Choosing Family

The Boone Series #5

by Jim Hartsell

After a month at home from his travels, Boone is ready for another trip. On his way to visit some friends he met on his last trip, Boone gets word that his sister Hannah is in trouble. He turns around, but without a job or a place to live he knows he can't be much help. On the way back he sees a small house for rent and decides to move into it, figuring there's nothing for him in his old home town anyway.
Making a fresh start gives Boone a chance to become known as more than just his father's son, and meeting Molly teaches him that obstacles, whether family history or current limitations, do not have to define them. Boone begins to realize that letting go of the past becomes possible when he is creating something in the present, and that family can be much more than the one he was born into.

330 pages, Paperback

Published April 25, 2022

About the author

Like most of us, there are many descriptors that apply to me: husband, father, grandfather, voracious reader, and average hammer dulcimer player are a few of them. I also write, concentrating on Southern fiction and children’s books.
During my seven decades I have lived in a total of three counties, all in East Tennessee, and all contiguous; in one of those counties is the farm that’s been in our family for five generations. I have deep roots in this area. My immediate family consists of my wife of 40+ years, my two children, their spouses, and, at the moment, a total of six grandchildren. I have been assured that six is it, but I remain skeptical. My wife and I share our home on House Mountain with a cat and two shelter dogs.
My professional career was spent in education, working with teens in various treatment centers, locked units, residential facilities, and public school alternative classrooms. These decades spent with teens who were characterized as losers at best and dangerous at worst taught me much about resilience, strength, and bravery, and helped form the concept of the main character in the Boone series. It has been said that the problem with stereotypes isn’t that they aren’t true, but that they are incomplete. Certainly this is the case with the young people I spent so much time with, who are more like the rest of us than not.
I have a beautiful family, all the necessities of life plus a few luxuries, a fine circle of friends, and time to write books, play music, and enjoy the moments as they present themselves one by one. By any measure that matters to me, I am a very wealthy man.

Reviews

[Tilmer Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jim Hartsell’s fascinating character, Boone Hammond, returns for a fifth installment in the series that began with Pushing Back. The many trials Boone has faced during the years covered by this series have tempered and forged his character, maturing him a great deal along the way. In Choosing Family, he faces more changes that test the man he has become. I was very happy to see Boone’s sister, Hannah, and his mother re-enter the story. I had been thinking about them a lot while reading previous installments.

Here’s the thing about Boone. He is Boone. That sounds a little obvious, but it’s not always the case with long-running characters in fiction. Boone is far from perfect. He has lingering issues (“damage,” as it is termed by another character in the books) from his abrupt introduction to adult responsibilities caused by a highly dysfunctional home life. He struggles with anger. He often is caught between distrust created by his experiences and naivete associated with his relative innocence in a complex and unforgiving world. He often has difficulty discerning the intentions of others who cross his path, sometimes falling victim to those seeking to take advantage of him. This part of the character shows Hartsell’s true brilliance as a writer. Boone knows there are good people in the world. He has a few close friends who are genuinely good. He’s also been betrayed by those he trusted. This is frustrating for him, but he works through it, all the time remaining who he is. This is something that is hard to explain in a review, but it absolutely shines through in the writing.

Jim Hartsell is a master of first-person storytelling. Although the vision and perspective of the world in these books are limited by the knowledge of a single character, the universe in which the story unfolds and the characters that surround Boone are rich in detail and wholly believable. A new character, Molly, appears in this chapter of Boone’s life, who is both unexpected and absolutely perfect for the story. Without going into a lot of detail, I will say that Molly amplifies and magnifies aspects of Boone’s humanity while challenging him in new ways. Boone has a good heart. He knows hate. He knows love. He knows rejection. He knows acceptance. He consciously chooses positive over negative. It’s not always automatic. It’s presented in a believable way as he reasons through each fork his life’s road presents. It’s a great ride for the reader. Choosing Family ends with the door open for a new installment. I hope it comes. I hope it comes soon.

[Leoma Gilley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Choosing Family by Jim Hartsell is the fifth book in the Boone series. In this series, Boone starts with a very disfunctional family, and ends in the last book with a supportive and healthy one. The author has demonstrated that one’s background does not have to define the direction of one’s life. Boone recognizes the traits that destroyed his father and the family. He actively avoids the temper outbursts, blaming others, and selfishness shown by his father. Boone learns from the examples of others better ways of coping and responding to life’s ups and downs. These lessons build character and enable Boone to respect others as well as himself. There are still times of insecurity, but he learns that true friends will support and encourage him to move in healthier directions.

The author’s experience working with troubled youth provides the Boone stories with credibility. Not every student is able to overcome difficult backgrounds, but this story of hope demonstrates it is possible.

[Arthur Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this continuation of the Boone series, Boone comes to grip with family, in all directions. He learns his younger sister, Hannah, has been placed in a foster home; his mother, long out the picture, reemerges in his life and threatens to disrupt things by demanding Hannah is returned to her care. His girlfriend takes up with his best friend, and Boone finds himself badly alone. He finds and rents a small house and begins to reestablish himself; from there, he gradually finds work, a new girlfriend, who is wheelchair-bound…and importantly, her accepting family. He begins to let go of his anger and the past. As, perhaps, we all should: there’s a bit of Boone in all of us. Yes, this story is about finding family—and it’s beautifully done.

[Cyn Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great sequel!

What a great follow up to book four. When I started reading this series I wasn’t sure I would stay with it, but I’m so glad I did. All the books in the series are well written and so true to Appalachia. It took a bit for me to like the main character. Now he’s a favorite. I highly recommend Jim Hartsell and all of his writings. His characters are unique and bring a lot to the story. Boone is one of the best coming of age series of books I have read. Starting the next book ASAP.

[Gayle Curtin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 5 of the Boone series is every bit as good as the first. Engaging from the get-go and a fast read. It's fascinating to follow a character's evolution as he matures--abandoning old hurts, resentments, anger, and sometimes old friends. While Boone is in no way perfect, he is a sympathetic character, and any reader would root for him every step of the way. Hoping he finds complete peace in Book 6. I highly recommend this series.