the manager of a coffee house, but dreams of going back to her true passion, photography. When she gets the chance to go to the Halcyon Artist Retreat in Florida with all-expense paid, she is overjoyed. Will this be her chance for a better future? What will she do with her girls?

Jenna decides to drop her daughters off with Betsy and Ty for what is supposed to be two weeks but turns into a longer visit. Will Jenna be back for her beloved girls? How do Betsy and Ty feel having the girls when they so desperately want children of their own? Has Jenna thought about their feelings? How do the girls feel?

The story is told through the viewpoints of Betsy, Jenna and Ty. I liked the revolving narrative and thought it did a great job of telling the complete story. I like how from Jenna’s perspective, she’s trying to work on a better life for her and her daughters, but from Betsy and Ty’s perspective she is being insensitive to them and not a stable parent to her daughters. Isn’t that how it is in life? Every situation looks so different depending on who is looking at it.

I also love how the hurricane is wrapped into the narrative, especially the climax to the story. I enjoyed Denton’s previous novel, The Hideaway as well. She does a wonderful job of writing characters and their challenges in a wonderful Southern setting. I need to read more of her books in the future!

Favorite Quotes:

“I see children. I hear laughter. I see a childhood spent outside in the heat and air and light. I see our future.”

“Part of her wanted to blame it all on her parents, but she was old enough to know that was a weak excuse. She’d made her own choices.”

“Yet it also left behind unexpected beauty and bursts of new life. A tiny green shoot pushing through the garden soil. Hope shining like a beacon in the dark places.”

Overall, Hurricane Season is a riveting southern family drama.

Book Source: Review Copy for being a part of the TLC Book Tours. Thank-you!

While an enjoyable story, I found it not to be faith based fiction. It did mention once (I believe) of the main characters, Betsy and Ty at church. It mentioned praying a sprinkling of times, but nothing else to indicate this couple, or their friends, being solid Christians who rely on God and is a part of their daily lives. Thus, my four star rating.
Betsy and her husband of eight years, Ty own his family farm which keeps them, along with some employees very busy. Betsy's desire is to have children, but even after consulting with a doctor, they have no children and she has given up hope and is somewhat depressed over this. Ty wonders why he isn't enough for her, as he feels she is enough for him and if there are no children they have one another.
Betsy's younger sister, Jenna leaves her two young daughters with Betsy while she attends an art retreat. Jenna has always been a bit spirited. Ty is a bit angry at Jenna for leaving the children as he is concerned how it will affect Betsy and her own desire for children while Jenna is a single parent. What was supposed to be two weeks stretched out longer and Jenna couldn't even tell Betsy when she would be back for her children. It seemed that Betsy started to somewhat think of the children as her own and a chasm was created between her and Ty.
The children have a blast on the farm and both Betsy and Ty love them and enjoy them.
Hurricane Ingrid is a big concern as it could be headed their way. Ty and the farmhands begin to prepare the farm just in case.
Jenna is given an opportunity that tempts her. What will she do? She feels she can be more than a single mom working in a coffee shop. She loves photography and once put it on the back shelf when she had her children. What will she do now? Can she possibly enjoy both? Read to find out.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Hurricane Season is an enjoyable story about sisterhood and the complications and joys that come along with it!
This story is told from three points of view - Ty, farmer and husband to Betsy; Betsy, wife to Ty and older sister to Jenna; and Jenna, younger sister and single mother of two. Betsy and Ty live on a farm and have struggled with infertility. Jenna is a free spirited mother of two girls who had/has dreams of becoming a professional photographer. The sisters have a strained relationship and are very different in how they approach life. Jenna has an opportunity to pursue her dream and leaves her two girls at the farm with Betsy and Ty. A hurricane is approaching and the characters have to learn to "weather the storm", literally and figuratively.
I found this book to be a bit slow in the beginning, however, I really enjoyed the story as they characters are very relatable.
Hurricane Season is ultimately about communication and working out issues and differences to find happiness - in marriage, sisterhood and life!

Thank you to Lauren K. Denton, Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for the ARC of this lovely book.

