Helpful Score: 6
In a very moving story, the literate Susan Wiggs deftly develops the relationships among two sisters, "their" daughter, and the men in their lives. Jessie gives birth to a daughter she gives up to her sister Luz to raise, lying about the fact that she had had a fling with her husband Ian(before her sister had even met him), and that he is the father of this daughter. She even lies to Ian, telling him he is not the father, so he won't feel he needs to "make it right." Debilitating disease brings her back home after 16 years, and all the lies and problems finally have to be dealt with. Wonderful, warm story. So engrossing that it's difficult to finish it and not keep thinking about it.
Helpful Score: 3
Sixteen years after giving up her daughter to adoption to her sister, Jessie decides to come home and seek out Lila. This is a good story involving sisters, adoption and the hard years of a teenager.
If you like "slice of life" and "real people" romance stories, you'll enjoy this book. Susan Wiggs never fails to entertain me. Sometimes the story can be a bit slow, but the emotions are deep and her books satisfy.
Helpful Score: 3
This was a very touching, unexpected family story that I enjoyed throughly. The human compassion, anger, understanding and forgiveness was something that you want to see in people every day, but don't get to because people want to hide their emotions. None of Susan Wiggs' books have ever been a disappointment, but this one was one of my favorites of hers.
Helpful Score: 1
In her career as a photojournalist, free-spirited Jessie Ryder has seen the world through her camera lens. But she's never traveled far enough to escape a painful moment that has haunted her for the past sixteen years: the day she gave her baby daughter away. Now, facing a life-altering crisis, she's decided to fix the broken pieces of her heart and seek out Lila, even if it means she has to upset the world of Lila's adoptive motherher very own sister, Luz.
Like a Technicolor tornado bursting into Luz's picture-perfect life, Jessie returns to her Texas hometown with a shattering request. She wants to tell Lila the truth. As Luz and her husband struggle with what Jessie's return may mean to the rebellious Lila, their seemingly solid marriage falters. Old secrets are exposed. Then, just as Jessie comes to terms with the past, life's bittersweet irony plays its hand. She meets Dustin Matlock, a young father who has survived a devastating loss. And Jessie begins to see the hopeful possibilities that lie buried in the most wrenching tragedies.
Though she aches to reach out to those she loves, Jessie stands at the crossroads. She is leaving behind the only life she knows and leaping blindly into the unknown. Now the choice she makes will affect the life of her daughter and challenge the meaning of sisterhood. As Jessie and Luz examine the true meaning of love, loyalty and family, they are drawn into an emotional tug-of-war filled with moments of unexpected humor, surprising sweetness and unbearable sadness. But as the pain, regrets and mistakes of the past slowly rise to the surface, a new picture emerges a picture filled with hope and promise and the redeeming power of the human heart.
Like a Technicolor tornado bursting into Luz's picture-perfect life, Jessie returns to her Texas hometown with a shattering request. She wants to tell Lila the truth. As Luz and her husband struggle with what Jessie's return may mean to the rebellious Lila, their seemingly solid marriage falters. Old secrets are exposed. Then, just as Jessie comes to terms with the past, life's bittersweet irony plays its hand. She meets Dustin Matlock, a young father who has survived a devastating loss. And Jessie begins to see the hopeful possibilities that lie buried in the most wrenching tragedies.
Though she aches to reach out to those she loves, Jessie stands at the crossroads. She is leaving behind the only life she knows and leaping blindly into the unknown. Now the choice she makes will affect the life of her daughter and challenge the meaning of sisterhood. As Jessie and Luz examine the true meaning of love, loyalty and family, they are drawn into an emotional tug-of-war filled with moments of unexpected humor, surprising sweetness and unbearable sadness. But as the pain, regrets and mistakes of the past slowly rise to the surface, a new picture emerges a picture filled with hope and promise and the redeeming power of the human heart.
