Her Family's Secrets: "...a smooth and compelling read women will find thoroughly engrossing...an absorbing story of family connections..." Review by Diane ... Senior Reviewer Midwest Book Review
Joanne Parsons
1 ratings • 1 reviews
Her Family's Secrets: "...a smooth and compelling read women will find thoroughly engrossing...an absorbing story of family connections..." Review by Diane ... Senior Reviewer Midwest Book Review
Joanne Parsons
1 ratings • 1 reviews
Andrea Birch Rossi inherits an old family homestead in a seaside town on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. Like her marriage, the two-hundred-year-old house is falling apart. When Andrea learns of her husband's most recent betrayal, she leaves him and Boston and faces the challenge of giving the old house, once occupied by her ancestors, a new life.She hires a contractor, and they immerse themselves in restoring the home. As she searches the attic and barn, Andrea discovers a treasure trove of artifacts and photographs belonging to past generations of the Birch family. She researches them to learn how she is related, becoming obsessed with the diaries of her great-great-great-grandmother, Abigale Birch. Abigale writes of her father's lust for another woman, a brother who betrayed her from the grave, and the failings of her own son. Although disturbed when she reads her grandmother's accounting of her revenge on a husband who manipulated and deceived her, the revelation of a stinging truth leaves Andrea considering the same action.At a crossroads in her own life, Andrea must decide if she follows the path of vengeful, bitter Abigale, or has the courage to forge one of her own.
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There were spelling and grammatical errors littered all over this book, anything but "a smooth and compelling read." Did anyone proofread this? I also found the main character bland, dimwitted, and irritating. I can see that the author was trying to draw connections between Andrea's life and those of her ancestors, but the result was very lackluster.
I tolerated the flashback parts and diary entries, but really struggled to care about Andrea's journey, especially when everything was just handed to her. She wants to move out to the house she inherited and barely work? Great! She has a trust fund. She wants to renovate her kitchen? Perfect! The contractor will gift her an expensive "Food Network-esque" kitchen! She wants to sell her paintings? Awesome! There is a gallery in town who takes them right away and a random man who is willing to spend thousands on them! She gets pregnant and needs help around the house? It's a good thing that her friend from Boston just so happens to be dying of cancer and can come live with her! Now the baby is here and she needs an actual job and a more suitable place to live? Her dying friend has a place she can live in for free that just so happens to be close to the new teaching job she gets without having a teaching degree! Now I'm sure some people's lives work out perfectly like Andrea's, but it is just not interesting to read about.
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