Book 18: The From-Aways by CJ Hauser

This is the first novel published by this author, and it's a much less weird book than her second one. It follows two women who both go to a small coastal town in Maine, one to escape the New York City life she feels no connection to, and one to potentially find her father after her mother's death. They both find something different than they expected, and in many ways it's a pretty classic story about what a small town feels like to someone from the outside, the tension between the townies and the summer out-of-towners in small New England towns, and what parts of ourselves it's possible to leave behind, and what we can't.

There's enough in the story that's not standard to make it fairly unpredictable, and one tragedy late in the book that didn't quite feel earned, but I really enjoyed reading it, and the idea of fleeing to a fictional coastal town in Maine feels pretty appealing right now.

Grade: B