Goodreads

Release date: January 14, 2025

Publisher: Lake Union

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Synopsis:

When her estranged daughter asks to hear the one story she doesn’t want to tell, a woman spins lie after lie to protect her perfect life in this gripping novel.

Amy Linden has a loving husband, an adorable son, and a glamorous career as the hotelier of a grand mountain lodge. Then Ramona Crawford, the daughter she gave up for adoption twenty years earlier, pays her a surprise visit. Ramona wants to know the identity of her biological father—and Amy completely understands. There’s just one the truth would destroy Amy’s carefully curated life.

Amy shares a sad tale about a teenage romance with a boy named Freddy and the painful decision to give Ramona a better future than they could provide. At first, the pieces fit together and give Ramona both closure and a chance to get to know her odd but charming mother. But then Ramona gets a different story from Freddy, and Amy’s memories seem to change…and change again.

Will Amy ever reveal the full story of that fateful summer at the lodge? And if so, can Ramona live with the truth?

Review:

This is told in alternating viewpoints, you hear from both Amy and Ramona as Ramona tries desperately to reconnect with her birth mother and get answers about her past. There was definitely an emotional component here, I truly felt awful for Ramona and the author did a good job at showing how not knowing about her history really affected her life. I especially felt bad for when she was trying to deal with Amy, she was such a frustrating character! You figure out very early on that Amy has issues being truthful and sometimes she wouldn’t give Ramona a straight answer and others she would answer with a half truth or a total lie. As annoying as this would be in real life it sure made for a fun reading experience because I was never sure what would come out of her mouth next and it led to a bunch of twists and turns. The setting added a layer of mystery and intrigue to the story and it paired well with the domestic drama. It’s also a fairly short read that you can get through quickly, I raced to the end to get to the truth and I was satisfied in the end.

Overall rating: 4/5

Thanks to TLC Book Tours and the publisher for my review copy.