A compelling story with a slightly cheesy execution. I enjoyed these characters, especially Alva as she struggled through her mother’s ups and downs. The place and time was really interesting, I feel like we don’t look at the early 2000s a lot in a historical fiction sense, so that was cool. Usually I’m not someone who enjoys time jumps in novels, I prefer linear stories, but I thought it was done effectively in this book, I was able to keep track of action and the plot didn’t seem to lose momentum between shifts. I wasn’t a huge fan of the writing, it was just okay, and the audiobook narration wasn’t my favorite. But I understand why this one has become a quiet favorite this year, it has all the right pieces for a great family story and was pretty engaging throughout.