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On Mystic Lake

by Kristin Hannah (Goodreads Author)

3.92 of 5 stars 3.92 · rating details · 11,145 ratings · 840 reviews

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. Together, the three of them begin to heal. But just when Annie believes she...more

Paperback, 448 pages

Published April 27th 2004 by Ballantine Books (first published January 1st 1999)

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Apr 26, 2011 *Hayley* rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Contemporary Romance Lovers

Shelves: 2011, adultery, children-in-the-mix, small-town, widower, old-flames, some-people-change, contemporary-romance, chick-lit

Well I decided to pick this up after reading Firefly Lane. I enjoyed On Mystic Lake but not as much as Firefly Lane. This story is about a woman named Annie who has lived her life as a giver, a supporter, a caretaker basically. She has always given fully and never quite received the same response from her Husband, Blake. He works too much (Lawyer) and ends up cheating on Annie and asks for a divorce right after their daughter goes to London.

Shock shelled over this news Annie tries to plead with...more

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Jul 06, 2009 Holli rated it 4 of 5 stars

another amazing book by kristin hannah! i was able to truly connect with annie and see some of myself in her. authors that can do that for me really earn my respect. highly recommend this one!

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Jul 24, 2011 Pam rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed

I only picked up this book after reading all the positive reviews. Too bad for me as I thought it was total rubbish.

After 20 years of being the perfect wife of a successful lawyer and perfect mother to her daughter, her husband tells her he's in love with another woman and wants a divorce. Annie decides to go home where she grew up. She wants to find herself, figure out who she really is and what she wants out of life. She keeps praying her husband will call and tell her he made a mistake. She...more

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Nov 04, 2011 Alison rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kristin-hannah

Kristin Hannah's stories always intrigue me because she often goes places I don't think she's going to. It's fluffy and light but there's sometimes an undercurrent of substance that I enjoy. That said, her writing in this book leaves something to be desired--it's one of her earlier ones and I can definitely see that she's grown in terms of the disgustingly corny prose that makes me cringe, that is to say, she's gotten better at avoiding it. I enjoyed the parts of the book in Mystic with Izzy and...more

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Mar 29, 2013 Ivana rated it 5 of 5 stars

First of all although I gave the book five stars, and I'm standing by my decision, I have to say this is the first book written by K. Hannah that I read and didn't cry my heart out. And although my eyes are grateful for it, I have to admit I even missed that element a bit.

Which is not saying that this book isn't very emotional and heartbreaking, it is ... And it's beautiful :). Although the character of Annie felt hard to love at first, I knew I would adore her and her lovely personality, and s...more

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Dec 30, 2012 Jennefer rated it 4 of 5 stars

I am a HUGE Kristin Hannah fan and I will read anything she writes. I truly enjoyed the story line of this novel. As we begin this novel, we are introduced to Annie and Blake Colwater as they escort their daughter Natalie to the airport. Natalie is leaving for London and plans to spend several months studying there. On the drive home from the airport, Blake surprises Annie by asking for a divorce. Annie is in complete and total shock and is in the midst of completely falling apart. As her world...more I am a HUGE Kristin Hannah fan and I will read anything she writes. I truly enjoyed the story line of this novel. As we begin this novel, we are introduced to Annie and Blake Colwater as they escort their daughter Natalie to the airport. Natalie is leaving for London and plans to spend several months studying there. On the drive home from the airport, Blake surprises Annie by asking for a divorce. Annie is in complete and total shock and is in the midst of completely falling apart. As her world as she knows it is crumbling before her own eyes.

Annie decides to leave California in a retreat back to her hometown of Mystic. In Mystic, she reunites with her old best friend/boyfriend Nick, and immediately rekindles a romance. Nick has some deep seeded issues of his own and is haunted by his wife's (and Annie’s old best friend Kathy) death. Nick has a 6 year old daughter named Izzy who is very distraught by the loss of her mother that she no longer has the ability to speak. Izzy also thinks she is disappearing slowly.

The wonderful ability Kristin Hannah has is to manage several different subplots all in one story line and she manages them quite well! Kristin Hannah also gives an excellent account of the emotions that each character is experiencing, the gorgeous landscape of Mystic and Hannah is just a fabulous story teller in general.

