(Review) My Sister's Secret

My Sister's Secret by Tracy Buchanan

Expected Publication Date: July 21, 2015

Pages: 400 (Kindle Edition) 

Genre: Adult Fiction

My Goodreads Rating: 5 Stars

Goodreads Synopsis:
Everything you’ve built your life on is a lie.

Willow’s memories of her parents are sun-drenched and full of smiles, love and laughter. But a mysterious invitation to a photographic exhibition exposes a secret that’s been buried since a tragic accident years ago.

Willow is forced to question everything she knew about Charity, her late mother, and Hope, the aunt she’s lived with since she was a child.

How was the enigmatic photographer connected to Willow’s parents? Why will Hope not break her silence?

Willow cannot move forward in her life without answers. But who can she really trust? Because no one has been telling the truth for a very long time.

ADDICTIVE, GRIPPING and EMOTIONALLY POWERFUL, this is the perfect read for your summer holiday escape.

My Review: 

Wow, this book was a roller-coaster of emotions. This was my first by Tracy Buchanan and it was definitely a good one to start with! 

It's told in alternating chapters between Willow's and her mother Charity's point of view. Willow's parents were killed in an accident when she was a child, so Charity's chapters are from the past, before Willow was born. 

I love, love the way these chapters alternate. Willow is trying to find out more about her mother's life because she feels like her Aunt Hope has been lying to her all her life, so she's traveling around and diving into submerged forests. What she does find out from her Aunt Hope is that her mother did the same thing before Willow was born so, as the chapters change points of view, the women are essential in the same places. 

Charity's narrative is filled with so many emotional layers. Her relationship with Niall that is essential forbidden, her love story with Dan, and then the secret that she's kept buried for so long. As Willow searches, too, she finds out things about her mother and her father that she never knew, and probably didn't want to know. 

Some of the secrets that came out in this story made my jaw drop because the words are woven together so beautifully that you just don't expect it. Of course, once they're out in the open it all makes perfect sense because the author has done an amazing job putting it all out there. Wow.

Throughout the story Willow is learning so many things about her mother's life and it's changing her relationship with Hope, the woman who raised her. She's realizing that Hope didn't lie to her, but only spared her from the truth so she wouldn't be hurt. I love Hope's character for her strength and stubbornness, but also for her willingness to forgive when the need arises. She did was she thought was best for Willow and in the end Willow realized that, too. 

This was an excellent read complete with secrets, lies, and forgiveness. Highly recommended.

Double Chris Thumbs Up.

*Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, Avon for the ARC.*