Check out the full review at Kritters Ramblings
What would you do in order to save your family from harm? Eve is a mother of two and one of her children has been living with a life threatening condition and she has spent the last few years taking care of her son and trying to keep the rest of the family together. A tragedy happens and she must make a big decision.
Thankfully the tragedy that occurs isn't spoiled in the synopsis and I can't spoil it here either! I can say that it involves the neighborhood and I thought this was in interesting twist by adding in neighbors as bigger characters mixed in with the family drama aspect. The other part that kept me reading was the disease that Eve's son Tyler lives with - his inability to be near UV rays and sunlight. This book made me thing about the extreme of this disease and what those have to suffer through.
What would you do in order to save your family from harm? Eve is a mother of two and one of her children has been living with a life threatening condition and she has spent the last few years taking care of her son and trying to keep the rest of the family together. A tragedy happens and she must make a big decision.
Thankfully the tragedy that occurs isn't spoiled in the synopsis and I can't spoil it here either! I can say that it involves the neighborhood and I thought this was in interesting twist by adding in neighbors as bigger characters mixed in with the family drama aspect. The other part that kept me reading was the disease that Eve's son Tyler lives with - his inability to be near UV rays and sunlight. This book made me thing about the extreme of this disease and what those have to suffer through.
As I read through this book, I kept thinking what would I do differently. I see that as a sign that the characters were believe-able, enough so that I was debating their choices. I would have liked to have gotten out of Eve's head a bit more and explored the neighbors. Buckley told just enough to get my interest. It would have been interesting to have learned more about their secret lives, as the curtains were separated just enough to perk interest. Smooth writing and easy to enjoy. Received book in goodreads contest, with expectation of fair review
Really enjoyed this book..took a few chapters to get into it but then, I couldn't put it down.
Review first posted on my blog: http://memoriesfrombooks.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-deepest-secret.html
What would you do to protect your child? How far would you go? That is the question at the heart of The Deepest Secret. Eve and David have two children. Melissa is teenager dealing with the struggles of growing up. Tyler is a young man with a disease that will probably be fatal before he reaches the age of 20.
The Lattimore family lives on a quiet cul-de-sec on a quiet suburban street. Tyler's condition is a rare sensitivity to light, one in which exposure to light could potentially kill him. There is no cure. David and Eve have created a home environment designed to keep Tyler safe - dark curtains, night activities, requests to neighbors about using lights, and restrictions on Melissa and Tyler.
David's job keeps him away much of the time. Eve is completely dedicated to Tyler's needs, and to shepherding Melissa through the teen years.
One day, an accident threatens the world Eve has so carefully built. Her decision and actions come from a need to protect her child, and yet have catastrophic effects for her and for those around her. By her decision, she creates a mystery and wreaks havoc in the lives of another family. In the ensuing events, the police get involved, and Melissa and Tyler get involved. It all spirals out of Eve's control.
The chapters move back and forth between the points of view of the different main characters - Eve, David, Tyler, and a few bring in some different perspectives. Eve is a mother trying to protect an ill child, mother her healthy child, and hold her marriage together. As she says, "How is a parent supposed to balance the needs of a healthy child against a fragile one? It can't ever be equal - not the time, nor the resources, nor the hours lying awake in the dark consumed by tangled thoughts - but the love can be exactly the same. The love has always been split precisely down the middle, an effortless divide."
David is away from home working most of the time. He struggles with the love for his family and the feeling that life has become about Tyler's illness to the exclusion of everything else - at least for Eve.
Tyler is the young man with a death sentence. Yet, he is also a teenager rebelling against the rules set by his mother to keep him safe.
The central theme of what you would do to protect your child touches the heart of any parent. The struggle between what is the right thing to do for your child versus what is the right to do period is Eve's dilemma. That emotional turmoil carries this book through the over 400 pages. I won't say where it ends up, but I don't think it could have ended any other way. I am glad that it did not.
*** Reviewed for LibraryThing Early Reviewers program ***
What would you do to protect your child? How far would you go? That is the question at the heart of The Deepest Secret. Eve and David have two children. Melissa is teenager dealing with the struggles of growing up. Tyler is a young man with a disease that will probably be fatal before he reaches the age of 20.
The Lattimore family lives on a quiet cul-de-sec on a quiet suburban street. Tyler's condition is a rare sensitivity to light, one in which exposure to light could potentially kill him. There is no cure. David and Eve have created a home environment designed to keep Tyler safe - dark curtains, night activities, requests to neighbors about using lights, and restrictions on Melissa and Tyler.
David's job keeps him away much of the time. Eve is completely dedicated to Tyler's needs, and to shepherding Melissa through the teen years.
One day, an accident threatens the world Eve has so carefully built. Her decision and actions come from a need to protect her child, and yet have catastrophic effects for her and for those around her. By her decision, she creates a mystery and wreaks havoc in the lives of another family. In the ensuing events, the police get involved, and Melissa and Tyler get involved. It all spirals out of Eve's control.
The chapters move back and forth between the points of view of the different main characters - Eve, David, Tyler, and a few bring in some different perspectives. Eve is a mother trying to protect an ill child, mother her healthy child, and hold her marriage together. As she says, "How is a parent supposed to balance the needs of a healthy child against a fragile one? It can't ever be equal - not the time, nor the resources, nor the hours lying awake in the dark consumed by tangled thoughts - but the love can be exactly the same. The love has always been split precisely down the middle, an effortless divide."
David is away from home working most of the time. He struggles with the love for his family and the feeling that life has become about Tyler's illness to the exclusion of everything else - at least for Eve.
Tyler is the young man with a death sentence. Yet, he is also a teenager rebelling against the rules set by his mother to keep him safe.
The central theme of what you would do to protect your child touches the heart of any parent. The struggle between what is the right thing to do for your child versus what is the right to do period is Eve's dilemma. That emotional turmoil carries this book through the over 400 pages. I won't say where it ends up, but I don't think it could have ended any other way. I am glad that it did not.
*** Reviewed for LibraryThing Early Reviewers program ***
