After I started reading this book, I hopped on Goodreads to read some reviews of other readers. It was a mixed bag of opinions. Some gushed about how wonderful the book was and others about how slow the plot moved, how the characters were bland, etc. I found points of agreement with several of the reviewers.
This is the second book I have read by Susannah B Lewis, and I have a mixed bag of emotions about the book myself. I did feel the plot was too slow, the characters were caricatures, exaggerated beyond believability, but there were parts I could relate to all too well.
Della and Darby are twins raised by their grandmother after their alcoholic mother killed herself drinking and driving. After that episode, they were bullied all the way through school. Della wanted nothing more than to fit in, while Darby just crawled into herself and hid there. Their thirtieth birthday is coming up and their Grandma Birdie wants to throw them a party. At first they resist, but Della comes on board and wants to show the town they aren't the no-accounts they've always been presumed to be.
Della works with the doctor in town and believes herself to be in love with him. The fly in her ointment is that the two nurses who work with her take on the role of "mean girls" in her life. She wants so much to befriend them and knows she's quirky (at best), but they seem to get their jollies by tormenting her.
Darby works at the local prescription bottle factory and stays to herself as much as she can. Cliff tries to talk to her every single day, in spite of her rebuffs.
It's not until the birthday party that everything seems to fall into place for Della and Darby, and it's not until the birthday party that I gained a real interest in the book. It just wasn't my favorite. Three Stars.
Thomas Nelson Publishing provided the copy I read for this review. All opinions expressed are solely my own.
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