Customer Reviews

True Colors

5 star:		(79)
4 star:		(48)
3 star:		(29)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

There are several things readers have come to expect when they read a Kristin Hannah book--that they'll get an amazing, compelling, emotional story, that they can't put down once they've started. While TRUE COLORS is no exception, there is a degree of depth to this novel that sets it apart from anything the author has written in the past. A degree of depth that won't simply satisfy her legions of current fans, but I dare say should bring her to the attention of many more.

Spanning nearly 30 years in the lives of the Grey sisters of Water's Edge, a waterfront ranch on the shores of Washington state's picturesque Hood Canal, first meet the sisters in 1979 just after the death of their beloved mother. It's obvious from the beginning that her loss is going to leave an enormous hole in their hearts and have long-lasting effects in the lives of these young girls. But even worse, their grieving father Henry buries his soul when he buries his wife, coping with life by drowning his sorrows in a bottle of hard liquor.

The book quickly fast forwards 13 years where we find oldest sister Winona just beginning her law practice in the nearby town of Oyster Shores, Aurora a young wife and mother of twins, while the youngest the beautiful but fragile Vivi Ann is an expert barrel racer on the western rodeo circuit, living at home, helping her father on the failing ranch that has been in their family for generations. Vivi Ann soon comes up with a plan to save the ranch and resurrects it into a thriving horse arena for lessons and competitions.

Meanwhile Winona, who has been fighting a weight problem all her life, may, at long last, have romance come her way when her childhood crush, veterinarian Luke Connelly returns to town. She is excited that this time their relationship may become more than just friendship--until he is captivated by the beautiful ViviAnn. Although Vivi Ann doesn't totally return his feelings, they eventually become engaged. Winona has a difficult time hiding her jealousy. All of this causes a rift between the sisters that won't soon be mended, especially when the new ranch hand and quintessential "bad boy" Dallas Raintree excites Vivi Ann much more than Luke ever can. This sets in place a tragedy that changes the complexion of the sisters' relationship forever.

This also sets in place events that propel this novel from one of Kristin Hannah's hallmark "domestic dramas" into one that is part legal drama, a coming of age story of a teenage boy, a story of redemption and forgiveness, and of loyalty and unfailing belief in someone when it really counts.

Kristin Hannah excels in knowing how to pull at the reader's heartstrings, to touch their emotional sweet spot, and with TRUE COLORS she pulls at those heartstrings and doesn't let go. TRUE COLORS is Kristin Hannah at her very best - maybe even better than her very best. As usual readers need to keep the hankies handy for the read that is absolutely unputdownable and totally satisfying. As impossible as it seems, Kristin Hannah just gets better and better with each read; I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

Winona, Aurora, and Vivi Ann Grey are sisters, brought closer together by their mother's death when they were children. Winona, the oldest, takes charge of her sisters, but she is plagued throughout life by her issues with her weight, her ceaseless unsuccessful quest for her father's approval, and her hope that someone will love her. Aurora is the sensible middle sister - she grows up, marries, has kids, and then struggles with the reality that life isn't a fairy tale. Vivi Ann is the wild, beautiful, optimistic youngest sister. She loves her horses, adores the father that her sisters tell her is not worth her adoration, fights to keep the Grey home and land in the family, and knows that something breathtaking is going to happen to her. When Winona's true love falls for the wrong sister, jealousy and spitefulness come between them all, and when Vivi Ann gives her heart to the dark, dangerous Dallas, the family and their small town are nearly torn apart.

Hannah does a good job of painting the portrait of small-town Oyster Shores, Washington - a town of decent, hard-working people, some of whom still hold on to old prejudices and distrust of outsiders. She also does a fine job of giving us yet another book about family loyalty, an over-controlling patriarch, and women fighting through their insecurities to become stronger and more independent.

There are countless numbers of books out there extolling the virtues of sisterhood - blood or no - and True Colors joins their ranks. This is a good, solid book with an emotional storyline, strong but flawed characters, and a compelling drama to pull everything together. Although I wasn't exactly blown away by the story, it did keep my interest, and I would pick up another Hannah novel. For me, the legal drama was a tad over the top and tended to slow down the pace of the story, and I thought that Noah's character went sadly underdeveloped, but overall this is a good novel that would be perfect for the beach or for a vacation in general.

This may be a wonderful beach read, but it's March and we need a bit more grit to keep us glued to the pages while the rain-laden winds whip through the pines. We have characters who are easily summed up in a few words - pretty and wild; overweight and unappreciated; smart and too conventional; rawboned and dangerous; troubled teen; reliable and boring; crotchedy and mean. Mix together. Add the usual gossip, jealousy, forbidden love, injustice and redemption. Bake for what seems like a long, long time. Believe it or not, what comes out of the oven is chocolate chip cookies! Yep - a happy ending for all - except old Dad, who is still crotchedy and mean - but you can't have everything!

