Happy Thursday everybody!
Excited to share with you today in my review for this family drama that definitely kept it real! Life is messy and these characters definitely knew that!
My Thoughts
Ali Mercer has written an honest and emotional story. This book is based on truth and will make you feel uncomfortable at times because it might hit a little too close to home. Life is messy, it is imperfect, and no one‘s intentions are always pure. This is the tale of two mothers, three daughters, and the lies and deceptions that bind them together.
The story is told from four different perspectives Paula, Jenny, Ava, and Ellie. Jenny is a single mother to Ava and Ellie. Paula is also a mother to Daisy who is on the autism spectrum. The book starts out with a bang and you know these two storylines are somehow connected, but you are not sure how. The layers are peeled, the lies are revealed, and the truth is laid bare. None of these characters were especially likable and the story involves a lot of ugly: infidelity, abandonment, addiction, and denial. But the story is also about family, healing, hope, and forgiveness. I really liked Ali Mercer’s storytelling it was smooth and addictive. My only tiny complaint with the book is it jumps forward 10 years and I really would have liked to know what all had been going on during that timespan, with one character in particular. An interesting family drama that kept it real.
This book in three emojis: 👩👧👧 🏡 🤰🏻
*** Big thanks to Bookouture for my copy of this book ***
About the Book
It’s a beautiful day for a wedding. White roses scent the air and the summer sunlight streams in. A spoon chimes against a champagne flute and the room falls silent. And there he is – my husband – getting to his feet to propose a toast. He’s still handsome. His new wife is next to him, gazing upwards, oblivious.
I’m not supposed to be here. All these years in the same town and I had no idea until I saw his name on the seating plan. He lived with me, once. Loved me. Small-town memories are long, but the people in this room don’t want to remember.
They say the healing is in letting go, but after what he did, he needs to know we haven’t gone away just because he’s shut his eyes.
So I take Daisy by the hand and step forward from the shadows. He notices us and his eyes widen. The champagne glass falls from his hand and smashes. Then he sags forward, making a terrible sound – a sort of strangled scream…
A powerfully emotional novel with a dark secret at its heart. This family drama will keep you hooked until the very last page. Perfect for fans of The Silent Wife, Kate Hewitt and Jodi Picoult.
About the Author
Ali decided she wanted to be a writer early on and wrote her first novel when she was at primary school. She did an English degree and spent her early twenties working in various jobs in journalism, including as a reporter for the showbusiness newspaper The Stage. She started writing fiction in earnest after getting married, moving out of London to the Oxfordshire market town of Abingdon and starting a family. She has two children, a daughter and a son who is autistic and was diagnosed when he was four years old.
Ali is fascinated by families, their myths and secrets, and the forces that hold them together, split them up and (sometimes) bring them back together again. She always travels with tissues and a book and has been known to cry over a good story but is also a big fan of the hopeful ending.
Author Social Media Links:
For updates and pictures, follow Ali on Twitter (@AlisonLMercer) or Instagram (@alimercerwriter), or on her Facebook page (AliMercerwriter)
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