Another Debut Novel - This Time from a Local Author

Blaming the Wind is Alessandra Harris' 1st novel.  But it's certainly not her 1st published writing.  She not only wrote for an online magazine, called CityFlight.com, but she is the "organizer of San Jose Writers, a diverse group of writers in the South Bay Area, California."  "Writing instructors and critique groups" helped her transition to fiction.

But on to the book:

Sophia Douglas can't shake the fear that she's in over her head.  A spontaneous elopement and a layoff from her high-paying job are stressful enough, but a plus sign on her pregnancy test sends her into a panic.  Fearing her husband, Terrence, might leave her like her father did, Sophia confides her insecurities to Tara, her friend and mom of three.
Though Tara Fisher encourages Sophia to trust Terrence, she's hiding her own secret: a handsome attorney is pursuing her, and she's questioning her commitment to Josh, her husband of ten years.  After a devastating career-ending accident, Josh has changed and so have Tara's feelings for him.
When a crisis arises that threatens to destroy Sophia and Terrence's young marriage, Sophia must either overcome her fear of abandonment or lose everything she never knew she wanted.  Meanwhile, as Tara is torn between responsibility and passion, her imperfectly put together life starts to unravel, and ghosts from her past resurface to haunt her.
As these two couples grapple with secrets, temptation, and illness, only time will tell if their vows are strong enough to hold them together.

There are a few ancillary characters in Blaming the Wind.  But it's basically 4 stories, told by each of the main characters.  I really enjoyed the different perspectives, oftentimes revolving around the same incident.  I don't think it's easy to do that.  Alessandra does a very good job with it.

There are some major issues addressed in this book.  I can't tell you what they are because they would be spoilers.  But I can tell you that her treatment of these issues feels very real. I can also tell you that the author gives resources at the end of the book.  This is a valuable service and something that so few authors do.  Kudos to her.

I had my usual tears.  I also had:  raised eyebrows, low whistle, an "unh," very wide eyes, and a half-page of open mouth (although I'm basically a mouth-breather anyway!).  Harris really makes you emotionally connect in a variety of ways.

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P.P.S.  This is for those of you who automatically get my posts:  I can't explain why occasionally (yesterday, for example!) an older post shows up.  Believe me I am not posting blogs twice.  This is just another high tech mystery that has me befuddled.