This was an amazing book with a lot of twists and turns. Just when I thought I knew which way it was going, it took another direction. I don't want to spoil this book by giving too many details, all I can say is read it. It's one of the best-written and plotted books I've ever read, and the characters felt like real people. It's hard to believe that this is a debut novel.

The book is about family and overcoming trauma. The main character is an award-winning wildlife photographer and can be overseas a year at a time, frequently in remote, isolated places - which is how she likes it. She is very much a free spirit. She has a long-time boyfriend back home, but they are not monogamous, given her long absences (and she doesn't want to be monogamous).

Her family could walk out of a sitcom. Dad, Mom, and two kids, where Mom loves to entertain their wide network of friends and cook for their family dinners. Abbey is the one who stands out. She resents her mother a lot. The reason for that and the eventual resolution is riveting. I can't recommend this book highly enough.

I received a review copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. It was my pleasure to read and review it.

Wow, what a great title, what a great cover photo and what a great book!!
Tara Delaney's debut novel is a powerful story of redemption - I was reduced to blubbering tears by the last time the red bike appeared and had to take a deep breath and make myself a hot cup of tea before starting this review.
I don't give out 5 stars easily, but this book hits all the marks: the writing is excellent, the character development is superb, the setting is unique, the narrative stays interesting through out the book and it packs an emotional wallop at the end.
I did not expect to be so affected by the ending - I didn't like where I thought the story was going and I couldn't stand the protagonist at first.
Abbey had an exciting career as a wildlife photographer, which I would have liked to read more about (and less about her narcissistic sex life), but I realize the point of the book was not her career, it was that she used it to run away from situations and distance herself from the people who cared about her.
Abbey is not a completely likable character, or even a reliable narrator. She seemed to make rules to live by from one experience - the terrible way she lost her virginity and her discovery of the infidelity of her mother. These pivotal experiences which happened when she was young, made her segregate sex and love and affected her relationships. I think she unfairly judged her mother and spitefully stuck to her misconceptions, refusing to forgive her mother for anything, while idolizing her father.
There seemed to be an unusual amount of references to breasts, especially her mother's -
Mothers (and their breasts) are supposed to be nurturing, but since Abbey did not feel cared for, I assume that breast cancer was a metaphor for Abbey's desire to de-sexualize her mother and punish her for being sensual.
I might add that there are graphic descriptions of sex, which may offend some people, but they are important for the narrative.
I won't go into spoiler territory, but it was so satisfying when Abbey's boyfriend, Ryan, called her out on her selfish about excuses why she wouldn't commit and his explanation about the red bike devastated me - that's why I thought the ending was so good!

A giver and a taker. This book was about a taker who thought only of herself. I didn't really enjoy the book and ended up skimming part of it. I liked the photojournalism part but the relationship part was so one sided.

Unfortunately, I could not read past the 50% mark in this book. It seemed like a sweet story of a guy and a girl with commitment issues, and the relationship between a daughter and sick mother. But the sex scenes were off-putting and I just had to abandon the book.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read and review The Red Bike.

This story kept me engaged from page one. It’s a story of love and furrow and mother’s and daughters. The family bonds I. This suit hard complicated but touch your heart on every page. You will find yourself rooting for Abbey and Ryan
Of course Abbey's mom plays a big part in this story of relationships

Bullet Points:
-- Young girl feels hurt when parents separate.
-- Daughter hates mom for cheating on dad.
-- As an adult, she fears commitment.
-- Mom gets sick.
-- Secrets are uncovered
-- Maybe mom's not so bad after all.
-- Daughter finds peace
End of story.

This was just okay for me. It was a bit of a slog to get through. Thanks to Net Galley for letting me read and review.

This is a solid story about the relationship between mothers and daughters. About how we see our mothers from the outside looking in and therefore sometimes passing a serious misjudgment. We sometimes spend so much time trying to be nothing like them , that we fail , and come close to who we think they are . Abbey was the most annoying person to me , I really didn’t like her but I understand her, it took her mothers illness to make her look at herself and try to discover the truth about her mother. Ryan was an awesome friend/ boyfriend, I found myself rooting for them and wishing he’d move on to a more deserving person . Loosing her mother Abbey finally loos into the person her mother really is and reading that part of the story was the really good part . Thanks NetGalley for providing this story for an honest review.

Abbey is a wildlife photographer that travels all over to take pictures of animals in their natural habitat. After taking pictures that captured the protective bond between a gorilla and her newborn baby, she wants to restore the relationship that she had with her Mother. She had found out that her Mother had an affair and she has held the anger towards her Mother for a long time. It has prevented her from believing that she can find love and has hurt all of her romantic relationships. Once she heads home. she finds out that her Mother has a life-threatening illness. She uncovers secrets about things in the family that she was unaware of which can change her view of how things really were. This is an excellent book that I recommend.

"The Red Bike"
by Tara Delaney

I had to doublecheck to see whether the author of "The Red Bike" was a man or a woman. Given the salacious descriptions of the main character's mother's breasts, I thought the author surely was a man. Nope. A woman, Tara Delaney, wrote this.

Obviously, I've turned into an old lady because the emphasis on breasts and the sexual descriptions seemed totally inappropriate for this book. Rather crass, in my opinion.

Abigail is a wildlife photographer who uses men for sexual pleasure but refuses to get tied down in monogamy. Her mother is a sex kitten with a figure to match her purr. She and Abigail have their differences.

Abigail knows a secret about her mother. A health crisis ends up divulging more of her mother's secret. Abbey has secrets of her own. She tells someone and cracks form in the hard shell she has built around herself.

