loribonesscaswell

Would you leave everything behind to know who you are?

That’s exactly what Sara Beth Riley does, she leaves her friend alone in New York while she goes off to find herself. Her best friend Rachel plans a Girl’s Weekend to celebrate their 40th birthdays and Sara Beth is there one minute and gone the next. Sara Beth’s journey to find who she really is or change into the person she thinks she needs to be leaves a lot of collateral damage touching both her best friend and her own family. It sets off a summer from Manhattan to a cottage by the sea, a carriage house to a dream house. How much will her decision cost Sara Beth? Her best friend, her husband, her dreams….plus can she come to grips with what is already gone?

Dollycas’s Thoughts
This story took this reader on quite an emotional roller coaster and I have to be very careful with this review not to give the story away.

I went from thinking Sara Beth was quite selfish to come to a bit of an understanding of what she was going through. I felt so sorry for Rachel being left in New York wondering if her friend was dead or alive. I wanted to strangle Sara Beth for putting her through that. But Rachel meets someone wonderful as she is surviving the mess Sara Beth made and turns lemons into lemonade.

It is extremely easy to identify with both Sara Beth and Rachel. They are both complex characters dealing with monumental issues, each handling them very differently. Sara Beth’s way was much more extreme, wavering between mid-life crisis and scary mental breakdown.

The story was a true test of love for both characters, the choice to move on or run away. Self love, mother’s love, second chance at love, true love. The bonds made with best friends, spouses, our children, our family, the bonds that bend but don’t break.

DeMaio has written a truly endearing story that will leave us all star gazing and wanting to be kissed in the moonlight!