A family’s self discovery in the midst of Hurricane Season on a dairy farm in Alabama. What’s not to like about that! Wonderful depicted characters that you will come to love and wish you knew. A story of redemption and finding peace in the midst of circumstances. Learning what is most important in life and being thankful. A well written, truly sweet story.

I wanted to like Hurricane Season by Lauren Denton. The cover is gorgeous, and the title caught my attention. But, alas, this book proves to be one of the “don’t judge a book by its cover” stories for me. Now, don’t get me wrong. This is not a bad book. It just did not live up to my expectations based on those two things. However, I have a feeling that there will be many readers who will love this one. It is clean, and you could even pass it along to your grandma. So, that’s good.

But, the book fell short for me. It moved incredibly slow for my tastes. And, it was neither plot-driven nor character-driven. The story follows two sisters, but not much actually happens. One goes to an art retreat and the other watches her sister’s kids. There is no love story. There is no major conflict (at least not one that kept me engaged). And, I did not feel drawn to either of the two sisters. Even when I reached the end, I was kind of left with the “that’s it?” kind of feeling.

Basically, it bored me. If I had not signed up to review it, I probably would have stopped reading and passed it along. I just really wanted to like it. And, in the end, I just didn’t.

* I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I received an ARC copy of Hurricane Season. Lauren K Denton is the real deal author. Her 2nd novel does not disappoint. A moving story about the relationship 2 sisters have, the trials they are each enduring that tie them together in the end. The backdrop of the family farm in Alabama brings you into the story to teach you about the dedication it takes along with the appreciation of hard work on a dairy farm. Her words on the page convey the struggles of infertility, the bond sisters can have while overcoming long held differences and the basic love family can give us.

Betsy and Ty Franklin run a dairy farm in southern Alabama. Ty is busy with the cows, while Betsy works constantly to manage the farm’s operations. They have a good life, although their inability to have children is tearing them apart. When Betsy’s younger sister, Jenna, drops her two daughters off at the farm so she can attend a two-week art retreat, their quiet life at the dairy is turned upside down.

Jenna’s free-spirited days are over. Instead, she spends her days managing a coffee shop and caring for her daughters. She yearns for the days when she pursued photography, but that dream took a back seat when she got pregnant and her boyfriend split. Now, she’s offered a two-week stay at the Halcyon artist retreat, and a chance to pursue her dreams and change her life.

With the most active hurricane season on record underway, Betsy and Ty try to save their marriage, while caring for the girls and working to keep the dairy safe from approaching storms. Their lives are in turmoil, and they must wait on Jenna to decide her course before they can move past the storms that fill the hot summer air.

I loved this book! These two sisters are so different, but they both struggle against the truth of their lives—and what they will do about those truths. Betsy and Ty’s relationship is troubled now, but their love for each other shines strong even in the darkness. I related to Jenna and her dreams—and her struggle to decide between chasing those dreams, and the life she has now.

(Galley provided by Thomas Nelson in exchange for an honest review.)

4 “the storm is coming” stars to Hurricane Season!

Lauren Denton’s sophomore novel, Hurricane Season, is told in three alternating voices: Jenna, the younger, flighty sister and single mother; Ty, the rugged dairy farmer and husband; and Betsy, the older, responsible sister to Jenna and wife to Ty.

Jenna is a budding artist-slash-coffee barista manager, and the opportunity of a lifetime comes her way one summer. The problem is, who will take care of her kids while she pursues it?

Betsy and her husband Ty have been struggling with infertility while also enjoying a quiet life on their farm. Of course Betsy agrees to take care of Jenna’s girls for the summer, and all the while, a hurricane is brewing.

Jenna and Betsy’s relationship is explored as each sister struggles to accomplish something different, something that feels far out-of-reach to each of them. Will these sisters find true happiness?

Hurricane Season is a character-driven novel with three true-to-life, relatable, loving main characters, flawless writing, and a quaint and engaging southern farm setting.

Thank you to Lauren Denton, Thomas Nelson, and Netgalley for the ARC. Hurricane Season is available now!

