Review: The Sandpiper by Susan Lovell

The Sandpiper by Susan Lovell

Publisher: KrissCross Press

Pages: 272

Format: ebook

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  One family's story of pain, secrets, and love. 

The Sandpiper is about three Cameron women. Kate the perfect older sister. Jamie the screw-up. Their widowed mother Ellie. It's about Nina Judd, their guardian angel, the novel's heartbeat. 

Kate had the chance to know their father Dr. James. Jamie was born too late. Sisters by birth. Sisters in loyalty sanctified by a blood oath. Two bright, pretty women full of promise. Then something happens the summer Jamie turns 18 that ruins everything. 

And maybe Kate is not so perfect after all. Jamie not so hopeless. Embraced by The Sandpiper, Nina's white-shingled cottage above the endless blue of Lake Michigan, the sisters struggle toward forgiveness, toward healing.

Kritters Thoughts:  A story of sisters, mother/daughter and friends who must learn to lean on each other for help through both the good and the difficult times.  Jamie is the younger sister who has never been able to live up to the perfection that she thinks her sister is.  Kate is the older sister that became an adult at a very young age and has a hard time letting go of the caregiver role.  

I love books where the characters are the complete central and the setting takes a little bit of a backburner and the story is the heart of it all.  These two sisters have had many things to overcome as a family and individually and thankfully this is the story where it starts pretty low and there is hope for a light at the end.  There were a few moments where I wanted to knock some sense into the girls to have them see the situation through a different set of eyes, but maybe that is a lesson to be learned, not to think before you try to see it a different way.

A very character driven book that wasn't for the faint of heart.  These girls lived through some horrific moments and only a happy ending made this book worth the time for me.

Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Ebook 2013 Challenge: 73 out of 50

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Booksparks PR.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.