4 Star
The 2:00 a.m. call is the first time Lexie Vidler has heard her sister’s voice in years. Annie is a drug addict, a thief, a liar—and in trouble, again. Lexie has always bailed Annie out, given her money, a place to sleep, sent her to every kind of rehab. But this time, she’s not just strung out—she’s pregnant and in premature labor. If she goes to the hospital, she’ll lose custody of her baby—maybe even go to prison. But the alternative is unthinkable.
As weeks unfold, Lexie finds herself caring for her fragile newborn niece while her carefully ordered life is collapsing around her. She’s in danger of losing her job, and her fiancé only has so much patience for Annie’s drama. In court-ordered rehab, Annie attempts to halt her downward spiral by confronting long-buried secrets from the sisters’ childhood, ghosts that Lexie doesn’t want to face. But will the journey heal Annie, or lead her down a darker path?
Kathryn - 4 Star
Many, many, aspects of this book captivated my attention and tore at my heart. Kelly Rimmer writes with exactness so there is no chance of getting lost in descriptive details, which I appreciate.
I found the opening pages powerful and they had me initially connect with both Annie and Lexie. Like some other reviewers though, I found Lexie frustratingly standoffish with her husband Sam and was constantly on edge with my desire to yell at her to listen to him and let him fully into her world. He truly had the patience of a saint. In fairness, as Annie explores her past and their mutual history as children, I can see why Lexie pushes people away. She must innately feel as if she's hard to love and accept and she's protecting herself by not letting Sam in completely.
Annie's story is intense and heart breaking and the baby involved just breaks your heart further. Most disturbing for me though was their mother who dragged them into a cult from which she had previously escaped herself? I just couldn't grasp this at all, and then to know your daughters are being abused by your new husband and do nothing? Unfathomable to me, even considering her grief... I could not get on board with her at all. But I suppose it made Lexie and Annie’s troubles more expected? Her reappearance didn’t add to the novel or either daughter’s progress- I wish she’d been left in the past.
Overall the book is very powerful for its exploration of drug addiction but be prepared to be a little edgy with the subject matter and frustration level.
Thank you to Graydon House Books for our review copy. All opinions are our own.
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