Now here is my gripe Annie, the main character, is just a little frustrating due to the fact that she seems just too perfect. Annie is attractive, intelligent, thin, wealthy, talented, a FABULOUS mother and just a really nice person in general! It is difficult for me to believe that a wife would not have a clue to the fact that her husband of 20 years was consistently unfaithful to her. Perhaps Annie was just so wrapped up in her daughter’s life and in creating a perfect home that she ignored the signs of a cheating husband who had no desire to be apart of his family.

One more gripe and then we can move on … I can’t stand Kristin Hannah's abrupt endings!!!! I feel as though she is such a great story teller, there is great build up to the plot and then BOOM the end smacks you in the face and its over! I really want to savor the ending and have time to feel good about the decisions that lead us to the ending. I want to know about their new life together and I want the story to be wrapped up in a cute little bow. Kristin Hannah, if you ever read reviews – PLEASE START ADDING A COUPLE OF CHAPTERS TO THE END!! Anyway…I still adore all the Kristin Hannah novels and I will continue to read all her novels I haven’t yet read. As always, happy reading my friends :)
(less)

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Aug 14, 2012 Trisha rated it 4 of 5 stars

Mystic Lake was a heartbreaking story about a women who taking care of everyone lost herself, her wants, needs dreams and slowly disappeared just like little Izzy. How her little fingers, hands and arms were disappearing. If Annie gives something to anyone she gives all she can. But in her journey of 39 years (20 years of marriage) she didn't care about herself only of her husband and child.

From the moment I read the synopsis of this book I knew her husband is going to break her heart and it st...more

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Jan 13, 2012 Kristilyn (Reading In Winter & Winter Distractions) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: borrowed, read-in-2011

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Some people may view Kristin Hannah’s books as light, insignificant, “hausfrau” books, but I personally think she can do wrong. When it comes to crafting stories about human relationships, Hannah is one of the best.

However, there are always exceptions when I say stuff like that.

On Mystic Lake is the story of Annie, who returns to her childhood home, Mystic, after her husband of 20 years, Blake, cheats on Annie and asks her for a divorce when their only daughter, Natalie, leaves for London.

When b...more Some people may view Kristin Hannah’s books as light, insignificant, “hausfrau” books, but I personally think she can do wrong. When it comes to crafting stories about human relationships, Hannah is one of the best.

However, there are always exceptions when I say stuff like that.

On Mystic Lake is the story of Annie, who returns to her childhood home, Mystic, after her husband of 20 years, Blake, cheats on Annie and asks her for a divorce when their only daughter, Natalie, leaves for London.

When back in Mystic, Annie meets an old childhood friend, Nick, who has a daughter, Izzy, who became mute after the suicide of her mother, Kathy. Along with spending time with her father, Annie agrees to watch Izzy while Nick is at work. Having led a life where she was the nurturer, caretaker, and supporter, Annie immediately falls in love with Izzy.

There are problems with On Mystic Lake—and they’re kind of significant.

The first problem is that the whole point of the story is for Annie to find herself, but she just moves from playing the “mother and wife” role to her own family, to immediately playing it for another. I would have liked Annie to find some kind of independence along the way.

The second problem is that Annie finds out she’s pregnant. With Blake’s baby. Even though she wasn’t happy with Blake, she gets back together with him and he changes—for a while. After the baby is born, they fall back into their old routine until Blake finally decides that he can’t live like this with Annie anymore. Now, after getting rejected TWICE by the same man, does Annie finally decide to go back to Mystic and open her bookstore she’s dreamed of, and maybe get back together with Nick (that is, if he isn’t already heartbroken—does Annie just assume Nick would wait around and pine over her?).

Despite the obvious flaw, On Mystic Lake was an ok read. Not the best Kristin Hannah book out there, but still a good one. Though, if you really feel you need to get some Kristin Hannah in your life, start with Winter Garden, not On Mystic Lake.(less)

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Jan 06, 2012 Allie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, own

This book was insane! For the first book that I've read by Kristin Hannah I was pleasantly surprised. On mystic lake was powerful and real. A book that captures the world we live in that vividly is beyond powerful.

Annie is hit by life changing events when her husband confesses that he is in love with another woman. Her world is shattered. Nick is now a widower trying to somehow figure out how to be a single father.

