HIGHER LOVE
The Sequel to I'll Be Seeing You
By JOANNE KUKANZA EASLEY
Southern Fiction / Coming of Age / Family
Publisher: Red Boots Press
Pages: 380
Publication Date: May 12, 2025
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SYNOPSIS
*Hall Ways thinks this description includes spoilers* Higher Love is the new release from Joanne Kukanza Easley, the multi-award-winning author of Sweet Jane, Just One Look, and I’ll Be Seeing You.
In 1986 Austin, Texas, sixteen-year-old Stephanie steps into sixty-two-year-old Lauren’s life, her uncanny resemblance cracking open a buried past.
Claiming to be the daughter of the child Lauren gave up for adoption forty-five years ago, Stephanie upends Lauren’s life—already complicated by her remarriage to Brett after thirty-three years apart.
Stung by her adoptive grandmother’s deception, Stephanie stays, her past of tragedy and self-harm forging a fragile bond with Lauren and Brett. When Stephanie’s college dreams are crushed, Lauren sacrifices all to give her a future—only to face a bittersweet twist that echoes the past and changes everything.
This heart-wrenching family drama delves into the enduring impact of secrets, the power of unconditional love, and the strength found in facing our pasts.
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BOOK REVIEW
I don't spend time on plot summary, so please read the book synopsis above, but beware: there are spoilers.
HALL WAYS REVIEW: First: I knew I was going to read Higher Love by Joanne Kukanza Easley since it’s a sequel, so I didn’t read the book description before starting. But reading the description now, I feel like it has spoilers that might detract from the drama of the story. But if you can’t help yourself, and you simply must read the back cover first, know that there’s still plenty of drama to carry the Higher Love along.
I just recently finished reading I’ll Be Seeing You, the prequel to Higher Love, and I’m so glad I was able to read these books back-to-back, while everything was still fresh in my mind. Plus, readers get the full saga of Ruby Lauren Eaton Owens, from age fifteen (when she looked twenty) to age sixty-two (when she looks forty-five). And what a story it is to watch unfold. In Higher Love, Lauren is less than a year into her re-marriage to Brett who, by the way, she divorced thirty-plus years earlier, and they are celebrating Lauren’s birthday when Stephanie is suddenly dropped like a hand grenade into their lives … and readers are rewarded with a page-turner ever after.
Let’s just talk about Brett Owens for a minute (or shall we call him Saint Brett the Virtuous?) This man is amazing, not only because of how he is able to forgive Lauren (if you read I’ll Be Seeing You, you’ll know the full extent), but he’s able to look at teen Stephanie, recognize she’s in need, and then is willing to change his entire life to help her. WOW. Author Easley’s writing shines as she brings Brett to brilliant, mysterious life. I absolutely want to go to Austin and hang out with him and Lauren — but maybe when Stephanie isn’t home. Ha!
“How could I be sad and mad at the same time?”
— Stephanie, age sixteen
Now, let’s talk about Stephanie. Honestly, myself a mother of a formerly sixteen-year-old daughter, to me, Stephanie seems very reasonable and self-aware. Sure, she has her teen moments, but she typically gets herself pulled together quickly, reflects, and often processes things maturely — until she doesn’t and then she rages teen angst in an extraordinarily messy way. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, those are the times she doesn’t reach out for help. Easley makes Stephanie’s misery tangible as its weight envelopes her, the whole household, and the readers. Where usually the saying holds that if momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy, when there’s a teenaged girl in the mix, it’s all about her no matter how hard for it not to be. Brett and Lauren do their best, and I loved Lauren saying, “It took fewer facial muscles to smile than to frown, I reminded myself.”
Creating flesh and bone characters isn’t Easley’s only talent. She also nails putting readers right in the setting and place of Higher Love. I enjoyed the perfection and accuracy of the eighties’ teen-speak she included favorites like: ralphed, freaked out, as if, rad, grody, and barf me out. I loved all the eighties culture references to icons like Sting, Dune, and The Breakfast Club, which just came out “last year.” Austinites will appreciate references to still-favorite eating and recreational spots and will laugh when Lauren describes Austin High School: “The big gray building was kind of ugly.” Visiting the eighties made me smile but also shake my head that somehow, it’s been almost forty years since the setting of this book (1986). I remember so much of that year like it was yesterday, and not a period that is pert near bumping into being categorized as historical fiction.
“I was thinkin’ you might could retire soon.”
Ah, there is nothing like a good West Texas accent, and Easley especially brings Brett’s to life by dropping the ‘g’ from gerunds and popping in a “might could” here and there. Even Lauren, who often sounds a bit hoity-toity, lets a Texanism slip in from time to time. Stephanie actually asks Lauren about this phenomenon towards the end of Higher Love, and gets a good explanation, which shows openness and growth in the relationship between Lauren and Stephanie, leaving readers hopeful they’ll get even closer.
One of the most raw and realistic sub-plots that runs through both books is Lauren’s alcoholism. Even after twenty-five years, when Lauren struggles, she grounds herself with AA meetings. “Newcomer meetings were a good reminder of my tortured journey to sobriety” — and a good reminder to readers that it’s a forever commitment to stay sober, and we should show those who are fighting that battle some grace.
I purchased the Kindle copy of Higher Love the day it published, but the covers of all of Easley’s books are so beautiful, I’d want them on my shelf. The story was repetitive at times, particularly in reference to Ben and Alain, and I did find more typos than I’d expect in a final copy for purchase, but none of it took me out of the story much. For me, this is an exception to the norm when I read and another marker of Easley’s skill in crafting an engaging story.
I’ll be exploring other novels by Joanne Easley while awaiting what she next writes. She’s on my author to watch list.
To learn more about the book, look for #LSLLHigherLove on your preferred social media platform.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joanne Kukanza Easley, a retired registered nurse with experience in both the cold, clinical operating room and the highly charged world of psychiatric hospitals, lives in the Texas Hill Country, where she writes fiction about complicated, twentieth-century women. Her multi-award-winning debut, Sweet Jane, was named the adult fiction winner at the Texas Author Project and shortlisted for the Sarton Award and Eric Hoffer Award, among others. Just One Look, Joanne’s second novel, was a May 2022 Pulpwood Queen Book Club Pick. I’ll Be Seeing You, her third novel, features characters from Sweet Jane. Look for her fourth novel, Higher Love, is the sequel to her third book. Her prize-winning short stories and poetry have appeared in several anthologies.
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