What I’m Reading: Chasing Windmills

A blog reader suggested the author Catherine Ryan Hyde to me.  I thought I had read books by her before so went on the hunt to see if any were available that I hadn’t read.  I found Chasing Windmills.

I really liked this book and am so happy that the blog reader reminded me of this author.

The book is good…almost a bit more Young Adult book.  Or at least I would classify it there.  Don’t let that distract you from reading it though.

The book is told from two perspectives, the boy’s and the girl’s.  Both are written in the first person in a way that totally lets the reader inside their brain to what they are thinking.  I love that.  The story is a Romeo and Juliet story but with a better ending.  I’ll let you read and see exactly what that is.

Here is what Amazon has to say:
Catherine Ryan Hyde, bestselling author of Pay It Forward, returns with a provocative tour de force on first love—a modern-day rendering of West Side Story born on a New York City subway car and nurtured under the windmills of the Mojave Desert.

The subway doors open and close, and in one moment Sebastian’s and Maria’s lives are changed forever. Rendered in Catherine Ryan Hyde’s stirring and evocative prose, CHASING WINDMILLS is a poignant love story that will leave you yearning for a subway ride that is a fraction as enchanting.

Letting go becomes the purest expression of love in this extraordinary novel by the bestselling author of Pay It Forward, Catherine Ryan Hyde.

Both Sebastian and Maria live in a world ruled by fear. Sebastian, a lonely seventeen-year-old, is suffocating under his dominant father’s control. In the ten years since his mother passed away, his father has kept him “safe” by barely allowing him out of their apartment. Sebastian’s secret late-night subway rides are rare acts of rebellion. another is a concealed friendship with his neighbor Delilah, who encourages him to question his father’s version of reality. Soon it becomes unclear whether even his mother’s death was a lie.

Maria, a young mother of two, is trying to keep peace at home despite her boyfriend’s abuse. When she loses her job, she avoids telling him by riding the subways during her usual late-night shift. She knows her sister, Stella, is right: She needs to “live in the truth” and let the chips fall where they may. But she still hasn’t been able to bring herself to do it. And soon he will expect her paycheck to arrive.

When Sebastian and Maria wind up on the same train, their eyes meet across the subway car, and these two strangers find a connection that neither can explain or ignore. Together they dream of a new future, agreeing to run away and find Sebastian’s grandmother in the Mojave Desert. But Maria doesn’t know Sebastian is only seventeen. And Sebastian doesn’t know Maria has children until the moment they leave. Ultimately, Maria brings one child, her daughter. Can she really leave her little boy behind? And, if not, what will it cost her to face her furious jilted abuser?

In this tremendously moving novel, Catherine Ryan Hyde shows us how two people trapped by life’s circumstances can break free and find a place in the world where love is genuine and selfless.

Amazon readers gave the book 4.4 stars.  I think I would agree. The book totally kept my interest and had me wanting to keep reading.

You can find the book HERE if you’re interested.

I had said that I read a different book by this author.  It is Have You Seen Luis Velez?.  That book was excellent and I highly recommend it.  I’m off to see if there are other books by this author as I’d love to read another good book!

1 thought on “What I’m Reading: Chasing Windmills”

  1. Jo, have you read any books by Mitch Albom? Someone told me about his books and the first one I read was called “The Five People You Meet In Heaven.” The movie was really good, too. But read the book first. It made me cry but I couldn’t put it down. Things make better sense at the end. So I’ve read almost all of his books and really love them. They kind of have a life lesson by the end. I also like Nicholas Spark’s “The Notebook” and some of his other books. He usually writes about the NC coast. It’s nice getting to see some of the places that he writes about.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top
%d bloggers like this: