When The Skies Cry by Steve N Lee – a Review

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Description:
Sometimes, the one you’re saving is really saving you.

Harley loses everything when his master dies — his home, his best friend, his reason for living. Day after day, he trudges the streets, trembling from the biting cold, whimpering from the gnawing hunger.

Across town, Rachel has an alimony hearing looming and a make-or-break deadline hurtling toward her, yet they aren’t her biggest worries — her autistic son has withdrawn so far into his own private world, he barely acknowledges she even exists.

Luckily, the magic of life is in the surprises no one ever sees coming…

Review:

When the Skies Cry by Steve N Lee is another one of his standalone novels that centers on a dog.  Having read the previous book by Lee, I looked forward to reading this one.  I really enjoyed this book, though I did have mixed feelings, which I will detail later in this review. 

We meet Harley at the start, as he doesn’t understand why his owner isn’t responding to him.  The owner is dead, and in a short time Harley finds himself on the streets, desperate for food, and everywhere he goes, no one helps him, and he runs into nasty teenagers who try to harm him.

Rachel, our heroine, has issues fighting her ex-husband for alimony, as she takes care of their autistic son. Rachel has her hands full trying to train her son, who is very withdrawn, at doing questions and answers.  When she takes Wes for a walk in the park, the nasty teenagers make fun of her son, until Harley comes out under the bench and scares the teenagers.  Wes finds himself enamored of the dog, and though Rachel does not want to bring the dog home, she sees he is starving, and most importantly, the dog seems to bring out another side to Wes. 

When Rachel can’t find Harley’s owner, she decides to keep him, as she can see the change in Wes.  Harley was a fantastic dog, knowing all kinds of tricks, especially making Wes and even Rachel laugh. In a short time, she will have to fight for Harley, as the deceased owner left a will, but the lawyer knows what is best for the dog, and luckily it turns into her favor.  Harley was an amazingly and wonderful dog, so much fun, and very loyal to both Wes and Rachel.  Wes improved so much, even in a specialized  school, they notice how much more he is talking and even helping others.

Rachel will discover, thanks to Harley, that she has a disease and will need chemo.  She prepares her friend Izzy to learn how to handle Wes, in the event if things go bad.

Now to my mixed feelings.  I thought the early part where Harley suffered was a bit depressing, though I understood that.  The majority of the book was wonderful, however the last few chapters of the end of the book totally turned me off, as it was very depressing and a shock.  The author decided to create an alternate ending that the reader can choose; which I did enjoy and chose. When the Skies Cry was well written by Steve N Lee.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy supplied for Review