I snapped this book up from a free promotion via a newsletter, as I was in the mood for a good women’s fiction.

The Premise

Gwen has had the perfect upbringing with her adoptive family, and has no reason to look for her biological parents — but still, there is that niggling feeling at the peripheries of her mind. With the help of longtime family friend Griffin and a DNA test, she embarks on a search to find out the truth her family hid from her. Meanwhile, her biological mother Leslie has always wondered what happened to the child she gave up — a desperate decision she made to keep her family together and reconnect with her husband Paul. As their youngest daughter Kerry is on the verge of leaving the nest, Leslie aims to relaunch her career — only to be thwarted by Paul’s manipulative, domineering ways. His strong will has steered their family of five throughout the years, and revealing her secret will not sit well with him. Will the truth be revealed and destroy two families?

The Pros

I enjoyed this book and liked the differing points of view from both families. The developing relationship with Griffin was nice and I enjoyed seeing them reconnect. I also loved the character of Leslie’s daughter Kerry, who showed such a range of emotional maturity that I was in awe. I really appreciated how Paul’s character was built as well — he is not a bad man, but just very steadfast in his ways and manipulative to get what he wants. Unfortunately far too many women will suffer in the claws of men like this… I myself have! He made an excellent “villain” of sorts, counteracted with Leslie’s other love interest who saw her as a woman as well as a mother that didn’t need to prove herself to anyone. I also liked the use of therapy as a healing channel of communication here, as I believe it would be much needed in this kind of situation.

The Cons

While I enjoyed the novel, the pacing on the whole was a little slow for my liking — it begins with a strong bang, tapers off in the middle, and then races to the finish with no resolution. It ends abruptly with a teaser of the next book in the series, and it felt anti-climactic. I was hoping for more surprises, as it had been building that tension all along. I also found some of the dialogue with Gwen and Griffin to be a bit juvenile, and while that can be attributed to their history, as they are now adults I thought there could’ve been some more *oomph* in that area to really set the sparks off.

Conclusion

While this novel didn’t blow me away in terms of plot and execution, it was still pretty enjoyable. Its saving grace is the character development, which kept my interest all the way through. Those tiny nuances of how men chip away at the women they supposed love — really on point, so this hits the women’s fiction genre nicely. I would recommend this novel to other readers, and I would also be interested in reading further in the series — if only to find out what the hell happens, because the closing chapter left a lot unresolved. While I understand it leads into other books in the series, I can see a lot of readers feeling frustrated at this, so readers beware!

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