Reviewed by Martha Artyomenko
Book Description
When her aunt shows up homeless on her doorstep, Sara suspects anything but a miracle.
Sara’s an artist with a supportive husband and a house that folks on her block admire outright. But she’s restless and bored with life.
Then her legendary Aunt Bel shows up, wearing a smile after years without a word.
Twenty years ago, fresh out of college, Bel left for a summer missions trip and never returned. Now she’s on Sara’s doorstep, looking for a place to crash. Sara can’t say no to family, even if she hasn’t seen Bel since she was a nine-year-old girl. But saying yes to Bel turns Sara’s whole precariously-balanced life upside down.
The enigmatic Bel gives Sara’s family and their community a jolt of fresh thinking and clarity.
But Bel is hiding something. Though she won’t talk about it, Sara soon learns that Bel has been through a hellish ordeal. And she has the burn marks to prove it.
My Review:
Lisa Samson has a unique style of writing. You sort of feel like you were transported into another place, this life between artists, creative people and the ones with weird relatives.
I enjoyed reading about Sara, but the mystery of her aunt was difficult to figure out. I struggled through trying to solve whether she had a mental illness, had been abused or what the issue was.
This author will for sure keep you reading, as you connect with the characters just enough to want to know what on earth is the story, but there is also the question you keep asking yourself as you read…”Do I really want to know?” and you have to keep going.
Sara also has her own issues, she is facing past abandonment type issues that get brought up with Aunt Bel reappears. Her parents are divorced, and she tries to hold it all together.
What I enjoyed was that the story wrapped up some of her issues, Aunt Bel’s issues and wrapped them together to show that issues cannot always be sewn up in a nice neat package. They are kind of convoluted and complicated.
This book was given to me for review by BookSneeze. The opinions contained therein are my own.
