On mystic lake: a novel

by Kristin Hannah

Paper Book, 2019

Publication

Ballantine Books

Collection

Call number

Fiction H

Physical description

435 p.; 20 cm

Status

Available

Call number

Fiction H

Description

Fiction. Literature. HTML:NATIONAL BESTSELLER � A poignant and tender story of love, loss, passion, and the fragile threads that bind families together from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Nightingale �A beautifully simple, deeply compassionate story.��Diana Gabaldon Annie Colwater's only child has just left home for school abroad. On that same day, her husband of twenty years confesses that he's in love with a younger woman. Alone in the house that is no longer a home, Annie comes to the painful realization that for years she has been slowly disappearing. Lonely and afraid, she retreats to Mystic, the small Washington town where she grew up, hoping that there she can reclaim the woman she once was�the woman she is now desperate to become again. In Mystic, she is reunited with her first love, Nick Delacroix, a recent widower unable to cope with his grieving, too-silent six-year-old daughter, Izzie. Together, the three of them begin to heal, and, at last, Annie learns that she can love without losing herself. But just when she has found a second chance at happiness, her life is turned upside down again, and Annie must make a choice no woman should have to make. . . . Praise for On Mystic Lake �Marvelous . . . a touching love story . . . You know a book is a winner when you devour it in one evening and hope there�s a sequel. . . . This page-turner has enough twists and turns to keep the reader up until the wee hours of the morning.��USA Today �Superb . . . I�ll heartily recommend On Mystic Lake to any woman . . . who demands that a story leave her in a satisfied glow.��The Washington Post Book World �A luminescent story . . . Kristin Hannah touches the deepest, most tender corners of our hearts.��Tami Hoag �Excellent . . . On Mystic Lake is an emotional experience you won�t soon forget.��Rocky Mountain News �Propels readers forward to the final chapter.��The Seattle Times.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member WillowOne
This book is about family dynamics and all of its ups and downs. Marriage, separation, children, losing one's self, parent/child relationships, adultery and forgiveness.

Annie Colwater finds after many years of marriage and the raising of a family she is experiencing empty house syndrome and has
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lost herself over the years. Her husband has finally admitted to "stepping out" on the marriage and being in love with another. After years of being what everyone else wanted and needed her to be she sets off to find and recapture herself. If you have ever had to pick up the pieces of a shattered life this book will resonate with you. A great read!
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LibraryThing member labelleaurore
I know that most of Kistin Hannah involves always the same base story but this is for me, an always refreshing book to read, doesn't matter where I am. I could read her on and on. Mother to daughter, boyfriend to girfriend, divorce mature woman, corporate wife, country house, etc...
LibraryThing member pianomama
A great "take me away" read that has true to life characters. I think Kristin Hannah consistenly hits the mark in her books in making strong female characters that go through struggles and moral dilemmas we all can relate to----either personally or through someone we know. Kristin Hannah has
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replaced Danielle Steel in my library for the "chick flick" book that I can escape in.
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LibraryThing member ldrumm16
While I was able to tell that this was one of Kristin Hannah's earlier novels (it didn't have the depth that later novels like Winter Garden and Firefly Lane have) I still really enjoyed it. Annie Colwater's personality reminded me so much of my mom's - she's a total people pleaser that worries
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about everyone's happiness but her own. Without giving away any of the storyline, I will say that I wanted to shake Annie about 3/4 of the way through the book when a life-altering event happens. Up to that point, it seemed that Annie had finally developed a back bone and then suddenly it just disappeared. I have a very hard time with women that have weak personalities and I found myself yelling at Annie throughout the story.In the end, Annie seems to be on the road to following her heart. I can't say I agree with all of the events that led her there, but I was happy to see her doing what she wanted as opposed to what everyone else wanted her to do.This wasn't as deep a read as some of Hannah's other work, but it was emotionally exhausting at times. Not Hannah's best, but certainly still a great story that I would recommend.
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LibraryThing member Kristinjordan
This is my first Kristin Hannah novel and I am now a fan. It isn't classic literature but it is good. It is well written and I loved the characters. I did feel alittle cheated at the end. I felt she could have written at least one more chapter.
LibraryThing member WeeziesBooks
“On Mystic Lake: A Novel” is another fun to read Kristin Hannah novel. Dealing with an empty nest as her only daughter goes off to college Annelise’s husband Blake informs her that her wants a divorce. Adrift and terribly lonely she returns to her home on Mystic Lake for a short rest. She
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stays with her father and finally ventures out into the community where she meets a cast of interesting characters including the town beautician, a handsome widow, Nick, who is an old friend and her Doctor who took care of her when she was a child. As she becomes involved in their lives she meets Izzy, Nick’s daughter. Izzy has serious problems that have appeared since her mother died. They include the inability to communicate, and the fact that she believes she is disappearing piece by piece like her mother disappeared, These issues all seem to stem from the terrible loss of her mother and her fathers depression. Annelise is drawn toward Izzy, as she misses her own daughter and is trying to find a new purpose in her life since her own family has broken apart.

