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Welcome to my stop on the blog tour celebrating the release of The Favorite Daughter by Patti Callahan Henry! Thank you to Berkley Publishing for the invitation! Stay tuned for information on how to win a copy at the bottom of this post!

About the Book:

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Bookshop at Water’s End, here is a lush, heart-wrenching novel about the power of memory, the meaning of family, and learning to forgive.

Ten years ago, Lena Donohue experienced a wedding-day betrayal so painful that she fled the small town of Watersend, South Carolina, and reinvented herself in New York City. Though now a freelance travel writer, the one place she rarely goes is home–until she learns of her dad’s failing health.

Returning to Watersend means seeing the sister she has avoided for a decade and the brother who runs the family’s Irish pub and has borne the burden of his sisters’ rift. While Alzheimer’s slowly steals their father’s memories, the siblings rush to preserve his life in stories and in photographs. As his secret past brings Lena’s own childhood into focus, it sends her on a journey to discover the true meaning of home.

My Thoughts:

Slipping inside a Patti Callahan Henry novel is like book comfort food. I was spoiled because this year she published two books! Becoming Mrs. Lewis was absolutely out-of-this-world good, and I’ll let you know now, so was The Favorite Daughter! 

Lena Donohue is set to marry on her 25th birthday, what she had planned her whole life. On her wedding day, she experiences a huge betrayal. One so horrific, she has to leave her quaint hometown of Watersend, South Carolina to live in New York City. 

It’s over tens years later, and Lena is a successful travel writer. She doesn’t visit home often enough, and one day her brother calls to let her know about her father’s declining condition. 

If she returns home, which she must, she’ll have to face both her brother and sister, whom she’s avoided for different reasons for all this time. Her father’s Alzheimer’s is progressing, and she must join forces with her siblings to preserve his memories. It is then that they uncover secrets that shock their family. 

The Favorite Daughter is a story of family and coming home. It’s about secrets, lies, betrayal, and working to mend broken bonds. I found Lena likable and authentic. I felt her pain and mix of emotions as she traveled “home.” Lena’s relationship with her father was so endearing and special it melted my heart. 

The Favorite Daughter is a gorgeous and emotional story from one of my favorite southern storytellers. It ends in a moving way that truly was a gift. Ultimately, The Favorite Daughter explores if family is more important than the secrets and hurt that lie beneath it.

I received a complimentary copy. All opinions are my own. 

About the Author:

Patti Callahan Henry is a New York Times bestselling author of fifteen novels, including the historical fiction, BECOMING MRS. LEWIS – The Improbable Love Story of Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis and her upcoming contemporary Southern fiction novel—THE FAVORITE DAUGHTER, coming June 4, 2019. 

Patti’s books include Losing the Moon, Between the Tides; Where the River Runs; When Light Breaks; Between the Tides; The Art of Keeping Secrets; Driftwood Summer; The Perfect Love Song: A Holiday Story; Coming Up for Air; And Then I Found You; The Stories We Tell; The Idea of Love, The Bookshop at Water’s End, Becoming Mrs. Lewis and The Favorite Daughter.

A finalist in the Townsend Prize for Fiction, an Indie Next Pick, an OKRA pick, and a multiple nominee for the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) Novel of the Year, Patti is published in numerous languages. Her articles and essays have appeared in Southern Living, PINK, Writer’s Digest, Portico Magazine, Birmingham Magazine and more.

Her essays can also be found in anthologies and collections such as Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy; Southern Writers Writing, and State of the Heart. Patti is a frequent speaker at luncheons, book clubs and women’s groups.

Growing up in Philadelphia as the daughter of a Presbyterian minister, Patti learned early the value of storytelling. At the age of twelve, her family moved to South Florida where Patti found the sanctuary of libraries and began her slow but steady journey into understanding the power of story to navigate confusing times in life.

Patti attended Auburn University for her undergraduate work, and Georgia State University for her graduate degree. Once a Pediatric Clinical Nurse Specialist, she now writes full time. The mother of three children, she now lives in both Mountain Brook, Alabama and Bluffton, South Carolina with her husband.

***Book Giveaway***

For a chance to win a paperback copy of The Favorite Daughter, please visit my instagram page!  Giveaway generously sponsored by the publisher. 

Have you read The Favorite Daughter, or is it on your TBR? Happy Reading! ~ Jennifer THR