A Curve in the Road caught me up from the first page. Julianne MacLean has written a hard to put down book about the hidden secrets in a marriage and how the issues are resolved.

A Curve in the Road by Julianne MacLean. A beautifully written novel. Very emotional but a journey of loss, forgiveness and falling in love again. Ending shows such kindness in the heart of the heroine. If you love second chances you will love the novel. I will definitely read other books by this author.

This was my first book by this Thor and I loved it! I adored the setting as a lot of it takes place in Lunenburg which is a town I feel in love with years ago on a trip to Novia Scotia. I feel in love with these characters right from the start! A beautifully written story! Highly recommend!
#acurveintheroad. #netgalley

A CURVE IN THE ROAD by Julianne MacLean is a suspenseful, emotionally charged novel that explores the secrets and hidden truths within a seemingly perfect marriage, set in picturesque Nova Scotia.
Abbie MacIntyre's life will never be the same after a car accident caused by a drunk driver. The paramedics rush her to the hospital, but in the darkness of night they cannot find her dog Winston.
This book was a page-turner. It grabbed me from the start and didn't let go. Although there were several twists and turns and surprises, the story was realistic and entirely plausible. I was so involved with the characters and the relationships between them that I read it in one setting.
I highly recommend A CURVE IN THE ROAD. 5 stars

Special thanks to author Julianne MacLean, Lake Union Publishing, and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC of A CURVE IN THE ROAD, which allows me to write an unbiased review.

This book grabbed me from the first page. I felt every emotion Abbie felt. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good fictional novel.

I received a copy of this book and this is my true and honest opinion.

Wow, this was a wonderful book. I have never read a book by this author before. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I really liked Abbie and the rest of the characters. I love how she works through her trials and tries to be a better person. No one is perfect and that includes Abbie and the other characters, but they are truly good and trying to be better. I love the inspiration this book inspires. The writing style is easy-to-read and very engaging. I would be reading along and look at the clock and realize how quickly the time flew by. I will definitely be reading more by this author.

I found this to be a quick and easy read, where the story flowed flawlessly along. From watching Abbie deal with her husbands death and her the discoveries afterwards. For her finding herself and being adult enough to know when to tell her son the truth. A slow burn but so satisfying. I will certainly read more from this author again.

This is a review from a Netgalley copy of this novel. All opinions are my own.

Loved this book!! I never expected who would be involved with Abbie's accident. It was a huge surprise and never would have guessed it. The book was very emotional. When Winston is missing after the accident, I definitely started sniffling. After everything Abbie went through, her beloved dog can't be missing or even worse dead. Abbie is lucky to be alive, the description of the accident was awful.

Abbie is driving home with her golden retriever after having dinner with her mom. Everything changes when a drunk driver crosses the center line and slams into her car. Her car ends up in a ravine and the Jaws of Life is needed to extract her from the car. Abbie survives, but her life is forever changed. Secrets are revealed to her that she never saw coming.

Abbie is definitely one strong lady. Thankfully she had the loving support of her family. Her friendship with Dr. Nathan Payne helps her cope. He knows what she is going through and is there for her. I'm not sure how she is able to deal after finding out everything and not being able to confront that person. To top it all off, there's her medical diagnosis. Alan's father, Lester, was HORRIBLE!!! I'm not sure how Abbie was able to be in the same room with him. So glad when she finally threw him out of the house and gave him a piece of her mind. Then there was Paula. I'm not sure what Paula expected from Abbie. Abbie was pretty nice to her, considering everything she found out.

Definitely recommend this book. I loved the story, characters and writing style. I look forward to reading more books by the author, especially the Color of Heaven Series.

Thanks to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing and the author, Julianne MacLean, for a free electronic ARC of this novel.