On mystic lake made me so mad I could throw it against a wall. But something abou...more

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Dec 27, 2011 Christina (Reading Thru The Night) rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, romance

The Short of It

Home holds the heart and answers.

The Long of It

Annie just finds out her husband is in love with someone else and wants a divorce right around the time her daughter graduates high school and goes off to Europe for the summer. Having always identified herself through her husband and daughter, Annie does the only thing she can think of – pack up her bags and return to the small town she grew up in.

Much like stereotypical small towns, not everyone gets out, including her high school s...more

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Oct 09, 2011 Ellen Black rated it 3 of 5 stars

On Mystic Lake is a well-written book. However, I didn't really enjoy it. But, this was not because the book is badly written. I just had a hard time connecting with a main character who's a wealthy, beautiful housewife, whose life has been perfect, until a loss occurs. When this loss occurs, the only thing this housewife knows to do is to move back to the small town where she grew up and live with her father. In this small town, she finds a new path, and all the future pieces of her life fall i...more

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Feb 14, 2011 Sandys rated it 5 of 5 stars

Annie Colwater is in for a rude awakening. How could you live with someone for 20 years and not realize that the last 10 years have been a lie. The only daughter of Annie and Blake Colwater is going to London for a few months and then will be off to college, leaving Annie and Blake to move on with their lives. Little does Annie know that life will be turned upside down by four words "I Want A Divorce." Trying to move on with some semblance of living, Annie goes home to Mystic, Washington to stay...more

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Mar 19, 2010 Clare rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: someone-cheats

My husband asked me, "Is that the Sean Penn movie you're reading?" and I said, "No, that's Mystic River, not On Mystic Lake."

I was so disappointed in On Mystic Lake. Kristin Hannah writes such well-thought out, full, compelling characters that I had really high expectations. (Firefly Lane is amazing!)

When Annie's teenage daughter leaves for a semester abroad, Annie thinks she and her husband can finally reconnect. Instead, he tells her he's in love with another woman and leaving her. Cliche, sur...more

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Feb 01, 2013 LeiCa rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: straight-from-the-heart

There are so many passages that deeply touched me, and i loved that Kristin Hannah was able to make me appreciate a book about a woman i could not relate to. There were a lot of instances where i wanted to yank Annie's hair and bang it against a wall for being the woman that she is.

Her daughter Natalie said it so explicitly:

'mom, there are only two people in this world who do not respect you ---- dad .. and you.

This is one of those romantic books where i could not imagine myself as the heroine...more

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May 01, 2010 Katie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010books, kristin-hannah

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Another great read by Kristin that I had to stay up late into the night to find out the ending!

The main character, Annalise, goes through some life-altering situations. Her husband leaves her for another woman. I couldn't believe how dependent Anna was on her husband and was just begging him to come back to her. But I guess after twenty years one does get used to things.

In the meantime, she moves back to her hometown, Mystic, with her (unknowingly unsupportive and masochistic) father. She begin...more Another great read by Kristin that I had to stay up late into the night to find out the ending!

The main character, Annalise, goes through some life-altering situations. Her husband leaves her for another woman. I couldn't believe how dependent Anna was on her husband and was just begging him to come back to her. But I guess after twenty years one does get used to things.

In the meantime, she moves back to her hometown, Mystic, with her (unknowingly unsupportive and masochistic) father. She begins to help her former high school flame get over the recent suicide of his wife and help their daughter psychologically come to terms with the situation. Anna turns their life around and in essence, finds herself in the process, too. She discovers a family life she's never known.

The ending is a bit irritating to me...but probably more realistic to real life. And that's what I love about Hannah's writing. She's not afraid to NOT have the all-American ending. Anna predictably goes back to her husband right at the point where I think she'll stay with Nick and Izzy. To top it off, she discovers a fluke pregnancy. I really wish I could've said that the baby was Nick's...but his vasectomy really nixed that one. Anna does decide in the end with no chance in her hubby's behavior to get divorced, and take her baby (with a convertible dream - no less) back up to Nick.

