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The Great Alone

Kristin Hannah

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Yearly Challenges

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* Yearly Challenges - The Thrill of Victory
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last updated Jan 09, 2013 05:54PM

2025-26 Help Me Decide
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What Members Thought

Feb 22, 2018 Jamie (TheRebelliousReader) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: e-book, dark, fantastic-heroine, look-at-the-pretty-cover, stand-alone, historical, romance, borrowed-from-overdrive, great-side-characters, 5-stars

"You don’t stop loving a person when they’re hurt. You get stronger so they can lean on you."

5 stars. I'm surprised that my kindle didn't malfunction and burst into flames from the way I cried all over it while reading this book. Jesus.

I'll be the first to say that I am a big book crier. I'm a crier period but dammit this messed me all the way up. I literally was just sitting here ugly sobbing all over the place during the last 10 or so chapters.

Anyways, I knew this would be a five star boo "You don’t stop loving a person when they’re hurt. You get stronger so they can lean on you."

5 stars. I'm surprised that my kindle didn't malfunction and burst into flames from the way I cried all over it while reading this book. Jesus.

I'll be the first to say that I am a big book crier. I'm a crier period but dammit this messed me all the way up. I literally was just sitting here ugly sobbing all over the place during the last 10 or so chapters.

Anyways, I knew this would be a five star book from the beginning just because of the writing. This book hooked me in from page 1 and it didn't let go until I had finished. This was my first book by Kristin Hannah and I definitely get the hype. Her writing is superb and beautiful. Everything about this was so great. The intense moments were really intense and the lighter moments were light and it was blended perfectly.

I loved the Alaska setting in this. She really took advantage of the area and used it well. Her descriptions made it so easy for me to picture everything.

The plot is great and kept me interested but the characters are the selling point here. Leni and her family are just so unique. I really liked Leni's character. She seemed to be the only one in the family with some sense but as the story goes on and I got to know her mother, Cora, more I really empathized with her.

Matthew is the sweetest butterball ever and I adored him. His relationship with Leni was breathtaking. I mean, they bonded over Lord of the Rings for goodness sake. It doesn't get any cuter than that. He such a strong person and after everything he had gone through, he still had such a beautiful spirit.

The side characters were all unique and interesting as well. Especially Large Marge and Tom.

This was hard for me to read at times because some of the topics hit too close for comfort but Kristin Hannah handled everything so well and I applaud her.

I can't recommend this book enough. It's definitely now up there at the top of my favorites list. ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Oct 09, 2018 Linda C rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: romance-historical, historical-fiction

When Leni is 13 her Dad, a returned Vietnam vet with trouble adjusting, decides to move his family to Alaska and live off the grid. As Leni and her mother adjust to the rugged life, her Dad seems to grow increasingly aggressive alienating everyone around him and growing more abusive toward her mother. The story is told by Leni who becomes more of a parent to her fragile mother. Despite the impending feel of the story and the harsh life, Alaska works its way into Leni's soul; almost a character i ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jan 01, 2020 Debbie (Doc) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: romance, favorite, fiction, alpha-males, meet-greet-read, book-of-the-month, read-in-2020, 2020-around-ty

This is my first book by Kristin Hannah and certainly won’t be my last. I really enjoyed her writing style. Ms. Hannah paints a perfect picture of remote Alaska. I loved all of the details and now feel that I have a better understanding of the wilderness and how people struggle living off the grid. Ms. Hannah also brings her characters to life by weaving each one of their stories into the plot.

Growing up, Leni had a dysfunctional family life and didn’t realize it until she was a teenager. Her f ...more

1 like · Like · see review