I've been planning to start this review by saying, “This is a really dumb book!!!!” But, I didn’t really want to mislead people. The reason I say it’s a really dumb book is because it made me bawl!!!! Literally. Books don’t usually take such an effect on me, and it wasn’t because of something sweet and precious! It was because it was so stinking sad!

So, instead, I’ve decided to start this review by saying, “A very touching book that will definitely pull your heart strings!” Sounds a little better than a stupid, dumb, book! (I did say that out loud at one point, when my husband looked at me as if to wonder if I was ok because I was crying so much!)

I only cried near the beginning. I desperately hoped that the rest of the book was not as sad and disheartening as the beginning. It wasn’t.

It starts with the love story of Amanda and Jack. Jack is a wonderful father of two beautiful twin girls, whose mother died shortly after they were born. The story is told from the point of view of Kara, one of the twins, when she is older- from the end of the story. The love story is beautiful and it made me so happy! They fell in love, she met the twins, they got married and it was so beautiful! Then, it all went downhill from there.

The part that I hated was how horrible this all was for Amanda! You can guess… Jack died, but so did his parents, who were billionaires. So, the twins’ maternal grandparents who haven’t ever been around, come around and claim the girls… even though they call Amanda Mommy! Those grandparents are evil and it was at that point that I started bawling and simply could not stop, because of the heart ache I felt for this small family!

So… life goes on, they grow up with their Grandparents who treat them like trash and teach them nothing, leaving them to fend for themselves and learn all sorts of bad habits. Amanda is there in the distance keeping and eye on them and waiting until they turn 18 and she can bring them home to share the fortune she received from Jacks’ death.

In the end, I will admit, the story is very nice and I love the parallels it shows to the story of the prodigal son in the Bible. One twin openly embraces the new life and blessings, while one struggles to forget all that she has grown up with. And as unfair as that seems to me, I have to remind myself that that’s the way life is for reals. We have a Father in Heaven waiting to bless us with all that He has, but sometimes we just want to cling to the life we’re living in. We’re not willing to step out of our sad little comfort zone and embrace those blessings.

Anyway, it wasn’t too churchy. (Not churchy at all in fact.) But, it was a good read, once I got past the heartache and sadness… that continues throughout the book.

I would recommend it. It’s a great story to make you think about your own life and how you can relate to either of the twins, and how you accept blessings or “pawn them off” as Kara did with her Grandmother’s jewelry.

~I was given a free review e-copy of this book from Booksneeze.com~