Synopsis
from Goodreads:
What
would you do if you learned that the life you lived was a lie?
Nina
McCarrick lives the perfect life, until her husband, Finn, is killed
in a car accident and everything Nina thought she could rely on
unravels.
Alone,
bereft and faced with a mountain of debt, Nina quickly loses her life
of luxury and she begins to question whether she ever really knew the
man she married. Forced to move out of her family home, Nina returns
to the rundown Southampton council estate—and the sister—she
thought she had left far behind.
But
Nina can’t let herself be overwhelmed—her boys need her. To save
them, and herself, she will have to do what her husband discouraged
for so long: pursue a career of her own. Torn between the life she
thought she knew and the reality she now faces, Nina finally must
learn what it means to take control of her life.
Bestselling
author Amanda Prowse once again plumbs the depths of human experience
in this stirring and empowering tale of one woman’s loss and love.
Stats
for my copy:
Kindle edition, Lake Union Publishing, 2017.
How
acquired:
NetGalley.
My
thoughts: After
reading, or starting and giving up on, too many not good books, I
stepped back from accepting review books for awhile. Granted, most of
those not good books did not come to me via NetGalley, but were offered directly from the author or his/her representative. I felt so
soured on the experience that I stayed off NetGalley for quite some
time, and instead devoted my reading to books that were already in my
massive TBR pile. But when I received a notification from NetGalley that I
was auto approved for this book, I thought it sounded intriguing, so
I accepted it. And I'm glad I did.
It's
a bit depressing at times, but ultimately quite uplifting. Nina's
perfect life comes crashing down around her when her husband is
killed in an auto accident. As if losing her husband wasn't enough,
she soon learns that his business was in financial ruin, and before
she has time to prepare she and her two sons are suddenly homeless
and broke. She transitions from living in a huge house of splendor,
ferrying her sons back and forth to their exclusive private school and
spending her days mindlessly spending money left and right to living
in a tiny flat in a bad neighborhood, getting a job, walking to work,
and learning to live on a tight budget. It's hard on her, and hard on
the boys. But along the way Nina learns to appreciate life and the
small joys that come with it if you can keep your mind from being
closed off. I enjoyed taking the journey with her, and watching her
blossom from pampered housewife to confident working woman. The
characters were all well written, with the boys being realistic kids. I loved how Nina and her sister reconnected, and there were a few
times when I laughed out loud at their conversations.
A really nice
story about loss and love and learning to pick yourself up and find
happiness in everyday life.
