Harsh emotions are never fun to deal with and all the characters in this one have lots of those to work through. Guilt and forgiveness are hard. And forgiving oneself? Even more so! Why are we always the hardest on ourselves? That's what truly struck me about these characters. They are real and genuine. The reader has the privilege of walking through some dark places with them and as I did that, so many times I just wanted to reach into the pages and hand out bear hugs! My emotions were caught from the first chapter and I couldn't stop until I knew how things would get fixed. Yet even "fixed" doesn't mean everything is all hunky dory. Unfortunately, that's not real life. But that's the beauty that's here! It's the real that I connected to and it's why I stayed glued to every chapter.
Still, it's not just hard things happening, the story is also filled with lots of hope. It infuses every paragraph. I think that's one of my favorite things about Ms. Walsh's skill with the pen. She just has a way of sinking deep within her characters and her storyline and instilling lots of hope and grace within the words. It permeates everything and it's exactly why the story truly works. Because without those bits of hope and grace, how does any one of us keep going? That's a marvelous aspect to this crazy life we all get to be a part of! :)
Ms. Walsh is an author you need to read, my friends. And this story? Is the perfect place to begin! Read it now! And then go back and read all her backlist if you haven't yet. Then come back here and thank me. Don't worry. I'll wait. It'll be worth it. ;D
**I received a copy from the author via Netgalley. All opinions expressed are my own.
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Sounds like something I'd like to read during the winter when I dig into meatier books. I'll add it to my TBR!
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