Alright.
Over the past several months, Echoes has grown from a simple idea into a community of readers who gather each month to explore fiction together.
Whether we are meeting in person or online, our goal isn’t simply to finish another book. It’s about slowing down, asking better questions, and discovering why certain stories continue to resonate long after we’ve turned the final page. Each month we’ll read a different novel, share our perspectives, and explore the craft, themes, and ideas that make great stories memorable.
Every discussion revolves around a different question, and this month’s question is one every great sequel must answer:
Can a sequel be even better than the original?
– July 2026 –
!! ECHOES BOOK CLUB !!
This month, we’re reading Returning the Meadow, the second novel in the Meadow Trilogy.
Writing a sequel presents a unique challenge. The mystery of the first book has already been introduced. The characters are familiar. The world has been established. The question is no longer how to surprise the reader—it’s how to deepen the story without simply repeating what came before.
Returning the Meadow takes a different approach than In the Meadow. Rather than asking what the Meadow is, it explores the consequences of surviving it. Dawn and Zack return to Skagit River hoping to close one chapter of their lives, only to discover that the past isn’t finished with them yet.
As we read together this month, I’d encourage you to think beyond the mystery itself. Pay attention to how the characters have changed since the first novel, how the stakes continue to grow, and how the story builds toward the final installment of the trilogy. By the end of the month, I’d love to hear your answer to our central question:
Did Returning the Meadow build successfully on the first novel? If so, what made it work?
So, grab your copy of Returning the Meadow, and let’s head back to Skagit River.
!! NEXT MONTH’s BOOK SELECTION !!
At our next Echoes Book Club meeting in Reedsport on Wednesday, August 26th, 2026, we will vote on the next book to read.
- The Butterfly Garden — Dot Hutchison
- The Magic Cottage — James Herbert
- The Testament — John Grisham
The winning book will become September’s official Echoes Book Club selection.
Whether you plan to join us in Reedsport or participate online, we hope you’ll read along with us and join the conversation.
!! Post Below to Join the Club !!
If you would like to join us for Isaac Hunter’s Official Echoes Book Club, use this form here.
!! IF YOU LIKE THIS BOOK, YOU WILL LOVE OUR DAUGHTER !!
You can purchase the first book in the Witch Gnostic Heresies trilogy right now for a limited time up to 70% OFF, so act now while we still have copies in stock!
Check out this excerpt of Our Daughter:
“Okay, mom,” Randy said.
“You behave yourself and be nice. You’re lucky to have company while you wait for the doctors.”
The woman turned and started back the way she came.
“The nurse said it would be twenty or thirty more minutes, so we’ll eat quick and be back up here before they take you in, okay?”
“Okay, mom.”
“Sorry for him,” the woman said to Katie as she walked by.
“He’s funny.”
Katie grinned.
As the woman left, Katie noticed the boy moving around again on the bed. Before she realized what was happening, the tiny lump disappeared and she could hear the faint sound of bare hands and feet on the tile floor.
He was low crawling under the beds toward her.
A moment later, Randy popped his head out from under the nearest hospital bed, craning his neck around to look up at her.
“Hello, there,” Katie said.
Randy disappeared back under the bed, the bed sheet draping down almost to the floor. Katie could still see three little fingers pressed to the tile.
“What are you here for?” Katie asked, readjusting her seat in the chair, trying to get the ache in her chest to lessen.
For whatever reason, the wheelchair was really uncomfortable.
“Why are – “
Randy’s voice trailed off for a moment as he looked around.
“Why are you here?”
“I’m getting my leg fixed,” Katie said. “See?”
Randy poked his head back out from under the bed and looked at the leg she was pointing to.
“What’s wrong with it?”
“The doctor said it’s broken,” Katie said. “Shattered.”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah. Ouch.”
“Can you feel it?” Randy asked, able to stay out from his hiding place.
“I can feel it, but it’s not too bad,” Katie said, then tapped the IV in her arm. “This thing is giving me medicine of some kind for the pain. At least that’s what the nurses said.”
“Why are you – “
Randy stopped mid-sentence.
He scooted out from under the bed entirely and slowly crept over to er on all fours.
“What are you, some kind of spider?” Katie asked, giggling a little.
“What are you?” Randy echoed.
He was now only about a foot away from her chair and sat there, his legs folded up under him, gawking up at her.
“What are you staring at me for?”
“I’ve never – “
Randy put out a hesitant hand and ever so gently touched her arm.
“Are you some kind of ghost?”
He looked around again.
“Are you – ”
He leaned in, talking in a whisper.
“Are you dead?”
A nurse came around the corner and stopped abruptly, spotting the empty bed in the far corner where Randy should have been.
“Randy Andrews,” the nurse said, her hands now on her hips. “You get right back into the bed and you stop playing around, please. They are ready for you in surgery.”
Katie watched as Randy scrambled on all fours under the beds and back up onto his, pulling the sheet back over top of himself again.
She started to ask him about his question, but couldn’t get the words out before his parents appeared at the door.
Katie sat there quietly, watching Randy stare back at her from under his sheet. She glanced over at his parents and the nurse, noticed Randy’s dad had no hair on the top of his head.
Are you dead?
What kind of question was that?
The snap of the wheel locks being disengaged on Randy’s hospital bed jarred Katie out of the confusion she was in.
The doctor she’d first seen was now at the door, waiting for Randy.
He was his surgeon.
They wheeled Randy out of the room, his parents following right behind, disappearing to the left, heading for his operating room.
The pre-op room was empty again.
Dead.
Are you dead?
What kind of crazy question was that?
The nurse came back through the double doors.
“It won’t be long now,” she said.
“Okay.”
Katie tried not to think about the dull ache growing just behind her sternum.
The nurse disappeared around the corner as Katie watched the double doors to the operating rooms slowly shut.
Buy my book, Our Daughter, and begin the adventure of a lifetime, as you uncover the mysteries behind Katie Cadora’s new life after the horrible accident that stole her mother away from her. Will she find a sure footing again? Will the pain ever stop? Will she discover the secrets her new foster family is keeping from her? Is the boy’s question right? Is Katie Cadora actually dead?
Click here and grab your copy today, and jump into this Witch Gnostic Heresy trilogy with both feet!
But, trust me when I tell you, there are deceivers in our midst! Get started in this bone chilling suspense novel right away and find out why….sometimes….you’re just better off DEAD!
!! Get Your Copy Today !!
What do you think?