Synopsis

The USA Today bestselling author of When We Believed in Mermaids returns with a tale of two generations of women reconciling family secrets and past regrets.

Life’s beautiful for seventysomething influencer Gloria Rose, in her Upper West Side loft with rooftop garden and scores of Instagram followers—until she gets word that her old flame has been arrested for art theft and forgery, and, knowing her own involvement in his misdeeds decades earlier, decides to flee. But that plan is complicated when the nieces she raised are thrown into crises of their own.

Willow, overshadowed by her notorious singer-songwriter mother, has come home to lick her wounds on the heels of a failed album and yet another disastrous relationship. Sam, prickly and fiercely independent, is on the verge of losing not only her beloved video game company but the man she loves, thanks to her inability to keep her always-simmering anger in check.

With the FBI closing in, Willow’s career in shambles, and Sam’s tribulations reaching a peak, each of the three woman will have to reckon with and reconcile their interwoven traumas, past loves, and the looming consequences that could either destroy their futures or bring them closer than ever.

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Review

When life hands you lemons, make lemonade. That is what each of these characters does in this book. Each woman has her own trials and tribulations and all have an issue with trust, at least with each other.

Gloria hasn’t let life slow her down, even when her sister dies and she takes charge of her nieces, Willow and Samantha (Sam). She raises them in an apartment in New York that sounds amazing. Thankfully, it was purchased and not a rental..can you even imagine the cost? Gloria has traveled the world as a flight attendant and still has gatherings with those that she started with at the airline. Those are the kinds of friends to have, the ones that stick by you through thick and thin. Gloria is about to find that out when her past comes to light and she has to come clean about some of her actions that involve these friends. Art forgery and theft is nothing to sneeze at but there is more to the story.

Willow is a talented musician and she inherited that talent from her mother, a world-famous singer. I think that Willow isn’t as confident in herself and her talents and it takes a journey home to realize that maybe she does have what it takes once she grounds herself. I enjoy her interactions with Josiah and how he brings out the best in her, especially when it comes to her music. I know this is fiction, but anyone that can create music is amazing to me.

Sam is also a whizkid when it comes to gaming. She and her friend, Asher, wrote a game when they were teenagers that made them millionaires. However, an incident causes them to part ways and Sam’s business is floundering, so much that she is considering getting an outside investor. You know what happens when that occurs, nothing good. However, an illness might bring Sam to realize what she has lost or is on the verge of losing before it is too late.

These three women have grit but are also vulnerable in one way or another. Despite their differences in the past, they can come together to support one another and move forward with life. I liked all of these characters and could understand why they were reserved with one another at times. Even the best of relationships need work and can flounder when not tended. Because of their flawed relationships, I think many could relate to one of them in one form or fashion.

Overall, we enjoyed this book and give it 5 paws up. I will be seeking out some of her other works to enjoy.

About the Author

Barbara O’Neal is the bestselling author of fourteen novels of women’s fiction, including The Lost Girls of Devon, When We Believed in Mermaids, The Art of Inheriting Secrets, and How to Bake a Perfect Life. Her award-winning books have been published in more than a dozen countries, including France, Great Britain, Poland, Australia, Turkey, Italy, Germany, Israel, Croatia, Russia, and Brazil. She lives in the beautiful city of Colorado Springs with her beloved, a British endurance athlete who vows he’ll never lose his accent.

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