After years of estrangement, the lives of Zara Mahoney and her twin sister, Eve, are suddenly and completely intertwined again. Eve's troubled lifestyle causes the state to take custody of her two children and contact Zara and her husband, asking them to consider foster care. Newlywed Zara thought she'd finally been given a fresh start and feels wholly unprepared to care for a niece and nephew whose existence she wasn't even aware of.

Meanwhile, Eve may have a real chance to start over this time with the help of Tiff Bradley, who's dedicated to helping women everyone else has given up on after facing a heartbreaking tragedy in her own family.

Over the course of one summer, all three women's hearts and lives hang in the balance as Eve desperately works toward a new life. Can they redefine their expectations of how life should be to find the hope they--and those they love--so desperately need?

My Review:

Talk about a book that had my heart from the very first page!! For anyone who’s ever thought of foster care or had any experience… this book not only shares one perspective, but THREE in a way that will tug at your heart and stretch it in ways you wouldn’t even imagine. One thing that I absolutely love about Christina Suzann Nelson’s writing is that true to the saying “there’s more than one side to every story” she dives deep into the POV of different characters living in the same storm. In this story we get the viewpoint of Eve (the mother and addict of young Charlotte and Sammy), Zara (Eve’s twin and foster mother to Eve’s kids), and Tiff (a woman who lives with the scars of losing a loved one to addiction who fights to help Eve on her road to recovery). It’s a lesson in empathy in which each character serves an integral role in such a way that you wouldn’t be able to walk away from it the same if any of them were omitted.

Foster care is messy and heartbreaking no matter the outcome. Trauma is not easily forgotten in a child, and healing takes time, especially when ripped from their home and parents no matter how unstable their life may have been. I’ve been through the training classes for foster care myself before and many of the emotions and circumstances reminded me of scenarios discussed in the training. I got more out of the classes because we were asked the question “how would you feel if…” in relation to the different roles of the foster system. This story was the same thing only on a deeper, fuller level. It was enough to leave me in an unsurprising book fog that may take a bit to clear up.

I will not share anything too deep about this novel because I believe it’s one that has to be experienced on your own without any expectations. The only thing I will say is that I appreciate the author’s desire to be true to reality while providing hope without being caged by the confines of what readers hope or expect.

I seriously can’t recommend this one enough!!

*I purchased a copy of this book. Thoughts and opinions expressed are mine alone.