After years of hating her mother, Abigail has to decide whether she can forgive her or just keep on hating.

Abigail isn't a particularly likeable character. I preferred her mother. The sexual descriptions were annoying and really reminded me of all of the memes we've seen in social media about how men write women characters.

The story did not excite me.

This review appears on Goodreads, on Facebook and on Facebook groups Girls Who Love Books; Sixties Plus Reading Room; Books, Brews & Bibliophiles Too; and 52 Books.

I enjoyed reading this book. It's about a young woman who is trying to navigate the important relationships in her life but is quite destructive. This book gives a glimpse into how past experiences can impact future behaviors and the consequences of those behaviors, Hopes and dreams, lost and renewed is another theme woven throughout this story. It isn't until near the end of the book that you find out why the book has this title. #netgalley #theredbike

Wildlife photographer Abbey captures photo of mama gorilla protecting her baby which makes her feel she should try to repair her relationship with her mother. It would’ve been a good time with her mother diagnosed with breast cancer. But it didn’t feel like Abbey tried very hard to me. She seemed very narcissistic. Going back in her past explained some of her actions. The story was still good, however, and kept my interest.

It felt like there was a lot going on with the storyline of her mother and her boyfriend that could possibly have been two different books or edited more.

Thanks to NetGalley and Treaty Oaks Publishing for allowing me to read this book.

Abbey Gallagher is an angry, passionate, selfish woman. Sex is a form of control- giving her what she wants, but never allowing herself to fall in love. She blames her mother, Rachel, for nearly everything that has gone wrong in her life.

Abbey has a successful career as a wildlife photographer. When she captures a photo of a primate holding her child safe and protecting her, she can’t help but compare her relationship with her mother, and resentfully grieve that lost opportunity for a close relationship with her.

But suddenly she is forced to question everything she has told herself. She is forced to examine the events of her life when she was 16 years old - and wonder if the decisions she made were the right ones. Is it too late to fix the lost relationships in her life?

This story forces the reader to re-examine long held beliefs, and wonder if it’s too late to change. Abbey, Rachel, and Ryan will stay with you long after the last page is turned.

What a beautifully written story of a mother-daughter relationship. The emotions that happen when there is misunderstanding and no communication are perfectly described and felt while reading this book. A journey of love, loss, and discovery of one’s true self is woven together into a must read, cannot put down book. This reader absolutely loved The Red Bike!

A well told story that shows what a self discovery journey can look like and the work that it takes to get through it.

At first the book moved a little slow for me, but then it picked up and I stayed glued! I felt for Abigail because she was traumatized in many ways and I as a child had similar issues with my parents. The book hit my heart on so many levels and I know that people will identify with Abigail and Ryan and her family.

I loved the depth of the characters and how the author did eventually tied things all together!

I received an advanced copy from NetGalley and these are my willingly given thoughts and opinions.

Thank you Netgalley, publisher and author for the opportunity to read "The Red Bike" in exchange for my honest review.
After her return from a year long nature photography assignment, Abbey begins the too long experience of reconciling her troubled relationship with her mother. A relationship damaged by failure to communicate, years of unresolved misinformation and Abby's self-destructive acting out. I was disappointed that there was very little about her nature photography and so much personal wheel spinning about her mother, men and her own obnoxious behavior in general. Abbey was difficult for me to like.and "The Red Bike" was a slow read.

I received this ARC from NetGalley and Treaty Oak Publishers for an honest review. This is a good story about a mother and adult daughter with a very troubled relationship. The daughter, Abigail, could never have normal relationships with men. She was on the road to destruction due to her perceived ideas about her parents and their marriage. After discovering a very big secret that her parents kept from her, she is able to process what she learned and go on with her life . The story compared a mother’s love and nurturing to a chimpanzee mother’s protection of her baby in an interesting way. The red bike is significant and Abigail’s friend, Ryan, told her a story about the red bike and it’s meaning for him. I didn’t like the extremely graphic descriptions of Abigail’s sexual experiences. I thought the sexual sections detracted from the good story that Tara was trying to tell. . I would have given the book 5 stars if it didn’t have the sexual descriptions that detracted from the beautiful story.

What a great story! Follow Abby as she travels to Africa as a wildlife photographer as she keeps her men at arms length and upon her return, she still has emotional issues with her boyfriend and her mother. She has held a grudge against her mother since childhood after overhearing she cheated on her dad. When her mother battles beast cancer, Abby learns the truth about her mother's younger life as a model and the live of her life. A poignant story about family, secrets and long lost love. A GREAT READ!

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Abbey a photographer returns from home after being gone for a year. Her mom and her have rarely seen eye to eye on anything. When her mom is sick, she learns a secret her mom has kept for years. I enjoyed the different characters.

This was a very relatable book about a fractured mother/daughter bond and all the years of anger, resentment, disappointment and distance that follows the Abigail. As an adult she is a wildlife photographer and witnesses/captures a tender moment between a mother gorilla and her baby and wonders where the relationship went wrong with her own mom. She then receives news that her mom is diagnosed with breast cancer and fighting for her life.. Abby's relationship with her boyfriend has been trying to seal their commitment but knows Abby has walls up. Will Abby's adult life be in as much turmoil as her younger years? Can she forgive her mom and learn why she made such bad decisions?

This book was packed with so much anger and heartache, oh my Lord, you better be ready for it. A mother's secrets go deep but why? This book has it and it was better than I thought it was going to be. I am glad this popped up in my recommendations and I highly recommend it as well! I would definitely read from this author again in the future if it is as good as this book.

Thanks to Netgalley, Tara Delaney, and Treaty Oak Publisher's Author Buzz for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Already available: 5/5/21