Traveling Sisters Read Review:  It Happens All the Time by Amy Hatvany

It Happens All the Time by Amy Hatvany

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Traveling Sisters Read Review by NORMA, BRENDA and LINDSAY

Date read:  May 26 – 27, 2017

4.5 stars rounded up to 5

IT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME by AMY HATVANY is a formidable, compelling, thought-provoking, and a bold novel that explores the emotional side of a friendship torn apart after a tragic night spent drinking, leaving lives forever changed. Exploring the fallout and betrayal of trust between friends.

AMY HATVANY delivers a brutally honest portrayal here of a subject matter that is hard to talk about. The story unfolds in alternating points of view of our two main characters, Amber and Tyler, which added credibility to the story and forces us to see both sides of their stories. It switches time periods from before and after and gives us a backstory of their friendship which was somewhat confusing for us at the beginning until we understood the shifting time periods.

Amber and Tyler are complex and well-developed characters both with mental illnesses. AMY HATVANY does a really good job with exploring, addressing, and following through with their mental health which was a very satisfying aspect of the story for us.

There was one part of the story that we all found to be a little over the top and felt it was done to add a dramatic effect to the storyline but in our opinion it was unnecessary and boundering a little on hypocritical territory. There was definitely lots of conversing and questions raised over this aspect of the novel.

Overall, we all thoroughly enjoyed this novel and really enjoyed the conversation that developed over this extremely thought-provoking and emotional journey that this novel took us on. Highly recommended!