published: February 9th 2010 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers
details: Hardcover, 240 pages
isbn: 038573476X
Synopsis from Goodreads: LACEY’S WORLD SHATTERS when her dad is killed in a car accident. And secretly? She feels like it’s her fault. If she hadn’t taken her own sweet time getting ready that morning . . . well, it never would have happened. Her mom wouldn’t be a basket case. Her brother Logan wouldn’t drink. And her little brother would still have two parents.
But life goes on even if you don’t want it to. And when Lacey gets the chance to make a difference in the lives of some people at school, she jumps at it. Making lemonade out of lemons is her specialty. Except she didn’t count on meeting a guy like Sam. Or that sometimes? Lemonade can be a pretty bitter drink to swallow
I won this author signed book as part of a facebook giveaway for moms…I love it when that happens! Thanks so much for being so generous Kristin. This was a sweet book which explores the grief of losing a parent as a teen or child. It came right on the heels of losing our little newborn puppy so I found myself in tears as I read it yesterday. Lacey, the main character (and also the point of view for the chick lit novel), tells the story of the day and year after she lost her dad to a tragic car accident. She stuffs her feeling and steps in to help everyone around her. What she didn’t expect was to swept away by Sam Stone, a new student who share some of her past. Her heart has walls and she turns a cold shoulder, questioning if there is a way to feel her father in her life anymore. As time goes on, the reader is taken step by tiny step along the slow pathway to healing. We learn what service can do to warm the heart and we fall in love with Sam.
What a sensitive and caring young man! He shows Lacey patience and compassion. This book does a good job of illustrating how family dynamics can change in the blink of an eye, and faith comes little by little. Three and half stars to “After.” Here is the author, Kristin Harmel talking about her book…
Ella Press
Thank you for your review, but I don’t I’d read this. It doesn’t really call out to me, the story. I feel like I’ve heard it before.
xo,
Ella
Kris
Great review!
Stop by my blog…you won a giveaway!