Cynthia Ellingsen

Evie has kept a secret for 70 years. A secret she has held close in her heart. A secret about Evie's past that she has never shared with her daughter or granddaughter. A secret that transformed her life and made her into the woman she is today. A secret that had its origins on a day different from any other. It began in Dublin on May 7, 1945, when Evie was 14. Evie has never returned to Ireland after she left for America. It is time.

I love novels written in dual timelines, connecting the present to the history of the past. In this beautifully written novel, time alternates between present-day and post-WWII Ireland. Individuals impacted by events of the period, relationships never forgotten, and oft as heart-wrenching as heartwarming, revealing the light of kindness, friendship, love, hope, and forgiveness, and the darkness of experiences wrapped in fear, cruelty, loss, survival, and secrets.

Thank you to Cynthia Ellingsen, NetGalley, and LakeUnionPublishing for the opportunity to read an eARC of this novel.… (plus d'informations)

Sisters Jayne and Charlotte haven't seen other in over 20 years. When their parents divorced, Charlotte stayed with their father and Jayne moved to Dublin with her mother who needed to take care of her father. The only summer that they spent together was when they were ten and spent the summer at their grandparent's beach house. After that summer, they became estranged and haven't talked each other in over 20 years. All they have is their memories of that happy time. Now they live totally different lives and both have kept their hurt about their estrangement affect their lives. Jayne is single and bankrupt and not sure if she'll be able to meet her bills. Charlotte is married to a successful man and has two sons. She works from home in a high pressure job. They are both surprised and unhappy with the conditions that their grandmother put on bequeathing her beach house. Their grandmother wanted them to renovate her beach house within the next six months and work together on the renovation. Once the house is done, they can either sell it or make it a family house. Even though they agreed to the stipulations of the will, there was a lot of animosity and distrust between them. Charlotte was mad at her mother for only taking one daughter with her when she left and she felt like Jayne had gotten all of their mothers love. Jayne was angry because Charlotte never wrote to her after their glorious summer when the felt like sisters. Can renovating the beach house make them become sisters again or is there too much distrust between them?

This is emotional book about sisters and secrets, love and forgiveness. It had two fantastic main characters, a bit of romance, issues with Charlotte's teen age sons and a lot of background on the work involved in renovating an old house. Can the bonds of sisterhood make Jayne and Charlotte forgive each other and move forward as friends or will the secrets that they find in the house separate them again? I have read other books by this author and she always creates characters that her readers care about and plots about the importance of family. This is an emotional and uplifting book about sisters, secrets and the family bonds that hold us together no matter how complicated they are

Thanks to Bookouture for a copy of this book to read and review.… (plus d'informations)