There are no sharp edges to get in the way - no surprises or twists - just a good old, straight garden path leading to a beautiful sunset. Everybody's happy but me. I was expecting a lot more.

This is a very touching story about three sisters, family, and loving so much it hurts. Three sisters band together after their mother's death and grow up loving each other and clinging to each other. But jealousy crept in some how and that jealousy threatens to destroy their relationship, while at the same time the youngest sister pays the worst price through it all. This story was well written, and touching. I couldn't help but to cry with not only sadness, but with regret and joy. This book is a must read for anyone who enjoys books about family and love.

I listened to this as an unabridged audio book. Kristin Hannah has written some charming historical romances in the past which is why I was tempted to pick this up but I'm really under whelmed with this women's fiction/chick lit/soap opera venture. Where's the charm? Never mind that, where's the love? All I'm reading here is bitterness and jealousy and awkward relationships. It's making me edgy and impatient.

The book is about three sisters whose mom died of cancer when they were very young teens/pre-teens. Supposedly they are super close, or that's what the author keeps saying anyway. Winona is the oldest, Aurora the middle one and Vivi Anne is the young beautiful one favored by gruff old dad. Winona grows up to be a successful attorney but she is very insecure and an emotional eater and has been unable to snag a man. When Luke, a hunk from her past calls her up and asks her to meet him to discuss some legal business over a drink she instantly hopes and wishes that he wants to date her. Desperate, much? She then agonizes over her looks, insists that Aurora pretty her up and then imagines him gushing about his wife and kiddies and on and on. Blech, is she 27 or 17? But, alas, it's all for naught because the moment Luke spies gorgeous Vivi Anne he's head over heels and Winona starts to seethe with jealousy and dreams up ways they'll break up so she can comfort Luke. She refuses to tell Vivi Anne about her crush on Luke and then starts being a royal bitch to everyone (including employees) because those two are dating. Emotionally stunted, much?

The middle sister, Aurora, seems to be here to act as a peace-keeper between the beauty and the bitter sister. She's married to a doctor whom she apparently finds boring and has little children who are apparently never around. I've heard people say that kids should be seen and not heard but these kids weren't even seen. It was weird since Aurora was in the story so much whenever someone needed advice or prettying up. I began to wonder if she had some dark secret and had locked her kids in the basement or sold them for cash or something.

Vivi Anne is probably the only character I somewhat warmed up to but only because she had a soft spot for horses, especially wounded ones, and because she was a bit wild herself. She's not so smart in the relationship department and was too eager to please others however. This gets her into a real nasty bind as the book goes along. She makes some excruciatingly stupid choices but she's the youngest so at least it made more sense than Winona's endless pining and whining over Luke, the blandest man in the land.

The whole dynamic of this relationship just wasn't working for me and none of these characters were likable enough to latch on to. The entire first part of the book annoyed me and though these three supposedly have a close relationship I didn't feel it. I understand sibling rivalry and all but the way this relationship was written was just not believable. There's also some weird-ass dialogue that bugged me. I can't remember it all but this gem really stuck out. When Luke first calls and asks Winona to meet for a drink she responds with, "How about 4:00? I hear that's Miller time?" Honestly, who says things like that outside of a commercial? It's no wonder this woman can't get a date.

Later on a major plot development happens that only cements my previous dislike for Winona and helps me feel compassion towards Vivi Anne even though she is too weak of a character to fully embrace. The twist here is a total soap opera event but it does make the book a bit more interesting. It's here that the book did fully grab my attention but not because of the tangled relationship between the sisters but because of a troubled young teen boy and his journal entries. He was a great character and Hannah is a writer who can touch the emotions. It's just such a shame that she wasted so much space on a character as utterly awful as Winona and gave the third sister, Aurora, such the shaft. The end of the book where Winona's love life was resolved seemed very contrived and not believable at all. It should have ended with an epilogue where she was a bitter old cat lady. Now that I would have believed.

I'll read Kristin Hannah again because she can write an emotionally involving story but this one won't be getting a reread.

This was my first attempt at a Kristin Hannah book. I was quite disappointed. The book feels too familiar. When I pick up a book, I want something fresh, unique, or something we've experienced that the author helps us rediscover in a new way. I just didn't find that with True Colors. I was worried it might be since the title is a cliché. However, I thought maybe with lower expectations, I could still appreciate it. You know that old mind trick of setting the expectations low so they can be surpassed when it comes to a book or movie. Well, that didn't work. This is a book I would have probably liked when I was in my teens, not in my thirties though. The characters and plot are too predictable and one dimensional.

