2.5 stars - Lainey is the heart and soul of her blended family -- or she believes until her famous author husband announces that he has another daughter (the same age as his and Lainey's 16-year-old daughter) whose mother is terminally ill.
What follows this decent premise is a mess of missed connections, deplorable attempts at communication, and lack of meaningful confrontation that would have solved the drama quickly. Most of the time, I wanted to shake all the characters as none seemed to have any redemptive qualities. Although Lainey spent most of the time after this revelation crying and suffering in relative silence while carrying on gamely (think: martyr style), she should have been keeping a closer eye on her teenage daughter and older stepson who were -- I hope -- completely unbelievable representations of their age group. What was ludicrous to me is that Lainey and her husband did not sit down to actually talk face to face about the situation -- they were sending text messages and attempting cell phone conversations with lost signals and all of that nonsense. In a side story, Lainey goes to Italy to try to find her roots and that part of the novel was even less interesting as a plot device. She should have been at home talking to her husband.
I would say this book was frustrating and annoying and I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone. It was quite a disappointment as I generally love relationship stories. References to sexual promiscuity, i.e., the "Shades of Grey" trilogy by teenagers who are acting it out, adultery, rape, incest are themes.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the ebook ARC to review.
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