Every Wild Heart: A Novel by Meg Donohue

Here at RCM, we love books. We also love any opportunity participate in an awesome book club. So we decided to smoosh the two together and create our first ever virtual Rocket City Mom Book Club! More info about our July title is below, and you can request to join the online conversation here. Happy reading!

GG is host of a talk radio program in the country for women. Think Delilah without the music, empowering but less warm and fuzzy. An on-air tirade after being asked for a divorce by her husband (she didn’t see it coming) has propelled the show into the top three talk shows for women nationally. Her 14-year-old daughter, Nic, is very bright and personable, to her family and close-friends. She is shy and fearful in situations outside of her comfort level. GG has just been offered an exciting new career opportunity but when a mishap occurs involving Nic, both GG and Nic must decide what their hearts really want.

Meg Donahue’s Every Wild Heart is one of those books that you can throw into the straw tote with your towel and sunscreen, gather up the kids, the cooler, and head to the beach or pool. You know the books: entertaining, humorous, with a light-hearted tone that doesn’t require a psychological and emotional commitment to read. And with a story that revolves around a mother and a daughter, Every Wild Heart is a perfect summer pick for our book-club.

However, I don’t know if Meg meant for this to happen but the story got me thinking about my experiences as a mom: my hopes, my dreams, and my fears. As Meg brilliantly has GG express: “For 14 years now, I’d carried with me that fear that something would happen to my daughter, I loved her too much…”

The point-of-view of the story switches back and forth between GG and Nic every chapter or so. When I began reading, I initially found myself more interested in GG’s narrative, so I read her story through first and then went back and read Nic’s. Yes, it may have ruined the plot twist a bit (which I don’t know if I would have seen coming anyway) but I prefer to know an ending before I am able to really dive deep into a story.

Every Wild Heart also got me to thinking about what my heart might want. Is my heart wild? What does that even mean? In the novel, GG loves music and prefers, what other people around her (myself included) would consider, “wild” music some of it punk rock. But Meg weaves the artists and songs into the tapestry of the story so intricately, I had to stopped reading at a number of points and search Spotify for them. Listening to them also helped me really understand GG and helped me to get into the book even more.

Overall, Every Wild Heart is a nice read. I have read better but I have also read worst. And it’s great summer reading – not too heavy, not too light.

P.S. The paperback of edition contains a additional postscript – an interview of Meg by GG, which made a for an interesting read. It also contained a list of Meg’s favorite Mother-Daughter Novels which I am happy to say included one that we at RCM Virtual Book have already read: Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple.

Check out Every Wild Heart at the Library
Buy it at bn.com

Don’t forget to join us for our online book club as we discuss Every Wild Heart on Thursday, July 27 at 8:30 PM – all RCM Readers welcome!

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Shannan Moore Malone

Shannan Moore Malone squeezes in the time to write while taking care of the Buddy Man. As you already know, she loves books but she also loves great movies, running, and is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, a foodie. Though generally more on the quiet side, you can get her talking by mentioning living authentically, the importance of clarity and organization, and enjoying life, which she occasionally writes about on her blog her blog and posts about on Instagram.