Julianne MacLean has written, in my opinion, one of the best books I have read this year! A Curve In the Road is a story about love and family, infidelity and forgiveness. It shows that even after a terrible loss, it is possible to pick up the pieces and move on. It’s a story about life! It really touched me and hit home in so many ways. It was an emotional read and I felt very connected to the main character, Abbie MacIntyre. This was a book that once I started, I found it difficult to set down. I seemed to fly right through it. Not many books have that effect on me. It’s a story that I recommend to everyone regardless of what genre you normally read. It’s that good! I would like to thank NetGalley for giving me the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Wow. This was an emotional journey that definitely earned 5 stars. I was absolutely riveted and devoured this book on my flight to Dallas

Abbie seems to have it all. A great marriage, son and career. Until a drunk driver crosses into her lane and her life is changed in an instant. She will need her mother, son and her dog to help her through the times ahead.

I can't go into much as it would all be spoilers. I will just say, the details that surround her accident and what comes after astonished me. The journey she goes through to make sense, and the best, of what her life is now was nothing short of inspiring.

Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity to review. This has no influence on my rating or review.

I requested this from NG because it was about a surgeon whose life is turned upside down by an accident, which sounded interesting, and it’s good to read something other than thrillers for a change. I was a bit worried when I discovered that the author writes predominantly romance novels, as it’s a genre that annoys me too much. However, it was published this week, so I thought I should get on with it, and I ended up enjoying it more than expected.

Abbie is a general surgeon from Halifax, Nova Scotia, who appears to have the perfect life - she has been happily married to Alan (who is either a cardiologist or a cardiothoracic surgeon, it seemed to vary - or maybe in Canada they do both?) for 20 years, they have a well-adjusted hockey-playing 17 year old son, live in a beautiful house, and she loves her work. Driving home from visiting her mother on a Sunday night, she is smashed off of the road by a drunk driver, and her loyal Golden Retriever Winston is thrown from the car. From there, everything unravels... I don’t want to spoil this by saying any more.

I liked Abbie as a character, facing adversity and determined to do the right thing for her son. I loved stoic, faithful Winston - yes, am going to spoil this enough to reassure you that he does survive the accident. The plot is pretty predictable, you know as soon as a certain character is named and described what is going to happen, but I like happy endings, so didn’t mind that.

It’s told in the first person present, a negative in my book, had some writing niggles (“Zack and me, instead of Zack and I”), and I found some of the medical aspects to do with Abbie’s career unconvincing, but this was an otherwise well written thought-provoking story about emotional survival after a crisis. Oh and I’ve added Nova Scotia to my list of places to visit one day, it sounds lovely.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Abbie had a premonition that something bad was about to happen.

Dr. Abbie MacIntyre has just started the hour-long drive back home after Sunday dinner with her widowed mother when a car crosses the center median of the highway careening into Abbie’s SUV and sending it off road, rolling over and over until landing in the bottom of a ravine. She is successfully extracted from the wreckage and transported to the nearest medical facility suffering a minor head wound. The driver of the other vehicle, smelling heavily of alcohol, is in the same unit and in far worse condition awaiting airlift to a proper trauma hospital.

Abbie’s mother comes to her daughter’s side and both repeatedly attempt to contact Abbie’s husband, Dr. Alan Sedgewick, to notify him of the accident. (Abbie was supposed to have met him that evening at their son’s hockey game.) They are unsuccessful until emergency workers deliver the personal items of the drivers retrieved from the accident site to the hospital and Alan’s cellphone is discovered among the detritus. To everyone’s shock and horror, the drunk driver is Abbie’s own husband!

This is just the beginning of “A Curve in the Road” by Julianne MacLean. Once I started reading this book I didn’t want to put it down. The story is emotional and full of surprises as family relationships and secrets are revealed in the aftermath of the accident. Abbie’s perfectly normal life will never be the same again as the answers to how and why her loving, cardiologist husband who rarely drank even a glass of wine was driving drunk and was not headed to their son’s hockey game. This book is recommended to readers that enjoy a contemporary setting with romantic plotlines of betrayal, forgiveness, and second chances.

OH, and it features an awesome golden retriever as well.

So, it appears I have a new favorite Julianne MacLean book. A Curve in the Road sucked me in from the first line and didn't let me go until the end. When I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it. Abbie's journey through this book was gutwrenching. I felt all the feels throughout this book. I mean that sincerely. I don't think I have ever experienced such a wide range of emotions reading a book. From fury to shock, to sadness, to joy, it was an amazing ride. Structurally it was darn near perfect, there were one or two small inconsistencies that irked my nitpicky nerve, but otherwise, it was just amazing. I can't wait to see what MacLean does next.