The last wish I would have from the book is to have Anna really define herself as a person. It seemed that she liked to have herself defined by others. First, she was wife and mother to Black and Natalie. Then, she immediately jumped into the role of pseudo wife and mother to Nick and Isabelle. I would've liked when Blake came back around that she stood on her own to feet and told him his "mistake" would just have to haunt him for the rest of his life and start her own. First separate from Nick, then perhaps continuing with Nick. To stand on her own, living, and creating her own business would have been a monumental growth for the character rather than always depending on men...even if Nick did really take care of her.

Overall...a must read of Kristin Hannah's!(less)

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Apr 16, 2012 Alice rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, library, literary, romance, beta-male

The jacket blurb on the edition I read of On Mystic Lake touted it as Kristin Hannah's "hardcover debut," which is not the same as her debut novel. Until I reread the jacket description and saw that it was just her first hardcover, not her first novel, I had thought it exceptionally well-written for a first book. As a later work, though, it was still a strong book with a lot to recommend it.

There are a lot of repeating themes in the books of Kristin Hannah's I've read, and they show up here. The...more The jacket blurb on the edition I read of On Mystic Lake touted it as Kristin Hannah's "hardcover debut," which is not the same as her debut novel. Until I reread the jacket description and saw that it was just her first hardcover, not her first novel, I had thought it exceptionally well-written for a first book. As a later work, though, it was still a strong book with a lot to recommend it.

There are a lot of repeating themes in the books of Kristin Hannah's I've read, and they show up here. The close mother-daughter bond is between Annie Colwater and her daughter, Natalie, who's leaving for a semester in London when the book opens. As they're pulling into the driveway, Annie's husband of 20 years, Blake, tells Annie he's in love with another woman, and wants a divorce. She goes to her childhood home way up in Washington state to recover, and meets an old friend who's even worse off than she is. His wife, her childhood best friend, killed herself eight months before, and he's been struggling with the guilt and subsequent alcoholism, while trying to raise their daughter, ever since. Annie is happy to have a project to keep her mind off her husband, and even happier to have another little girl to take care of, with how much she misses her own.

Kristin Hannah's books take place in the kind of world where awful, terrible, traumatic things happen, but where healing is possible, and where answers to deep emotional scars can be as pat as coming to your senses one day. Generally, the books follow the journey to that realization, which often means things have to get worse before they can improve. At the end of the day, though, people are going to get the happy ever after they deserve.

In this book, I would've liked to have read more of that happy ever after, and less of the main character's speculation about how it'll go. I would've liked to have seen it played out as more than a fantasy.

Overall, though, I found this book to be a touching, emotional journey where we explore love and loss and grief and recovery, and come out okay on the other side. I like that Kristin Hannah rarely writes about easy problems or simple solutions, but ones that require growth to overcome. Her later books make the direction of that growth less obvious to the reader, but this earlier book is still worth the read.(less)

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Feb 12, 2012 Dawn rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

I found this book to be very easy to get through and a fast page turner. This is the second Kristin Hannah book that I have read and, although I didn't like it quite as well as I did "Firefly Lane," I did like this book quite a lot. There are many very likable characters in this book, especially Izzy. I also really like Nick and felt a lot of empathy for him.

However, there was something that bothered me quite a lot about this book. After reflecting on this book for a couple days after completio...more I found this book to be very easy to get through and a fast page turner. This is the second Kristin Hannah book that I have read and, although I didn't like it quite as well as I did "Firefly Lane," I did like this book quite a lot. There are many very likable characters in this book, especially Izzy. I also really like Nick and felt a lot of empathy for him.

However, there was something that bothered me quite a lot about this book. After reflecting on this book for a couple days after completion to make sure I gave it an honest and fair review, my opinion hasn't changed. My biggest peeve with this book is the fact that towards the end of the book I started not liking the main character so much. I really loved her in the beginning and felt for her for the situation she had been dealt. I found myself really rooting for her on her journey of self exploration. Then things changed. She started talking about how she was such a "giver" and that she always did for others and didn't think of herself and the character's likability started plummeting downhill for me.

