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courtneyer's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abortion, Death, War, and Physical abuse
Minor: Drug abuse
khuisjen's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief and Death of parent
Minor: Abortion, Drug abuse, War, Physical abuse, Medical content, Pregnancy, Racism, and Sexism
allingoodtime's review
challenging
hopeful
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
First of all, I have to mention the cover of this book. It’s gorgeous! It was a huge draw to get me to request this book. Don’t you love it?
This is only the second book I’ve read by this author, and both stories are deeply touching and emotional. This book time jumps between what is essentially the present day and the late 1960s. There are a lot of content warnings for this book as part of the story takes part while some of the characters are in nursing school during the Vietnam War. Just keep that in mind before proceeding.
While I found this story to be well written and the author does a great job at weaving the past and the present, I found myself getting impatient with the speed things were unfolding. Quite frankly, I couldn’t understand how Clara wasn’t losing her mind trying to find out the truth about her life. At the same time, when not thinking about the secret Clara was trying to uncover, I thoroughly enjoyed the story of BettyKay and her girlfriends. The current-day parts of the story didn’t really hook me until later in the book. And though I was pretty sure I knew the gist of the secret Clara was looking into, I was quite curious as to how it came about. Again, that was taking too long for me.
What I loved about this book was all of the stories of sisterhood. Clara and Abbie having lost their mom are trying to hold things together while there’s also a huge chasm between them that was never there when they were growing up. They’re both wrapped up in their own problems and have a hard time looking beyond that to understand the actions of the other. Their slow way back to each other is lovely and hopeful. BettyKay, Kitty, and Jenny may not have grown up as sisters, but they form their own sisterhood in nursing school. They love each other, can’t stand each other, and support each other in equal parts. It’s a rare and special friendship that spans generations.
In the end, I was glad I read this book. It may have moved too slowly for me, but that is more of a preference of mine as I found the flow of the story worked really well. I found myself emotionally invested in these characters.
**I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely*
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, War, Death of parent, and Abortion
Minor: Domestic abuse
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