Annelise becomes attached to the people in the community but then faces the need to return to her home and own daughter as she will be coming back from school. The story is heartwarming and the characters vivid and enjoyable. An easy and fun read though you may need a crying tissue for a couple of places. This is a light romance set in a delightful small town setting. Can anyone ever go home? That is a good question. I give this novel 4 stars.
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LibraryThing member MonicaLynn
Analise (Annie) Colwater is in a loveless marriage but doesn't realize this until her husband Blake tells her he wants a divorce he is seeing somone else and is in love with the other woman. They had just taken their daughter to the Airport to fly to London to finish out her school year. What a
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devastating blow to Annie she didn't see this coming.

Over the course of a couple of months she drives up to her old hometown to spend time with her father and finds "herself" while finding a new love and what love and relationships should be about.

Then Annie finds out she is pregnant and it is her husbands, so she goes back to find out if they can work things out.

This book was good overall. I had my own visions for the ending but it left me with only an indicator of what probably happened. However it is a good story about a woman finding herself and with my recent past showed me a thing or two.
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LibraryThing member jbarr5
On Mystic Lake by Kristin Hannah
Love the author and her works and know I will like this one as it's located in northwest area, near the rain forest which we have traveled to many times in the past years.
Annie Coldwater has fled home to stay with her father. Her daughter is off to colege, overseas.
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Her husband Blake has declared he's done with her and likes his younger woman, and has for over 10 years.
She goes through many stages of grief to get over him.
The story also follows her best friend Cathy who married Nick and they have a 6 year old Izzy. Nick was best of friends with Cathy and Annie.
Annie is sad to learn of her friend Cathy's death and agrees to help take care of Izzy while Nick works.
The girl has not talked since the death and she thinks her fingers have disappeared.
Love how strong she is and follows her heart as to her career, her dreams..
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
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LibraryThing member jepeters333
Annie Colwater's husband has just confessed that he's in love with a younger woman. Devastated, Annie retreats to the small town where she grew up. There, she is reunited with her first love, Nick Delacroix, a recent widower who is unable to cope with his silent emotionally scarred young daughter.
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Together, the three of them begin to heal. But just when Annie believes she's been given a second chance at happiness, her world is turned upside down again, and she is forced to make a choice that no woman in love should ever have to make.
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LibraryThing member olegalCA
Much more enjoyable than I expected (3 and half stars). She has a way of writing that tugs at your emotions and while there were some mistakes in the execution of the story (she repeated herself a lot), you were moved by the characters.
LibraryThing member Dawn772
This story got off to a powerful start and just kept getting more intense. I was totally absorbed experiencing all the emotions. Annie's husband tells her he is in love with another woman. She returns to her hometown where she re-connects with childhood friend Nick and his young daughter who are
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also grieving.
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LibraryThing member booklovers2
Mid-life crisis wealthy lawyer husband leaves his wife for a younger woman. Predicable but none the less enjoyable romance.
LibraryThing member Kimmyd76
I don't read that many books of the romance genre. This one I picked off Audible during a sale since I've been wanting to read Kristin Hannah for awhile. I really liked it. The story held my attention and I didn't find my mind wandering to other thing while listening like sometimes happens to me.
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Great, easy, refreshing read!
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LibraryThing member joannemonck
This is an older Kristin Hannah book and a great read. Annie is very typically a woman who was raised with the idea that you needed a man who could provide for you. Any married woman who feels that the responsibility for a happy marriage rests on her will see herself in this book. You know how it
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will end by the journey to get there is very well written.
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LibraryThing member SimplyKelina
Shame on me for doubting Kristin Hannah. I went into this with low expectations since this was an older book from the author. It was just as amazing as all of the others I have read. I loved it.
LibraryThing member soosthemoose
A sweet book about betrayal, growing as a person and taking responsibility for own life instead of living as others want you to.
LibraryThing member LyndaInOregon
Hannah pulls out all the stops in this one. She dumps in crumbling marriage, empty-nest syndrome, long-lost loves, neglected children, traumatized children, loss of a parent, homelessness, substance abuse, suicide, mental illness, and pretty much every hanky-dampening situation in the romance
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writers' playbook.

In other words, her fans will eat this up.

It all starts when Annie Colwater's husband announces, apparently out of the blue, that he has fallen in love with another woman and wants a divorce. He drops this bombshell moments after the couple has put their 17-year-old daughter on a plane for London.

Shocked and confused, Annie returns to her hometown on the Olympic Peninsula, to spend time with her father and to try to reorganize her life. Looking for something to fill her days, she agrees to help her first love, Nick, with his six-year-old daughter, so traumatized by her mother's suicide that she is nearly catatonic.

Things build pretty predictably from there, and even the "surprise twist" at the three-quarter point is something the long-time romance reader will have seen coming, though Hannah does manage to dodge one cliche bullet in the resolution.

The ending drags somewhat as Annie tries to decide between new-old love and old-established love, between comfort and adventure, and between doing what's expected of her and doing what she really wants.
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Language

Original publication date

1999

ISBN

9780645471178

Other editions

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