*SPOILERS*
To me, keeping your daughter in a family with a dad who doesn't participate (and the daughter even advises divorce), going back to a husband because you are pregnant and want to keep the "family" together (while tearing the start of a new one apart in the process), and leaving a man who loves you and a little girl who does, too, so that you can make these stupid decisions seems rather selfish. And weak. And she does this all under the guise of "doing the right thing," although she doesn't seem to be so worried about "doing the right thing" when she is doing what boils down to using Nick to try to pet her shattered ego. The people that talk about how all they think about is others yet make decisions that are only about themselves make me angry. And for someone who fought so hard to keep a very dysfunctional family together, we sure didn't see much of a reaction out of her when her husband wanted nothing to do with the new baby (either when they were married or divorced). She even kissed him goodbye on their final scene together when a swift punch to the face would have been a much more deserved reaction. ;) I just can't believe that all of his selfishness and personality flaws came as such an "awakening" type experience for her after 20 years of marriage. To be a Stanford grad, our heroine doesn't seem very bright.

I thought I might have pegged her wrong until it took a drawn out thought process at the end of the book for her to decide whether she wanted to take the road north or south. Seriously? She "loves" Nick and Izzy yet she has to think about what she will do. Not impressed.

Having said that, she does ultimately makes the right decision (or at least the reader is left with that impression). But it seems to me that she doesn't grow very much when the opportunities present themselves. It seems that she only makes the right decisions when forced (i.e. when her husband decided the marriage was over AGAIN, and when she potentially had nowhere else to go). If the moral of this story is how our heroine finds herself and becomes a stronger woman out of a seemingly hopeless situation, I didn't really see that come to fruition.

Regardless, this book was still better than a lot I have read. Like I said, it was really easy to get through and was very interesting. If you have not read Kristin Hannah, then I would recommend reading this BEFORE Firefly Lane so that you save the best for last. I recommend this book for anyone into light summer fare and easy chick lit. :)

I also have "True Colors" by Kristin Hannah and I hope to read it soon. I hope it is at least as good as "On Mystic Lake." If so, I will be satisfied.(less)

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Jun 06, 2012 Tanya rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: fans of relationship-driven fiction

Shelves: womens-fiction

3.5 stars (really wish GR allowed for that)

I think Kristin Hannah is a phenomenal writer and she is definitely one of my favorite authors. She has such a talent for creating character-driven stories that are so rich and multi-layered that I find myself completely immersed.

While her more recent novels (Firefly Lane, forward) are true stand-outs, I still enjoy going back and reading some of her earlier work. On Mystic Lake, while not quite the same caliber as the more recent efforts, is still a s...more

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Jul 16, 2010 Susan rated it 2 of 5 stars

This is kind of like Katy Perry 'I Kissed A Girl'. I read a romance novel. Didn't even notice that big fat pink sticker until I had already passed the half way mark and realized there was no murder, no psychology, no mystery. I was lost in the woods of Washington State near Mt. Olympia with two lovers torn apart through the years reunited in a misty, fir tree setting on the back side of nowhere. OK, I'm beginning to love Washington State and Anne and Nick were high school sweethearts and her hus...more

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Apr 11, 2013 Renee rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: favourite-authors

I was really impressed with this book, my first from this author and definately not my last. I enjoy contemporary romance/women books as a naughty break from heavier reading, think marian keyes & emily giffin, and it looks like I found another friend. The comedy was surprisingly on point, it had plenty of genuine laughs,quirky characters, romantic gasps and leaky eye parts - it's just not fair to reduce this story to calling it "chic lit." It is so much more. Through quality character develo...more

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Apr 15, 2013 Lori rated it 1 of 5 stars

I have actually liked two Kristin Hannah novels very much. Not this one.

Romances are, to me, good reads when they are not dealing with heavy subjects like adultery, suicide, single parenthood, depression, etc. When these subjects are involved you need full-bodied characters instead of sterotypes which this book had nothing but.

Nick was the only character I found real. They were like paperdolls you cut out from the Sears catalog. You can make them do this and that but in the end they aren't rea...more

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Nov 17, 2012 Dawn Edwards rated it 4 of 5 stars

A Masterpiece of Second Chances

Ms. Hannah has captured the essence of the Olympic Peninsula's Rain Forests in this excellently written romance.

Her understanding and portrayal of love re-discovered after personal tragedies is phenomenal, and she shares the feelings of the main characters in a way the reader can easily understand and identify with.