Chick lit at its finest: a husband dies and his wife finds out he had hidden things from her. The author took a premise that is used in many chick lit books and made it into an enjoyable reading experience. The characters were easy to invest in and the plot moved along at a nice pace.

This book is full of beautiful imagery and the heroine is a strong woman who handles her own stuff without needing a man to rescue her. I'm a sucker for that! I think I'm in the wrong place in my life to enjoy the story though. Maybe if I were closer to mid-40s or 50s, I wouldn't see this as more of a horror story than a hopeful story, but poor Abbie goes through exactly what all women who’ve been married for 5-15 years fear the most. I almost couldn't handle it and wanted to run for the hills. Picture the nope-tipus meme.

I received an ARC for an honest review.

A Curve in the Road by Julianne MacLean is a so-so romantic drama.

Abbie MacIntyre thought she had the perfect family. She is a successful surgeon who is married to a handsome cardiologist. Zach is a model teenage son and the family has a beloved golden retriever named Winston. Then she is in a car accident that changes her whole world. One unthinkable challenge after another is thrown at her and she has to try and find a way to cope and work through her challenges, anger, and grief while still being the parent Zach needs.

The writing is certainly good. MacLean follows the five stages of grief. She handles Abbie's inner turmoil and questions with compassion and realism. It is an uplifting, maudlin, sentimental novel, and, if you require a happy ending, it is here. Abbie is a well-developed character.

Any novel where the description involves a perfect family is bound to be the precursor to proving it just isn't so. Admittedly, I'm still a bit surprised at all the high ratings for A Curve in the Road. While it is not an awful novel, it is very predictable and formulaic. I knew what was going to happen almost right from the start and the unimaginable secrets were painfully obvious, which, in turn, made me feel impatient to get to a surprise or startling secret or... anything I hadn't already guessed was going to happen at almost the beginning of the novel.

I did find several actions less-than-believable. One such question was when she learned some medical information about her husband that she could have confirmed rather than simply believing. It is most definitely women's fiction, but it heads a bit too much toward a romance novel for me, which I did not expect or I would not have chosen to review this novel.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Lake Union Publishing.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2018/08/a-curve-in-road.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2496208253
https://www.librarything.com/work/22194538/book/159465548
https://twitter.com/SheTreadsSoftly/status/1030154890063106051

An engrossing story about a woman whose life is turned upside down after she is in a car accident.
The other driver....
The dog....
The vet.....
Her Son.....
There are so many aspects to this story, and it will stay with you long after you've finished reading.

Thank you to the publisher for an ARC of this book!

This is a moving story of loss and grief. Of lies, betrayal and also, of forgiveness and moving forward. This book captured me from the first page and kept me turning the pages till the very end. The characters are richly developed and believable. I was a part of Abbie's life. I felt such a wide range of emotions. From fear to heartache, from sadness to hope. This book is classic Julianne MacLean. It takes you into its pages and you become a part of this family. Well written, it flows well from beginning to end. Here are a few of my favorite quotes: "Pain is part of life, and we have to deal with it when it comes." " But sometimes, a flicker of light can emerge from the darkest, most unexpected tragedies." " happiness may recede sometimes, but it comes back. It always comes back." I received this book from NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for honest feedback. I honestly loved every minute of it!

The beautiful cover may have initially drawn me in, but this book turned out to be so much more. It was an emotional story with relatable characters and unexpected twists as well as a lovable dog. I could scarcely set it down once I started it. It would be a great book club selection because there are so many issues to discuss. Now I am even more anxious to read the numerous books by Julianne MacLean that I have purchased based on their beautiful covers. Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this book.

A Curve in the Road is a standalone book. Like most of the stories the author writes, this one gets to you with the emotions the main character is feeling. I couldn't help but connect to what Abbie was feeling and going through. I always enjoy her books as they are filled with relatable characters and real life situations, reactions, and emotions.