Hurricane Season is really a beautiful book and that's not just the cover, I'm talking about. Its a book about two sisters that are very different. Jenna was a wild child, now a single mom and Betsy is a farmer's wife, and the more stable of the two.



Each are in very different parts of their lives.



The sister scenario is something I'm seeing a lot of lately in books, especially with sisters that are polar opposites. Neither are exceptionally likable. They are both very human and the reader should feel a certain amount of pity for each of them. Jenna, because her life is not very put together, but she is trying, while having two small daughters to take care of and it seems her dreams of being a photographer are slipping away.



Betsy is the stable one, trying desperately to have a child with her husband, Ty. Because of a photography camp, she finds herself with her sister's kids for the summer. This is both a joy and a trial for her.



I loved experiencing both women as they grow through those months, whether that growth be for career or family. By the end of the book, you will find yourself really caring for both women and their families. I especially loved Ty, Betsy's husband, but its the children in this book that steal the show and are the reason the adults all become better people. Addie and Walsh were perfectly quirky kids. (I would have loved to have a story behind that child's name).



The ending was bittersweet. It wraps things up but leaves things open at the same time. Part of me wants Ms. Denton to revisit these characters somewhere down the line, because I want to know what happens to them. Will Jenna and Sam finally try a relationship? Will she succeed with her photography? Will Betsy and Ty become blessed with a child of their own?



I adored this book.

Betsy and Ty Franklin own and run a dairy farm in southern Alabama. College sweethearts, they married early and settled easily into their life together. The only thing missing is children. After multiple fertility treatments failed, Betsy and Ty gave up the dream of having a full house. They’re trying to move on, but while Ty seems to be unfazed, Betsy has carefully constructed walls around her heart to keep it from breaking apart - walls that are also keeping Ty out.

Those walls start to crumble at the beginning of summer when Betsy’s wild child sister, Jenna, calls to ask a favor: Can her two young daughters stay at the farm for a couple of weeks while Jenna attends an artist’s retreat? Betsy never could say no to Jenna, and soon her house is filled with the stampeding of feet and childish laughter. Each day it hurts a little more, as Betsy’s heart pulls the children in past her defenses and give her a tantalizing glimpse of what she can never have.

Meanwhile, Jenna’s two-week stay at Halcyon art retreat has turned into a chance to reclaim part of herself she thought lost. When her first daughter was born, and the father split, Jenna put her camera away and settled into single motherhood. Now she has the chance to learn from an award-winning professional photographer who thinks she has a talent, and can help launch her career. She knows she’s imposing on her sister, but she can’t give up this chance. As two weeks stretch into four, then six, Jenna wonders if she’ll truly be able to merge her artistic side with her old life.

Hurricane Season is told by Betsy, Ty, and Jenna in alternating chapters. Rather than causing confusion, this creates a sense of intimacy between the reader and the characters. We know that Ty is consumed by worry and concern that he is afraid to express. We understand why Betsy isn’t the same person she was before her fertility issues became the focus of her life. We find out, well before Betsy does, that Jenna isn’t the wild, carefree girl she used to be, and maybe she’s smarter - and stronger - than anyone realizes.

The plot of Hurricane Season is motivated more by the characters themselves than by outside forces acting on them. The story, therefore, is deceptively slow moving. Readers with a little patience will find that they’ve been inexorably pulled into the novel and don’t want to leave, which has as much to do with Denton’s descriptive, straightforward prose as it does with the characters she’s created.

There are several side plots interwoven into Hurricane Season, one of them being the worse than usual weather predicted for the area, another the glimpses of a farm worker’s romance. These give the reader relief from the sometimes heavy emotional content while adding dimension - and a true Southern feel - to the novel.

Like Hideaway, Hurricane Season is a multilayered novel that unfolds slowly and hooks readers with it’s well written plot, fully developed characters, and truly Southern feel. There’s no racing through it, though, and readers who are used to fast-paced, plot driven novels might be tempted to give up on this one. Those who have more patience will be rewarded with a story that touches the heart and stays with them long after they've turned the last page.