Summary:
Emma has it all until one moment when her mother dies. Emma's mom is kept alive by machines to help the baby growing inside her. Once the baby is able to be born, then Emma's mom will really be gone. The problem is that Emma doesn't think her mom would have ever wanted to be kept alive like that, even though her stepdad insists that she would have wanted the baby to survive. This drives a wedge between Emma and her stepdad as she blames him for everything. As grief consumes her, everything falls apart. She no longer cares about her grades, boys, college, etc. Then, Caleb comes into the picture. Caleb's parents have blamed him for his little sister's death, so he is suffering from the same grief and anger that Emma is. The two of them spark up a romance that seems to bring life back to Emma.
My thoughts:
I typically love Elizabeth Scott. She has a way to really make you think and her characters are beautifully drawn. While this definitely has those characteristics, there were other parts that I just didn't agree with. For instance, Emma seems to snap out of her grief relatively quickly without really any traces left behind. If she was so down that everything she cared for diminished, then why does she never have one of those moments again? She honestly just forgives and forgets, which I don't think is realistic and made me withdrawal from some of the story. Because of this change in character, I didn't really like the romance between Emma and Caleb. I also felt like Caleb's whole life needed to be more three dimensional. His family life is not as developed as a normal Scott character. I felt like there were gaps. So, while I still enjoyed the novel, this is not my favorite by Scott.
Emma has it all until one moment when her mother dies. Emma's mom is kept alive by machines to help the baby growing inside her. Once the baby is able to be born, then Emma's mom will really be gone. The problem is that Emma doesn't think her mom would have ever wanted to be kept alive like that, even though her stepdad insists that she would have wanted the baby to survive. This drives a wedge between Emma and her stepdad as she blames him for everything. As grief consumes her, everything falls apart. She no longer cares about her grades, boys, college, etc. Then, Caleb comes into the picture. Caleb's parents have blamed him for his little sister's death, so he is suffering from the same grief and anger that Emma is. The two of them spark up a romance that seems to bring life back to Emma.
My thoughts:
I typically love Elizabeth Scott. She has a way to really make you think and her characters are beautifully drawn. While this definitely has those characteristics, there were other parts that I just didn't agree with. For instance, Emma seems to snap out of her grief relatively quickly without really any traces left behind. If she was so down that everything she cared for diminished, then why does she never have one of those moments again? She honestly just forgives and forgets, which I don't think is realistic and made me withdrawal from some of the story. Because of this change in character, I didn't really like the romance between Emma and Caleb. I also felt like Caleb's whole life needed to be more three dimensional. His family life is not as developed as a normal Scott character. I felt like there were gaps. So, while I still enjoyed the novel, this is not my favorite by Scott.
