Kindle Edition, 349 pages
Published
October 30, 2018
Source: I received a complimentary copy. All opinions expressed are my own and were voluntarily given.
An emotional novel of family, friendship and forgiveness from Courtney Walsh, the New York Times bestselling author of Hometown Girl.
Lyndie St. James is thrilled that her best friend, Elle, is getting married but unprepared for the emotional storm of the wedding week and returning to her childhood summer home of Sweethaven. The idyllic cottage community harbors some of her best—and worst—memories. It’s not only the tragic death of her childhood friend Cassie that has haunted her for ten years, it’s the other secrets she’s buried that have kept her from moving on.
But Lyndie isn’t the only one with secrets.
Cassie’s mother, father and brother, still struggling with the loss, have been drifting further and further apart. And Elle herself, the last to see Cassie alive, carries an impossible burden of guilt. Now reunited, each of them has a choice: to reveal the truths of that night or continue to live in its shadow. That means embarking on a personal journey of the heart—to escape the darkness and all its regrets and to finally come to terms with the past and, especially, with each other.
Lyndie St. James is thrilled that her best friend, Elle, is getting married but unprepared for the emotional storm of the wedding week and returning to her childhood summer home of Sweethaven. The idyllic cottage community harbors some of her best—and worst—memories. It’s not only the tragic death of her childhood friend Cassie that has haunted her for ten years, it’s the other secrets she’s buried that have kept her from moving on.
But Lyndie isn’t the only one with secrets.
Cassie’s mother, father and brother, still struggling with the loss, have been drifting further and further apart. And Elle herself, the last to see Cassie alive, carries an impossible burden of guilt. Now reunited, each of them has a choice: to reveal the truths of that night or continue to live in its shadow. That means embarking on a personal journey of the heart—to escape the darkness and all its regrets and to finally come to terms with the past and, especially, with each other.
My Review: 5 Stars
I couldn't put this hauntingly beautiful book down, nor could I stop thinking about it when I absolutely did have to set it aside for a moment. This story is all wrapped up in one tragic secret involving a death. Cassie, Lyndie, and Elle were inseparable during the summers while growing up and with Cassie's unexpected death years earlier, the other two have drifted apart.
It's been ten years since Cassie's death and it seems that she was the glue of this broken, tangled cast of characters, yet they're coming together once again for Elle's wedding and to remember Cassie. This book does not spell out the struggles that Elle and Lyndie have endured over the years, nor does it reveal the secrets that each hold relating to that night long ago. As the story progresses, these guilty secrets are gradually uncovered and the emotion relating to these revelations will rip and shred the heart. And what do you do when a character makes choices differently than you would? Why, you forgive them, of course!
The feelings these characters brave are raw, powerful, and vivid, but an underlying current of hope shadows the words. I was completely invested and grasped in the clutches of this book and in the lives of these characters. This is an intoxicating read and the messages of hope, love, forgiveness, and second chances are ones that will stay with you long after the last page is read.
Content: moderate romantic elements (kissing, premarital relations, a tough choice); moderate religion (grace, forgiveness, hope, repenting, etc); mild+ violence (death); underage drinking
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