This woman’s words could bring me out of a coma.

This was such an addicting read for me. Most of the adult books I’ve read have been strictly historical, so it was fun to test the waters of present-day adult fiction.

This book was addicting to me at first because of the plot, and then because of the characters and their dynamics. The plot in the beginning, with Angie moving back to West End, fixing up the restaurant, and Lauren getting through high school issues with her alcoholic mother, was a unique one. The way Angie and Lauren were drawn together seemed very natural to me, Angie having just left a serious relationship, and Lauren looking for one with a parent figure. Once the plot got moving I got to know the characters. I LOVE the dynamic between the DeSarias, especially the three sisters. It is so life-like and fun, and brought a lot of energy to the novel.

I found it interesting that Lauren’s mother was the one who was unstable. In the vast majority of characters I’ve read who have an unstable parent, 90% of the time it’s the father who is an alcoholic or unstable. Even though Lauren’s father is absent, it was surprisingly refreshing to read about a woman written in this way, to see mothers as both mistake-makers and people who can be just as cruel to their own children as a father can. I don’t really know how to explain it other than to say that it was an interesting change of scenery that was much needed to literature as a whole, as well as within the arc of this story.

The relationship between Angie and Lauren is so pure and refreshing to read. In the beginning it may have seemed as though Angie pitied Lauren instead of actually caring about her, but I don’t see that at all. I think they were drawn to each other in a destiny kind of way; they arrived in each other’s lives when they needed each other most. As they grew closer I found myself rooting for them more and more, because Lauren was the daughter Angie never had, and Angie was the mother Lauren never had. For the longest time they only thought about seeing the other as a mother/child, but when they spoke the words to each other late in the book it seemed natural, and so true. They were merely putting words to the actions they had both been doing for months. They make a great mother/daughter team.

When the plot develops to the point that Lauren is a pregnant girl with college plans and a boyfriend who actually stayed with her and Angie is a woman who had pined for a child of her own, this is a very unique situation. It got me thinking about the requirements of adoptions and what it’s like to hold your biological child knowing you’re going to give it to somebody else.

This brings me to the ending of the book. I think it was realistic and right for the story that David did not remain with Lauren. From the beginning, the two were so different in regards to both their economic classes and their sentiments about the baby, so it makes sense that they would not stay together. I like the way Kristin Hannah wrote about the “breakup;” they both knew it had to end, yet they were both sad it did. I am a reader who likes endings that tie together neatly all that has happened, so the ending as a whole wouldn’t have been my first choice had I been the author. But I wasn’t the author, and I’m glad Lauren and Angie ended up together like mother and daughter, rather than separated for an unknowable amount of time.

The main reason I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 is because of the romantic relationships. As a recent high school graduate, the high school relationship between David and Lauren felt rare, if not unrealistic. Similarly, the ebbing and flowing of Angie and Conlan’s relationship seemed a little bit off. . . . What happened between the two of them when they (or, Angie) tried too hard to have a child, is heartbreaking. It seems to me that with such a difficult set of trials in their relationship, it would have taken them a lot longer to be back together again. It seemed as though Angie’s changes of heart and of personality throughout the book were subtle and took place in her mind, heart, and soul; it would appear to me that Conlan, especially after being separated (both romantically and geographically), would not be able to visibly see the change in her, and thus would not fall instantly back in love with her.

I gobbled up this book—it’s happy, it’s sad, it’s really about motherhood and family (which are happy and sad so much of the time).