The story revolves around Annie and Nick with the catalyst, Izzy, and their re-discovery of their misplaced love from years past. Annie's return to her...more

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Nov 11, 2012 Danielle rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: kristin-hannah

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 11, 2011 Holley Murphy rated it 5 of 5 stars

I love this book! When I began reading this one, I had just come from a 6 day trip with a special group of girlfriends to the area of Washington state where it is set. I actually bought the book while on the trip because the bookshop owner kept pushing it to me. I had no idea how much I would really love it or how fast it would grab my attention. It's the story of a woman who has just sent her only child off to college and then has the rug pulled out from under by a cheating husband. She decides...more

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Sep 15, 2010 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Annie Colwater's life looks picture perfect. She's married to an attractive, very successful lawyer, she has a beautiful daughter who's on her way to college, and she lives in southern California in a prestigious, gated community in a huge house she designed. But Annie's world comes tumbling down the same day her only child, her seventeen-year old daughter, goes off to England. Blake, Annie's husband of twenty years, tells her he's in love with someone else and that he's leaving her. Leaving her...more Annie Colwater's life looks picture perfect. She's married to an attractive, very successful lawyer, she has a beautiful daughter who's on her way to college, and she lives in southern California in a prestigious, gated community in a huge house she designed. But Annie's world comes tumbling down the same day her only child, her seventeen-year old daughter, goes off to England. Blake, Annie's husband of twenty years, tells her he's in love with someone else and that he's leaving her. Leaving her. How can he do that? She's his wife, the mother of his child. These roles defined her. It was all she ever wanted to be for as long as she could remember.

Annie, adrift in an ocean of misery, heads back to her roots and her hometown, a small but beautiful place in Washington State called Mystic. It is here that she looks for comfort from her dad and recalls heart-wrenching memories of her deceased mother. But it is also in this nature-lover's paradise that Annie is reunited with her first love, Nick Delacroix, and his young daughter Izzy. Nick has recently become a widower and Izzy is "disappearing" since her mother died. Together, Annie, Nick and Izzy fight for survival and healing. Together they are strong. Yet it is just as Annie begins to feel she can let go of the past, just as she is beginning to understand who she is, just as she begins to believe in herself....she is forced to choose.

It is something so many of us do...mothers, wives, sisters. We become the nurturers, the caregivers, the organizers and lovers. But then, one day, twenty years later, when Johnnie is all grown up and traveling across Europe and Mary is off to university in Texas, we ask ourselves: What now? Who am I? What will I do now? The world is full of Annie Colwaters.

Kristin Hannah has once again put me through an emotional experience I won't forget. Through these so- very- real characters, she has reminded me to ask those questions of myself: "Who am I and what do I really want in life?" As a woman, I should not feel guilty because I want to do something for myself, be it a fulfillment of a lifelong dream or simply to travel where I want to go. Women can be who they want to be and still be a loving, nurturing parent and a passionate, caring wife. A woman's life need not revolve around those she loves; her life should involve the ones she loves. As Kristen Hannah states "I cannot lose sight of my own reflection". Thankfully, I have found the outlet for my innermost self...it is here in my words upon the page.(less)

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May 05, 2010 Kelsey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Despite how many of Kristin Hannah's books I've read, she always manages to keep me in suspense until the last page... I never know how she'll finish each character's story, which is definitely what keeps me picking up her books! I get pretty tired of the same forumulas used in many other author's books...

I really enjoyed this story and fell in love with little Izzy immediately! I loved every part that was told from her perspective and found myself wanting to read faster through the other parts...more

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Jul 13, 2012 Cathleen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Such a great read. This is one story that would make a wonderful "Girlie" movie.

The story centers on a woman who married young, and becomes "lost" to herself during her 20 year marriage. When her husband announces he is in love with someone else, is moving out and wants a divorce; she runs home to Washington State. She arrives at her father’s home a sad and depressed woman. Along the way she rediscovers herself, finds joy and happiness, and falls in love with an old friend from high school.

The...more

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Oct 09, 2011 Gina rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: library, pacific-northwest, family, romance, women-s-fiction, contemporary-fiction

Book Description- Annie Colwater's only child has just left home for school abroad. On that same day, her husband of 20 years confesses that he is in love with a younger woman. Alone in the house that is not 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 ag...more Book Description- Annie Colwater's only child has just left home for school abroad. On that same day, her husband of 20 years confesses that he is in love with a younger woman. Alone in the house that is not 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 whwen she has found a second chance at happiness, her life is turned upside down again, and Annies must make a choice no woman should have to make.

