APRIL STORM
by
Leila Meacham
Fiction / Women's Fiction / Thriller
Harper
320 pages
Expected Publication Date: November 12, 2024
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FROM THE STORIES-WORTH-WAITING-FOR PILE. Leila Meacham came into my world in February, 2019, shortly after I took ownership of Lone Star Literary Life -- and she brought so much joy to my life. Not only was she one of the most talented writers (and finished her first book at age 65!), she was one of the highest-caliber humans I've known. Our friendship over the years was precious to me, and even as her own health was failing, she would text me uplifting and optimistic messages of love and support, and her faith never wavered. She gave so much credit to LSLL for the success of Dragonfly, and I feel like she did me the favor by choosing to work with us. She first mentioned April Storm to me in September of 2020, and she was bound and determined to finish it and told me in November of that year: "You and I have continued business to do...we still have to make music together." Finish it she did, but after getting it back from her editor in June of 2021, she said, "The novel did fall victim to chemo brain fog here and there throughout, and I have been busy plugging the holes." As her cancer (she called it Henry) started winning the war she'd waged against it, and her responses to my texts were less frequent. The last I had from her was about a month before she passed in September, 2021. Her husband, Dick, knew Leila wanted this book to get published and worked hard with Leila's agent to get it revised & edited, placed with a new publisher, and it will finally be out in the world three years later. Praise be.
ABOUT THE BOOK: A seemingly perfect suburban housewife is being pursued by a private detective . . . and hunted by a murderer in this riveting, much-anticipated posthumous novel from the beloved author of Roses and Dragonfly.
Kathryn Walker enjoys an enviable life. Her husband is an accomplished doctor, her children are bright and successful, and she devotes herself to charity work that uplifts her Suburban Colorado community. Settling into a new year, her life couldn’t be better. . .
Until April.
For Kathryn, April has always rained trouble—but this time may be even stormier than the fraught past she’s trying to overcome. Already distraught over the child she miscarried in this same cursed month many years ago, the emotionally fragile woman isn’t ready to consider the overwhelming evidence that someone may be trying to take her husband—and her life.
Featuring the complex characters and powerful storytelling that are the beloved hallmarks of Leila Meacham’s novels beginning with her breakout debut Roses, April Storm is a page-turning triumph that caps a remarkable literary career.
MY BOOK REVIEW
HALL WAYS ARC REVIEW: I am thrilled that this novel, which the author was revising when she passed away in 2021, was finished and will be published posthumously. I'm grateful to her husband for seeing it through and to the publisher for giving readers a last hurrah with sweet Leila Meacham's storytelling prowess.
APRIL STORM is a good story with some unexpected turns, and I read it in one sitting. Women will likely connect with main character Kathryn in one way or another, whether it's in her years-old or newest grief, the sadness of a lost career or children leaving the nest, or the way relationships change --or stay the same -- over time.
I read an ARC provided by the publisher, and I expect the scattered typos I saw will be caught and corrected. I hope so because clean and superbly edited final books have always been a mark of Leila's books (and one that this word nerd appreciates).
Fans of Leila's prior works will feel her absence in the writing. I can't put my finger on exactly what's missing -- perhaps the emotional depth usually present in her characters? I've never read one of her books that didn't wreck me in some way and have me in tears of joy or sorrow at least once. I was not even close in APRIL STORM, though I definitely wanted to grab a character or two by the shoulders and shake them into reason.
Even so, I'd recommend it for those looking for a not-so-heavy and thoroughly entertaining thriller. And I'm okay with not being wrecked and even wonder if perhaps that was Leila's final gift to her readers.
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