The Night of Many Endings by Melissa Payne #bookreview #womensfiction

Title: The Night of Many Endings

Author: Melissa Payne

Publisher:  Lake Union Publishing

Publication Date: October 19, 2021

Page Count:  299

My rating: 4 stars

About the book:

From Melissa Payne, bestselling author of Memories in the Drift, comes an emotionally rich, feel-good novel about hope, second chances, and seeing the world through someone else’s eyes.

Orphaned at a young age and witness to her brother’s decline into addiction, Nora Martinez has every excuse to question the fairness of life. Instead, the openhearted librarian in the small Colorado community of Silver Ridge sees only promise. She holds on to the hope that she’ll be reunited with her missing brother and does what she can at the town library. It’s her home away from home, but it’s also a sanctuary for others who, like her brother, could use a second chance.

There’s Marlene, an elderly loner who believes that, apart from her husband, there’s little good left in the world; Jasmine, a troubled teen; Lewis, a homeless man with lost hope and one last wish; and Vlado, the security guard who loves a good book and, from afar, Nora.

As a winter storm buries Silver Ridge, this collection of lonely hearts takes shelter in the library. They’ll discover more about each other, and themselves, than they ever knew—and Nora will be forced to question her brother’s disappearance in ways she never could have imagined. No matter how stranded in life they feel, this fateful night could be the new beginning they didn’t think was possible.

The Night of Many Endings by Melissa Payne is a women’s fiction title about a group of strangers forced into spending a night together. This is a novel that changes the point of view between main characters giving you all sides of the story.

Nora Martinez is the librarian in the small town of Silver Ridge, Colorado. Nora has a kind heart wanting to help all those she can which stems from her own upbringing with a brother who struggled with addiction. Nora feels that if she puts out good energy it may circle around to her brother one day who she was never able to help.

One night at the library Nora is on duty when a storm is brewing outside and she begins to worry about her patrons getting home safely. Before anyone can even think about leaving though they find that the storm is already too bad for them to travel. Left at the library that night with Nora is Marlene, a lonely widow, Jasmine a teenager with troubles of her own, Lewis who is homeless and has nowhere to turn and Vlado, the security guard.

The Night of Many Endings got off to a bit of a rocky start for me when I picked it up. The beginning was a bit too much of an fast forward info dump about the characters before it settled into a nicer paced story. However, once the actual story began I actually became quite engaged in learning about these very different people and their lives. There was plenty that went on through the night to keep the pages turning and the character growth was plentiful so when I finished I actually found that I had enjoyed the read quite a bit.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

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About the author:

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