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Harvest Moon
In a small town off the coast of Maine, life seems ordinary—predictable even. People leave their doors unlocked and everyone knows who you are. But what if the things everyone thought they knew about you were a lie? What if the picture-perfect family was anything but perfect?
Lexie lives this life every day. She’s learned to hide secrets, and the walls she’s built around her, have kept her alive. But Lexie’s about to learn one of the hardest lessons in her young life; secrets can kill.
A year after Lexie Stone loses her sister, Angela, to a brutal murder, Lexie's self-obsessed mother walks out, leaving her with her alcoholic father, Brian. When Lexie becomes the target of Brian’s physical abuse, she makes a life changing decision...to keep her secret from everyone. A secret she hides well, until the night marking five years since Angela's death, when the secret Lexie has kept almost kills her—forcing her to face the aftermath of her decisions.
The one thing that gets Lexie through the darkness is the love she carries for her sister, Angela. A love reinforced by their dysfunctional family and Angela’s passion for astronomy, which even in death cannot be broken. But it’s this same love that threatens to destroy anything good in Lexie’s life—including her relationship with Ben—if she can’t learn to let go of the things that are out of her control. And it’s not long before Lexie realizes that letting go may mean leaving behind everything she has ever known.
Lexie lives this life every day. She’s learned to hide secrets, and the walls she’s built around her, have kept her alive. But Lexie’s about to learn one of the hardest lessons in her young life; secrets can kill.
A year after Lexie Stone loses her sister, Angela, to a brutal murder, Lexie's self-obsessed mother walks out, leaving her with her alcoholic father, Brian. When Lexie becomes the target of Brian’s physical abuse, she makes a life changing decision...to keep her secret from everyone. A secret she hides well, until the night marking five years since Angela's death, when the secret Lexie has kept almost kills her—forcing her to face the aftermath of her decisions.
The one thing that gets Lexie through the darkness is the love she carries for her sister, Angela. A love reinforced by their dysfunctional family and Angela’s passion for astronomy, which even in death cannot be broken. But it’s this same love that threatens to destroy anything good in Lexie’s life—including her relationship with Ben—if she can’t learn to let go of the things that are out of her control. And it’s not long before Lexie realizes that letting go may mean leaving behind everything she has ever known.
323 pages, Paperback, Nook Book, Kindle Edition
First published March 17, 2012
About the author
Megan McCooey
10 books44 followersI grew up in New England… close to the beach, eating seafood, practically from the day I was born. I typically can’t go to a restaurant without ordering some variation of it and when you get me back to my stomping grounds, I am pretty much out of control. My husband actually thinks it’s an addiction. LOL!
I currently live in North Carolina, close to UNC Charlotte and uptown (it’s not called downtown here, lol!) with my husband and our babies: our tortuous shell & white calico cat Cassi (who just kicked cancer's ASS!) our two wonderful rescues, Bailey & Madison and our sweet little papillion, Emma. The best part about living in North Carolina; I have the mountains 2 hours to the west and the beach 3 hours to the east…how can you beat that?
Reading is one of the things that got me to where I am today. I know that may sound crazy, but if you ask the small group of friends who have known me since birth, they will attest to this as well. When I was young I latched onto reading as an outlet and somehow it became just that. So while my walls were closing in, the screaming was growing louder, and the pain became more visible, I turned to my books and they SAVED MY LIFE! I think it was the idea that I could connect to the characters and pretend to be someone else…somewhere else, anywhere but in my own life. Over time this avid love for reading became like a mentor who never stopped showing me that I could have more, that I deserved more…My love for reading was something I both flaunted as well as hid over the years. It truly is my dirty little vice, and unless you’re an avid reader, it’s not always easy to understand -a love for…books? YES! Today I would scream it from my rooftop… I LOVE TO READ!!
Ahhh, so now that we have deduced that I am crazy about books, let me tell you I have an eclectic taste when it comes to reading and I can go from a YA novel to Dean Koontz, to A Dog’s purpose, to paranormal, all in a day’s time… I tend to get wrapped up in characters in the books I enjoy, and I hate to see a good book end, which is why I looove series.
As for my writing, I write from the heart. I experienced a lot of life lessons in my child and teen years, and this is when my love for reading manifested into my love for writing, which is probably why I love to write YA. I can relate (on a very real—very raw level) to a lot of the things my characters go through, which I believe is not only good for my writing, but therapeutic for me as well. As my characters work through their problems; stumble around and try to make sense of all the pain, as they learn the lessons they must learn—I learn too. I learn to let go of some of the things I’ve held onto for years—some of my own pain, and even some of the “why me” questions I struggle with.