It looks like bestseller writer Kristin Hannah has done it again with TRUE COLORS, which takes place in a small town in Washington State. The Grey family owns a ranch called Water's Edge and it's been in the family for generations. After their mother's death Henry Grey's three daughters grow close. Winona becomes the best attorney in town, Aurora marries well and becomes a mom and Vivi Ann stays on the ranch, becomes a rodeo rider and basically runs the place, however the ranch isn't doing well.

Winona comes up with plans to save it, but Henry reject them all. However, when Vivi Ann comes up with a plan Henry embraces it. This is not the first time Henry has slighted Winona and favored Vivi Ann. It's been going on all their lives and the situation is going to get worse when the man Winona loves proposes to Vivi Ann.

Then a dark stranger who is better with horses than even Vivi Ann comes to town and she hires him on as a ranch hand. Eventually she has an affair with him, Winona finds out and tells Vivi Ann's fiance, who didn't want to know. Vivi Ann marries the stranger, has a lovely child, but the town trollop is murdered and Vivi Ann's husband is charged with the crime and Winona won't defend him and the relationship between the sisters is ripped asunder.

This is a wonderful story. The sometimes strong, sometimes fragile relationship between the sisters, the fast pace, the characters who seem all too real all combine to make this a story that will stay with you long into the future.

This is a story about three sisters, centering mostly on the relationship between the oldest and the youngest with the sister in the middle always playing the peacemaker. It's a story about complex female relationships, sibling rivalry, father daughter relationships, love triangles, romance, murder and it all happens in a small town in Washington State.

The sisters are Winona, Aurora and Vivi Ann. Their mother dies with they're young and they each have emotional needs that there father is unable to fulfill. Winona tries to take over where their mother left off, but nobody can replace her. The girls form strong ties, but they are going to be tested by jealousy when two men come to town. There is nothing like that old green-eyed monster to move a story right along.

Ms. Hannah moves the story along at a fast clip with a plot that is so achingly good, it'll break your heart, make you cry and if you've got a sister, you'll be calling her up when you finish the story, recommending this book.

OK, shame on me for choosing this book in the first place. It's a romance and I just don't like romance. That should be made clear from the outset.

This story about 3 sisters was a trite read, I thought. I come from a family of 4 sisters and I have to say that the characters were not authentic or real to me from the very beginning. On the contrary, they seemed forced and plastic as they went through their soap opera storyline. Why does there always have to be a "successful" sister, an ugly sister, a sensible sister and a gorgeous sister--or something along those lines. In my experience, sisters all have elements of all of those things and their levels and roles change with age, experiences and growth. There are no clear character or physical definitions that are as simple as "sisters" books paint.

So, the fat sister is also the successful sister. The sensible but plain sister is, of course, the middle child. The beautiful and risk taking sister is the youngest. Hmmm.... The hunky love interest falls for the youngest sister, although the fat sister is in love with him. The young beauty falls for the "no good" dark character. Again, hmmm... Can you say predictable?

OK, I already said I didn't like romance, and that's not really anybody's problem but my own. The fact that the author inserted horses into the story made it a little more interesting, but to me, it still read like one of my grandmother's harlequin romances--bleh... I struggled to finish and breathed a sigh of relief when it was all over.

Nothing against this author, but I probably shouldn't have read this one to start with. I'm giving it three stars just to be as fair as I can. I promise I won't read any more romances on purpose.

I agree with the other two star reviews here (and certainly don't understand the five star reviews). I was VERY disappointed with this book. I love Kristin Hannah's work, but this one was not like the others. The characters were very difficult to relate to and "thank God" they aren't visiting my house. I thought it would be a story about the intricate relationships of sisters, but instead Winona was more like an evil stepsister. The father had NO redeeming qualities.

This is the type book where you read it and then are mad at yourself afterwards for doing so (you can never get that time back you know).

Kristin Hannah is a wonderful author, and I will look forward to her next book...but I really should have passed on this one...

On another note, all of you KINDLE READERS should be ashamed for giving this book ONE STAR as a protest of the pricing. If you wanted to use this forum as a way to express your feelings, you should rate a book appropriately while making an additional side comment perhaps.

When books are given one star like that it only encourages more readers to give it five stars (and people not get an accurate sense of the book) as a reaction to all the one star comments.

I don't disagree with your reason for being upset at the pricing...just your method of attack...