“On Hummingbird Wings” by Lauraine Snelling was sent to me as an Advanced Reading Copy by Hachette Book Group. This book is a recent release, published on April 11, 2011.
Gillian Ormsby left California over twenty years ago to pursue her dream of becoming an executive in New York. Having accomplished that goal, she now finds herself back in California after a frantic call from her sister, Allie, about their mother’s health. What starts out as a short trip back home to find out if her mother really is dying turns into a longer stay thanks to her mother’s stubbornness and Gillian’s sudden notification from her boss that she is out of a job.
This book leisurely tells Gillian’s story during this period in her life. While she is in California, Gillian befriends several of her mother’s neighbors, including a man who seems to care for her mother and one (Adam) who might be someone she could let into her life and into her heart. The novel takes Gillian through a time of self-discovery as she deals with her mother, her work life, her relationship with her sister, and some long-awaited relaxation time working in her mother’s garden.
For me, this book was nice. I did not find it face-paced or thrilling, but I did not find it extremely boring, either. It unfolded at a relaxed and restful tempo, and it had characters that were likeable. The symbolism between Gillian’s mother and the hummingbirds in the garden was done quite well. I did, however, find myself at the end of the book wanting to know a little more. I wanted to know more about Allie and if her situation and feelings were ever resolved. I also wanted to know a couple of other things, but I won’t list them here in case it would reveal too much. (See the *Spoiler Alert* below if you want to know what I'm talking about!) Suffice it to say, I would have preferred for the story to be more concise in the middle and stretched out a bit at the end.
While this novel was an unhurried one, it did have some little surprises along the way that helped to keep my attention. This is a story of relationships, how our choices affect those relationships, and how those bonds can be helped and healed with the right words and actions.
I will give “On Hummingbird Wings” by Lauraine Snelling… 3 BookWorms
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher – Hachette Book Group. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this is accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
***SPOILER ALERT***
There were two other things in this book that I wanted to know more about when I got to the end. One was that I would have liked to further explore Gillian’s journey back to her faith and trust in God. This part of the story was hinted at several times, but I felt it could have been developed more towards the end of the book.
The other thing was that I wanted to know what really happened to Gillian’s mother to make her unable (or unwilling) to get out of bed! Was she really just depressed over here mini-stroke as the others said? Was she still grieving the death of her best friend? And how did she turn it around so quickly as to just suddenly leave with Enzio on the cruise? I thought that was a great surprise in the story, but it seemed out of character to happen so quickly.
If anyone reads this book, let me know if you felt the same way!
***SPOILER OVER***
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