I plan to dabble in other things, but I thoroughly enjoy this genre both in terms of reading and writing. So please feel free to check out all of my available and upcoming books at www.meganmccooey.com
I currently live in North Carolina, close to UNC Charlotte and uptown (it’s not called downtown here, lol!) with my husband and our babies: our tortuous shell & white calico cat Cassi (who just kicked cancer's ASS!) our two wonderful rescues, Bailey & Madison and our sweet little papillion, Emma. The best part about living in North Carolina; I have the mountains 2 hours to the west and the beach 3 hours to the east…how can you beat that?
Reading is one of the things that got me to where I am today. I know that may sound crazy, but if you ask the small group of friends who have known me since birth, they will attest to this as well. When I was young I latched onto reading as an outlet and somehow it became just that. So while my walls were closing in, the screaming was growing louder, and the pain became more visible, I turned to my books and they SAVED MY LIFE! I think it was the idea that I could connect to the characters and pretend to be someone else…somewhere else, anywhere but in my own life. Over time this avid love for reading became like a mentor who never stopped showing me that I could have more, that I deserved more…My love for reading was something I both flaunted as well as hid over the years. It truly is my dirty little vice, and unless you’re an avid reader, it’s not always easy to understand -a love for…books? YES! Today I would scream it from my rooftop… I LOVE TO READ!!
Ahhh, so now that we have deduced that I am crazy about books, let me tell you I have an eclectic taste when it comes to reading and I can go from a YA novel to Dean Koontz, to A Dog’s purpose, to paranormal, all in a day’s time… I tend to get wrapped up in characters in the books I enjoy, and I hate to see a good book end, which is why I looove series.
As for my writing, I write from the heart. I experienced a lot of life lessons in my child and teen years, and this is when my love for reading manifested into my love for writing, which is probably why I love to write YA. I can relate (on a very real—very raw level) to a lot of the things my characters go through, which I believe is not only good for my writing, but therapeutic for me as well. As my characters work through their problems; stumble around and try to make sense of all the pain, as they learn the lessons they must learn—I learn too. I learn to let go of some of the things I’ve held onto for years—some of my own pain, and even some of the “why me” questions I struggle with.
I plan to dabble in other things, but I thoroughly enjoy this genre both in terms of reading and writing. So please feel free to check out all of my available and upcoming books at www.meganmccooey.com
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 2, 2013
Are you the strong, silent type? If so, I guarantee that you will identify with Lexie. She has to cope with some major tragedies in her life and her way of dealing with issues is to pretend they don’t exist.
Initially I wasn’t sure if I would like this book as it took a while to warm up. The first few chapters felt heavy on melodrama and low on engaging me as I felt inundated with facts and back-story. And there were a few typos that I found distracting and always take a bit from the book for me.
But then slowly and very surely, I started to feel for Lexie. What she has to cope with is far beyond what any teenager should ever have to deal with and her denial and secrecy started to ring bells with me.
I always think you bring your own personal life and your own experiences in to a book with you. And I have to admit, I’m very like Lexie. No matter how close friends are, I find it difficult/impossible to really share hard, emotional times while I’m going through them. So what could frustrate other people about Lexie, I get. I have been there not letting people in and I’m an ostrich too with my head and neck well and truly buried in the sand when I feel unable to cope with something. Thankfully I have never had to deal with any of the issues Lexie is going through but I know how I would react so I can believe her actions or lack of them.
Lexie has 3 best friends and again I believed in all of them. In fact, it was when I saw Lexie around her friends and Ben that I really warmed to the book. And once, I warmed up, I really enjoyed it and it was quickly bumped up to a 4 star rating for me. I loved her relationship with Ben and their first kiss was hotter than hot. There were two suspenseful scenes near the end of the book, that had me chewing my nails, sitting on the edge of my seat, half afraid to read on as I was so scared of what might happen.
And the end of the book was really well done, not a cliffhanger but it leaves you wanting more. I will definitely be picking up the next book in the series to see what happens next.
Highly recommended if you are looking for a contemporary YA/NA book with authentic characters in very challenging circumstances.
