The Next Best Day, by Sharon Sala

 

Publishes Nov. 8, 2022

Although the opening is intense, involving not just getting left at the altar but being seriously wounded in a terrifying school shooting, this one has the usual Sala themes of hope and healing. I must admit, as a former teacher, albeit one who was never involved in any lock down other than for weather, the section involving the school shooter left me shaken. Sadly, while this is fiction, this is also the reality nowadays for too many students and teachers. That Katie McGrath is able to survive not just these events but a childhood of being shunted from foster home to foster home and abuse is amazing. Even more so, she seems to be a wonderful teacher, kind and caring, and, as one character describes her, nice. You'll root for her. Katie is a survivor in all senses of the word.

Fresh starts is another common Sala theme and this one involves not just Katie, who moves after the shooting incident, but her neighbor Det. Sam Youngblood and his two young, twin daughters, Evie and Beth. He's raised them alone after his wife died giving birth to them. Like Katie, he's opening up to more and they are immediately attracted, particularly as Katie proves adept at not just telling the twins apart easily but sensing their moods and needs. How these two wounded souls come together forms the basis of the story and it's a good one. 

The only jarring aspect of the book, as in jarring because it took me out of the story, was the side-story following Katie's almost husband, Mark. Well, that and a sad acknowledgement that Sam simply couldn't be that perfect, nor could Katie.... but I liked them just the way they are. It's occasionally nice to read about people who aren't twisted up by inner demons (as if Katie's PTSD from the shooting isn't enough). Bottom line, I thoroughly enjoyed this one and found myself thinking about it as I went about my daily life. That is a sign for me that a book has made an impression, in this case a good one. Give it a read but, sigh, be sure you're ready for the gut wrenching intro to how they get to their "next best day".

Thanks to #NetGalley and #Sourcebooks - #Casablanca for introducing me to Katie, Sam, and the rest of Borden's Gap, TN. I wish they were real and my neighbors.