Theresa Bourke Recommends Josie and Vic
A lovely surprise to learn that journalist Theresa Bourke of Brainerd Dispatch (Minnesota) has chosen JOSIE AND VIC as her first book recommendation for 2023! What thrilling news as I begin to promote my April 11, 2023 release, which is available for pre-order anywhere books are sold.
Her review contains lots of plot details, so if, like me, you prefer to know very little before you dive in, you may want to avoid those paragraphs. But if you’re curious to hear more, she does a great job capturing important points in the novel. I love the title. “Coming together in a new form.”
Here’s her article from the Brainerd Dispatch on January 4, 2023
Bourke’s Bookshelf: ‘Coming together in a new form’
A few months ago, I was fortunate enough to receive an advance reader copy of “Josie and Vic” from Blue Cottage Agency. The book isn’t set to come out until April 2023, so I thought I would kick off the new year by giving readers something to look forward to in the coming year.
It turns out this pick was a perfect choice to start out the new year because it deals heavily with accepting the past and embracing new beginnings. Both title characters have a lot to overcome but show strength can be found through love and selfless giving.
Vic Serafini experienced something no person should ever have to. In his late 40s, he finds himself struggling to make sense of life after his wife and two young children were killed in a tragic accident. Irma, Isabel and Miguel were his whole world, and losing them wasn’t fair.
To help Vic cope with this unimaginable loss, his sister Josie uproots her life in upstate New York and settles into his Los Angeles home for a while, worried about her brother’s mental state.
Not only does she feel a sense of duty to her older brother, who always looked after her as a kid, but Josie also understands a fraction of Vic’s loss, having buried her husband a few years earlier. This tragedy takes her back to thoughts of Ben’s sudden passing and of her mother’s life, cut short at 51, before Josie had a chance to tell her she was pregnant.
The first part of the book jumps back and forth between present day, which takes place throughout 2001, and snippets of the characters’ pasts.
We see Vic and Josie growing up in the ‘70s and ‘80s with a single mother after their father walked out.
We see Vic enlisting in the military and being shipped off to Vietnam, leaving Josie feeling so alone.
We see their mother’s cancer diagnosis and Josie’s struggle when she becomes pregnant as a college student by a man who’s about to move to Ireland.
We see Josie’s relationship with Ben, an older man who falls madly in love with both her and eventually the child she’s carrying.
We see all the pieces of life that led the Serafini siblings to where they are today — a little broken but still grateful for one another.
While Josie helps Vic through his loss, she deals with her own strained relationship with 19-year-old daughter Ellie, who packed up and moved across country not too long ago in her pursuit of her music. Then there’s Tony, Vic and Josie’s estranged father, with whom Vic has actually had contact for decades, much to Josie’s surprise and dismay.
And finally, there’s the veterinarian in New York who agreed to take in Josie’s beloved horses while she was in California. Regular email exchanges between the two of them quickly turn into daily phone calls, the horses no longer the sole topic of conversation. Could it possibly be blossoming into something more? If so, Josie isn’t quite sure she’s ready for it. But the talks are so nice.
Later on, another family tragedy ends up being the catalyst to Vic’s decision on the next chapter of his life. An attempted border crossing gone wrong gives him the motivation he needs to put his energy into something new, something that will both keep him busy and honor his family’s memory.
While I never quite found myself crying during this read, there was often a lump in my throat and a couple of fresh tears in my eyes. There was no point I felt like bawling; instead, it was more of a faint yet consistent tugging of the heartstrings. I felt the somber notes of the story with my whole being as I tried to imagine the struggles of Debra Thomas’ complexly crafted characters.
“Josie and Vic” was an easy five-star rating on my Goodreads account and the perfect way to kick off the new year.
