This book. I get the feeling this will end up on a good amount of DNF shelves because it has its fair share of off putting content. I'll be up front about what that is.
For me, it has two things that I normally hate: infidelity and flashbacks. Infidelity is a theme that hits repeatedly in the book with Anika making a handful of her own crappy decisions that cast her in an unflattering light. Each time infidelity came on the scene my stomach dropped and it triggered my anxiety which made this a pretty gut-wrenching read for much of the book.
For flashbacks, I have to say it's done in a clever way. This is a story about returning to your home town and constantly getting hit with the past so it at least makes sense that the story has them. There's definitely a gimmick to how the author has it done here. Some may not like it but I was actually okay with it which says something. The flashbacks aren't terribly long and fit the scenes. Just know there's a lot of them.
The author warns the readers in her blurb of the book that it has a lot of bad language and, boy, does it. Anika cusses like a sailor from page one and, doing a count, the F-bomb is dropped 427 times.
The story is also told from a second person point of view where Anika is talking to us directly. The style seemed appropriate to the book so I liked it.
Now that all of that's out of the way...wow. Whether the read felt good or not this book did blow me away.
As a story, it's mainly about confronting the past and feeling sucked back in time vs letting go and moving forward in your life. There is a burgeoning romance in the story, too, but at times it's precarious so it's not all happy-go-lucky-feel-good. The story has some humor that comes through in the dialogue and Anika's internal thoughts but this read is more of a drama than anything.
As for the lead, Anika is a 6' 3.5" tall half black, half Nepalese character and she is deeply rooted and developed. The author definitely knew who she was. And the rest of the cast? There are a ton of characters but every single one of them is just as fully-developed. Anika and no other person in the story is all good or all bad...well, except for maybe one.
Family dynamics are just so well represented and I found the dialogue to be amazing because it felt alive and I was completely sucked into the story. Every scene was tight and I found there was no fat to trim.
As I was reading, terms that came to mind thinking about the book were "gripping", "vivacious", "rich", "real", "honest", "intense", "multi-layered", "well thought out"...This book really had me on pins and needles trying to figure out what choices Anika would make in present day. The author definitely kept me guessing and I didn't find it predictable at all.
The only gripe I truly have with the book is that technologies are mentioned that were used when Anika was in high school or college that I don't think actually existed at the time. Or, if they did, were not the norm. Anika is 38 in the story, by the way. So, I had to just let it go.
Overall, I actually loved this book, despite it being an ugly read sometimes. I've debated about what to rate it, whether it should go to the 4 or 5 star category and, like a basketball that goes round and round the rim before falling in or out of the net, I have to say it falls in...so 4.6 with a round up to 5 stars it is.
This is the 2nd book in the "Rosemont Duology" series but I'd considered this a standalone read. I haven't read the first book and I didn't feel I was missing out on anything pertinent to the story.
I recommend only if you think you can get through the items listed above. If so, then yes, definitely.