Thanks to the author for providing me a copy of the book in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
Initially I wasn’t sure if I would like this book as it took a while to warm up. The first few chapters felt heavy on melodrama and low on engaging me as I felt inundated with facts and back-story. And there were a few typos that I found distracting and always take a bit from the book for me.
But then slowly and very surely, I started to feel for Lexie. What she has to cope with is far beyond what any teenager should ever have to deal with and her denial and secrecy started to ring bells with me.
I always think you bring your own personal life and your own experiences in to a book with you. And I have to admit, I’m very like Lexie. No matter how close friends are, I find it difficult/impossible to really share hard, emotional times while I’m going through them. So what could frustrate other people about Lexie, I get. I have been there not letting people in and I’m an ostrich too with my head and neck well and truly buried in the sand when I feel unable to cope with something. Thankfully I have never had to deal with any of the issues Lexie is going through but I know how I would react so I can believe her actions or lack of them.
Lexie has 3 best friends and again I believed in all of them. In fact, it was when I saw Lexie around her friends and Ben that I really warmed to the book. And once, I warmed up, I really enjoyed it and it was quickly bumped up to a 4 star rating for me. I loved her relationship with Ben and their first kiss was hotter than hot. There were two suspenseful scenes near the end of the book, that had me chewing my nails, sitting on the edge of my seat, half afraid to read on as I was so scared of what might happen.
And the end of the book was really well done, not a cliffhanger but it leaves you wanting more. I will definitely be picking up the next book in the series to see what happens next.
Highly recommended if you are looking for a contemporary YA/NA book with authentic characters in very challenging circumstances.
Thanks to the author for providing me a copy of the book in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
November 7, 2017
I could not put this book down! It was extremely well-written and emotionally captivating. I felt as though I was Lexie’s friend, too, and joined her on her adventures to self-discovery and restitution. Can’t wait to read the next one!
February 7, 2014
*Received copy in exchange for honest review*
I wanted to like this book, I really did. It pulled me in initially with describing how the girls grew up in the house and then with going into Angela's murder. But then I feel like we had this incredibly minor cancer byline and she looked it up on the compute one night and we never hear about it again. I would have liked to have known if she had it, was she cured or were the doctors just wrong, personally. I'm not too sure why, but I feel like a lot of the book dragged a little for me as well. I liked the court room scene where she told her side in front of her father and told it for everyone to hear because that took some serious strength for her to do. I liked that she got out in the end as well and went to CA to start a whole new life on her own. Not too sure if I like her friends all that much, especially Maya, but potato tomato I guess. I guess I feel like some of the story was lost with just the friendship detail and outings and what not; and what guy would admittedly agree that Twilight wasn't a bad movie lol
I wanted to like this book, I really did. It pulled me in initially with describing how the girls grew up in the house and then with going into Angela's murder. But then I feel like we had this incredibly minor cancer byline and she looked it up on the compute one night and we never hear about it again. I would have liked to have known if she had it, was she cured or were the doctors just wrong, personally. I'm not too sure why, but I feel like a lot of the book dragged a little for me as well. I liked the court room scene where she told her side in front of her father and told it for everyone to hear because that took some serious strength for her to do. I liked that she got out in the end as well and went to CA to start a whole new life on her own. Not too sure if I like her friends all that much, especially Maya, but potato tomato I guess. I guess I feel like some of the story was lost with just the friendship detail and outings and what not; and what guy would admittedly agree that Twilight wasn't a bad movie lol
April 15, 2013
I started Harvest Moon (Volume 1 of the Harvest Series) not knowing much about it or what to expect, and ended up reading it all in one sitting, finishing at midnight! I cringed as the gruesome details of Angela’s death were described and how it influenced the rest of Lexi’s teenage life; an event that catapulted an already tormenting living situation. As the reader, I truly felt agony for the main character and grasped the severity of emotions her friends’ felt. The story was well written, as well were the intimate scenes.
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June 15, 2013To be reviewed as part of my blog's Indie Spotlight feature.
April 27, 2017
A good start...
Lexie lives a complicated life with an abuse history and non-existent parents. She decides to leave her life behind and move to California. While the book is awesome, there are unanswered questions lingering regarding her health. I'm looking forward to read book two in the series.
Lexie lives a complicated life with an abuse history and non-existent parents. She decides to leave her life behind and move to California. While the book is awesome, there are unanswered questions lingering regarding her health. I'm looking forward to read book two in the series.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews