A book that deals with pretty serious issues.
Jackie is a popular lesfic author who’s life is upturned when a 16 year old, Beth, shows up to advise that she is the daughter she gave up for adoption.
Susan is the stay at home adoptive mother of Beth. Life with her husband is not as it appears to all but her close friends and relatives. When Beth’s biological mother shows up at her door with her daughter, it triggers events that will have the three of them healing, learning, exploring, mourning and loving.
All of the themes in this story are heavy. A girl needing to discover and know her biological mother. Abusive relationships, Infidelity. Working beyond being selfish and cruel to women. Discovering sexual identity. Self worth. And more.
I really enjoyed this up until the 80% mark where it significantly lost steam all the way to an anticlimactic ending. I had to skim read the last 20%. It was almost like reading two different writing styles to me. So it is hard to both review and rate this.
Main character development was very good. Relationship establishment and growth felt authentic. The story was unique and interesting. I liked the dialogue (with three exceptions: 1- The use of “, eh?” , 2- The use of “kid” , 3 – The use of “lunged”). There are two love stories, which was a nice surprise. Both were sweet.
But once everything was smooth sailing for those two relationships, it went downhill. Too much time and verbose inner monologue spent on something that was not at all very interesting to me. Then the real conflict we are expecting to happen throughout the entire book just pitters off to non existence. Kind of felt like getting on a roller coaster for that big drop that never happens.
So I’m giving this 3 stars. Because the first 80% was a solid 4. Really enjoyable. But I’m taking away 1 star for a final 20% that really left me feeling unsatisfied and needing more.
I recommend to people who love to read about romance, family struggles, persevering, sexual discovery, parenting, art, small dogs and longboards.