Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.
So I have to say, this book is a journey. It goes back and forth and you get very confused about what is going on, but hang in there. The main reason why I gave this four stars though is that the flow was up and down. And you have to “push through it” to get to the good parts of this book.
Skyla is a bit of a mess. A former nurse and now widow, she is dealing in a world where she can no longer see. When she rents one of the small houses near her house out, she finally thinks she has found someone to share in her life (Teddy Cornwell). Though Teddy is decades younger than her, Skyla tells him some of her story and listens to his tale of his first love, Linelle. Linelle finds herself in an empty marriage. When she is contacted by her first love Teddy, she starts to think about going to see him. And then a journalist named Jeremy finds himself agreeing to an assignment which leads him back to Providence.
It takes a while to figure out how all of these people fit. It’s pretty simple to track between Teddy and Linelle. And then Teddy and Skyla. But after that you go what is going on.
I thought the writing was very good. Searles does a great job shaping everyone. You at times will want to shake Skyla, pity her, and then want to shake her all over again. Teddy seems to be the most perfect person ever, but one wonders why he keeps putting up with Skyla when it appears she wants something more. Linelle’s marriage felt suffocating just reading about it. And Jeremy, I ended up pitying for the most part.
The flow was up and down though. It takes a while for the book to find it’s rhythm I thought.
The setting of the book moves around from Providence, Florida, New York, and a few places in between.
The ending was definitely a shocker. I liked how it ended.
