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Release date: June 11, 2019

Publisher: Lake Union

Genre: Women’s Fiction

Blurb:

Three women. Two families torn apart by secrets.

Crushed by guilt over the car accident that killed her father and sister, and torn apart by her mother’s resentment, Darcy Goodridge fled her family estate eight years ago and hasn’t looked back. Now an unexpected phone call threatens to upend what little serenity she’s found. Her nephew, Emerson, who was just a baby when his mother died, has gone missing. Darcy must return home and face her past in order to save him.

Once back in Ohio, Darcy realizes there’s more to Emerson’s disappearance—and to the sudden retirement of her mother, Rosalind—than meets the eye. As she works to make inroads with Rosalind, Darcy begins to unravel a decades-old secret that devastated her family and forced a wedge between her and Michael Varano, the man she left heartbroken when she vanished after the funeral. After carrying the scars of that fateful night for almost a decade, Darcy is determined to find closure, healing, and maybe even love where she lost them all in the first place—right back home where she belongs. 

Review:

Ahh family secrets always suck me right in and at its core this is about secrets and a family that is broken after an unspeakable tragedy. I also love when a character returns home after leaving in haste to deal with their past and Darcy heads home, unwillingly, but with her nephew missing she knows it’s finally time to face her past, as heartbreaking and emotional as that will be for her and the family she has left.

While I enjoyed Darcy as a character it was truly the supporting cast of characters that I adored. From Samson, the teenaged boy who is Darcy’s closet friend, to Emerson her precocious nephew all the way to Tippi her old boyfriends grandmother, they made up an eclectic and highly lovable group of individuals who added a whole lot of heart to an already heartfelt story.

There was a light mystery at play here that added some intrigue and the themes of family, loss, grief and forgiveness were powerful and totally captivating. This is my second book by the author and I’m now a firm fan, she has a beautiful way with words that touch the heart.

The Road She Left Behind in three words: Emotional, Compelling, and Memorable

Overall rating: 4/5

Thanks to the publisher for my review copy.