Review: The Good Father by Diane Chamberlain

Title: The Good Father
Author: Diane Chamberlain
Publisher: MIRA
Release Date: (U.S.) April 24th 

Summary: A beloved daughter. A devastating choice. And now there's no going back.Four years ago, nineteen-year-old Travis Brown made a choice: to raise his newborn daughter on his own. While most of his friends were out partying and meeting girls, Travis was at home, changing diapers and worrying about keeping food on the table. But he's never regretted his decision. Bella is the light of his life. The reason behind every move he makes. And so far, she is fed. Cared for. Safe.But when Travis loses his construction job and his home, the security he's worked so hard to create for Bella begins to crumble….Then a miracle. A job in Raleigh has the power to turn their fortunes around. It has to. But when Travis arrives in Raleigh, there is no job, only an offer to participate in a onetime criminal act that promises quick money and no repercussions.With nowhere else to turn, Travis must make another choice for his daughter's sake.Even if it means he might lose her (Goodreads)

Review: Diane Chamberlain has a way with words; she knows how to leave you curious for the outcome, but at the same time tugging at those heartstrings. 

The Good Father starts off with the an even that is rather shocking- leaves a person curious to read on and see why a young man like Travis would think of leaving his child with someone named Erin. The details in the beginning are vague, but soon readers are taken into the past from several viewpoints that lead up to this plot point Diane shares with us in the beginning. 

I just want to say that Diane is the master as piecing together characters and their lives and making them come together just like a puzzle. In a way its mysterious- we know that at some point these main characters will run into each other or play a vital role in each others lives, but how? And I believe that is what I LOVE about Diane's novels, but especially this one. 

Travis is a young father, who at 19 decided to have custody of his daughter. He was a child himself raising a little girl because he couldn't think about giving her up for adoption like the mother had planned. Throughout the story we are intersected with two other viewpoints; Erin, who is struggling with her own grief & stumbles into Travis and Bella one day at a coffee shop and can't seem to get them off her mind. And Robin, who thought the past was behind her but suddenly realizes that burying the past could possible be worse than living it. Travis and Bella's life isn't easy- tragedy inflicts on them causing means of survival scarce. Sometimes a person has to make choices in life, that they would never do otherwise but the idea of money brings them down-- Travis makes a decision for both him and Bella, in the thought that this could be their out; money for a place to stay and food, but suddenly realizes he's made a terrible mistake. 

I fell in love with these characters! We don't get full detail on each character right away, but that leads room for guessing what their situations were like and how they came to be. When reading I had the strongest connection with Erin- and tended to ask myself the same questions she was contemplating when Travis left Bella in her care.

I will say that in the beginning, it was hard to get the dates and settings for each character straight (reminder that it is 3 viewpoints... past and present). Once I was more familiar with each person, it came naturally who and where everyone was. 

The flow and pace of The Good Father is a wave effect... steady but enough "surprising" events scattered throughout that lead up into the climax that any reader will not be able to set this one down!!