Publisher: Lake Union Publishing / Brilliance Audio
Published: April 26, 2022
Source: Print – Finished copy via KCCPR/SuzyApprovedBookTours / Audio – ALC via Brilliance Audio
Summary:
A warm, wry novel about secrets, second chances, and the unbreakable bonds between mothers, daughters, and sisters by the #1 Amazon Charts bestselling author of Life and Other Near-Death Experiences.
Laine Francis believes there’s a place for everything—and New York, where her family lives, isn’t her place. But no sooner does the professional organizer’s marriage begin to unravel than her sisters drop another bomb on her: their mother, Sally, may have dementia, and they need Laine to come home.
Laine agrees to briefly return to Brooklyn. After all, bringing order to chaos is what she does best. To Laine’s relief, Sally seems no more absentminded than usual. So Laine vows to help her mother maintain her independence, then hightail it back to Michigan.
Except Laine’s plans go awry when she runs into her former best friend, Ben, and realizes she finally has a chance to repair their fractured relationship. Then she discovers that memory loss isn’t the only thing Sally’s been hiding, forcing Laine to decide whether to reveal a devastating truth to her sisters—and whether to follow her heart when it means breaking her mother’s.
My thoughts:
This is the first book I’ve read by Camille Pagan, though I’ve seen her books around. For some reason, this one called to me and I’m so glad I picked it up…I quite enjoyed it.
This is totally a binge-worthy type of read that is both funny and poignant. Having two sisters, that are in different stages in life, I could appreciate the dynamics between Laine and her two sisters – they have families and she doesn’t, so when something is wrong, it’s on her to drop everything and help out. In my family that’s me and I felt this hard in my soul. In a lot of ways, I could totally relate to Laine because I, too tend to want to please everyone, many times putting my wants to the side. I love when I can see myself in other characters because it allows me to reflect on my life.
I love how Pagan was able to tackle some pretty heavy topics while still managing to give us a light-hearted read. I never felt this got too deep or overly emotional yet it does provide a little insight into what I know could possibly be coming down the road with aging parents.
With witty writing and an engaging, thought-provoking story, this is a highly entertaining, totally binge-worthy story that I definitely recommend. And now that I know I like her writing style, I will for sure be checking out Camille Pagan’s backlist…why did I wait so long to read her books?
Audio thoughts:
This was such a fun book to listen to, narrated by Amy McFadden and Laurel Merlington, who both did a fabulous job bringing the book to life. I found myself completely captivated by the story and had a hard time putting it down once I started it. The narrators pacing and intonation was spot on and they both infused just the right amount of emotion into their voices as needed.
