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melodyseestrees's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
The "too long, won't read" version is that the story has minor pacing issues, telenovela level twists right at the end, and if you can handle the majority of the content warnings you will enjoy yourself. There is the kind of ableism inherent to the time period of Elizabeth's youth, especially when concerning someone who is not neurotypical.
A story of women, young and old, discovering who they are. The exploration of Elizabeth's past through journals kept by her father is a novel plot vehicle. The scene of Morgan frantically trying to recover one of the journals is handled very well, especially concerning her desire to know the missing segment of time. Elizabeth handles the unveiling of her past like a champ and 'sees' behind the wall Morgan built up in her hurt over the loss of her grandfather.
Morgan and Derek's relationship is fairly jarring and barely mentioned throughout most of the story. You just get into the pace with Morgan and Elizabeth working on the journals and then suddenly you are dealing with Derek's drug dealing, toxic relationship creating, gaslighting self. Derek coerces Morgan into being romantic with him and he tries to convince her to steal medicines from the old people in the senior home. Luckily there are many chapters where he doesn't appear and you can kind of forget his portion of Morgan's troubled life.
You think you know where the story is going and in the last third of the book you get a few wild swings. Elizabeth was actually a baby her 'dad' found on a boat with a dead woman. He brought her in to fill the void actual dead Elizabeth left in the heart of her sister. This sister whom was sexually assaulted and impregnated years later. Their mother steals the newborn baby and gives her away. This baby grows up to be Morgan's mom. The 'out of nowhere' value of the twists brought the story rating down for me as they felt like telenovela plot conveniences. I think there were less dramatized ways to still get the story to hit on the same key points. In the audiobook it also seemed to switch which sister was which right at the end though I may have simply missed a line and confused myself.
A story of women, young and old, discovering who they are. The exploration of Elizabeth's past through journals kept by her father is a novel plot vehicle. The scene of Morgan frantically trying to recover one of the journals is handled very well, especially concerning her desire to know the missing segment of time. Elizabeth handles the unveiling of her past like a champ and 'sees' behind the wall Morgan built up in her hurt over the loss of her grandfather.
Morgan and Derek's relationship is fairly jarring and barely mentioned throughout most of the story. You just get into the pace with Morgan and Elizabeth working on the journals and then suddenly you are dealing with Derek's drug dealing, toxic relationship creating, gaslighting self.
You think you know where the story is going and in the last third of the book you get a few wild swings.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy and Blood
Moderate: Sexual assault, Drug use, Rape, and Death of parent
Minor: Alcoholism, War, Child death, Addiction, Terminal illness, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Animal death, Mental illness, Ableism, and Body horror
Elizabeth's sister is coded neurodivergent though a label is never explicitly applied to her. Several of the content warnings explicitly involve the sister.
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