Submitted by Kisha Jones
This book is a nice opportunity to become engrossed in the complicated lives of others. The book is about a highly dysfunctional family and a mystery that is at the heart of much of the dysfunction. The book is narrated from the perspective of Mallory Aldiss who is the middle child and has lived under the childhood pressure from her father of never living up to his standards. Mallory having left her childhood home in Bay Bluff and moved to New York has reinvented herself and for years has left the constant need to live under that pressure, until she receives a call from her childhood best friend explaining to her that she needs to come home because her father who is suffering from dementia has threatened him with a gun.
Mallory who has built a life in New York along with her 13 year old daughter Joy is struggling with the obligation of going home and after being pressured by her daughter who wants to get to know her family agrees to commit to going home for a single week. This week turns out to be a roller coaster as she is faced with the ghosts of a past she thought were long forgotten. Before the week is over she will have her life turned upside down or perhaps right side up in so many ways. This one week will strain the bonds of family, friendship, and love. As the week draws to a close Mallory will see some of her greatest dreams come true as well as many of the things that have been in her nightmares for years. However, in the ghosts which forced her to leave Bay Bluff many years ago will have been chased away and replaced by calming and gentle spirits which have put her on a unexpected path. Although, the journey is only a week long it is well worth taking. This book is just what you want to grab for some light summer reading.