As in most of Hannah's stories, this novel is set in the Pacific Northwest town of Mystic. I get really tired of reading the descriptions of the rain forest. I get it....it's misty and foggy, the air smells like pine and earth, the moss drapes from each fir branch to another, and on and on it goes. I can understand a few descriptions but I think the story could be told much more efficiently if she left out so much of the descriptions of the rainforest. After awhile it becomes distracting and I just skim those paragraphs until she gets back on track. Another criticism of this book is the pace in which Izzie miraculously heals after not speaking since her mother's death. Hannah has explored selective muteness in another novel, but with this one the girl gets better way to fast. I know it helped move the story along, but maybe she could have spent more time in the details of Izzie working through her grief rather than talking about the trees. I get that readers are supposed to have a suspension of disbelief- meaning that they are willing to let go of reality because, after all, this is a fiction novel, but I think it would have been a much more interesting story if she was more realistic in the ability of this little girl to grieve. Annie, a stranger to this little girl, walks into her life and has her speaking in a few days with no setbacks...that is just too much.

Another thing that disappointed me in the story is that even in the book description Annie feels like she is disappearing and has never been herself because her role has always been caretaker to her daughter and jerk of a husband Blake. So she comes home and what does she do? She finds another family to take care of. She finds out her old boyfriend, Nick Delacroix, has recently lost his wife who was once Annie's best friend. He and his daughter are drowning in their grief and Nick has no idea of what to do with his 6 year old daughter, Izzie, who won't talk anymore and thinks she is disappearing. So what does Annie do? She comes in and takes care of them. She cleans his house, does the gardening, shops for the family, and takes care of Izzie all the while Nick is getting drunk at the town tavern. So then she pulls another miracle out of her pocket and pulls Nick out of the bottle. How can taking care of another dysfunctional family help Annie when her problem is she wants to find herself after years of taking care of her own trouble family? This I cannot explain. To me it just doesn't make sense.

With all that being said, I did like the story...once we got through the trees. It is a nice romance book. It did hold my attention, other than the tree thing. I know I have just spent 2 paragraphs criticizing it, and those were the thoughts I was having as I was reading. But I still liked it. Sometimes I felt sad, sometimes I felt happiness and relief. I just didn't think that the way Annie healed was a very realistic way to heal. There is some tension in the book that made me want to keep reading to see what really happens. The books moves pretty quick after the first quarter of the story so that made me want to keep with it until the end. I'm glad I did. The books is a cute romance but don't expect this to be a heavy literary work.(less)

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Jun 10, 2010 Jennifer rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010

This is the 3rd book that I have read by Kristin Hannah and I enjoyed it as much as the others.
Annie is married to a successful lawyer, Blake, and they have a daughter, Natalie in sunny California. The marriage has just become a routine and Annie is content, yet you know she is unhappy.
Her husband reveals to her he is having an affair and wants a divorce. Annie is shocked and packs up and leaves for her hometown of Mystic, Wa.
She runs into an old friend Nick, who married a friend of theirs. Nic...more

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Jun 16, 2011 Sheryl rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I.Heart.This.Book This is a serious chic lit book, so no men allowed! But I simply fell in love with the characters in this book from the get go. Especially, Izzy! Izzy is really not the main focus on the book, but much of the story involves and revolves around her. She is such a sweet hearted little girl, who for much of the first part of the book doesn't speak (out loud), however Kristin Hannah lets us readers know everything that is going on in this precious little girl's mind...everything sh...more

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About Kristin Hannah

Kristin Hannah is the New York Times bestselling author of eighteen novels, including the blockbuster Firefly Lane and Night Road. She is a former lawyer turned writer and is the mother of one son. She lives in the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii with her husband.

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Quotes from On Mystic Lake

“I didn't know how...deep love ran, how it was in your blood, not your heart, and how that same blood pumped through your veins your whole life.” — 12 people liked it

“No mother. Two small words, and yet within them lay a bottomless well of pain and loss, a ceaseless mourning for touches that were never received and words of wisdom that were never spoken. No single word was big enough to adequately describe the loss of your mother.” — 11 people liked it

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