Lori Wilde
February 23, 2021
William Morrow Paperbacks
Blurb: It was a story that couldn’t possibly be true: Identical twins, separated at birth. Anna Drury wouldn’t have believed it, but the woman standing before her was physically alike her in every way…and held in her hands a keepsake baby bracelet, the same as Anna had. How could it be?
Anna—with her tall, strong husband and two adorable children, grew up loved and secure, and she freely opens her heart to others, so she embraces the idea of her new-found sister, Amelia. Everyone tells Anna to tread carefully, but Amelia is family, she sees it in the other woman’s face and knows it in the depth of her soul. And family should always be welcome.
Once the shock settles and the dust clears, the sisters learn about each other as they unravel the secrets of their past and separation. Anna wants to believe that life with her new-found sister will be perfect, but just as they are bonding in a special way, Amelia reveals the true reason for their reunion. Her kidneys are failing, and Anna could be her perfect match.
But if Anna agrees to her request it might threaten everything she holds dear, her marriage, her health…even her life. Faced with this dilemma, Anna must ask herself a hard question, how far will she go to help her twin, the woman who is her other half…and a woman she doesn’t really know?
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Please note: I’ve not summarized the plot of this novel, which you can easily find from the blurb.
We readers and reviewers are a lucky lot. While we may read many good books, a few on the “meh” scale, every once in a while we find a sleeper that knocks our socks off and makes us cry and laugh and feel so many feelings in the span of five or so hours that we feel an immediate need to share and say: this is the book you have to read. It’s this one! And, so I bring to you The Keepsake Sisters by Lori Wilde.
I’ve read several Lori Wilde books over the years that I’ve adored and loved the first novel in the Moonglow Cove series and was fine going into the first few chapters of The Keepsake Sisters. I was probably still a little reeling from the dystopic thriller, I’d just read and wasn’t quite into feeling Moonglow. But then, bam. It was like being hit between the eyeballs.
The Keepsake Sisters takes place in that year after covid, which we are all still longing for. The virus has taken its toll, but as we read, we realize that life always takes a toll. Amelia desperately needs something from Anna, but after seeing who Anna is, her openness, willingness to help everyone, her love that is bigger than Mt. Everest, she knows she can’t accept what she needs. Love means never being selfish, thinking of others, and for Amelia, who never grew up understanding love but finally does, this is a huge lesson.
You always hear people say: I didn’t know I needed this. It sometimes sounds like it should be accompanied by a huge eye roll by the listener to that statement, but this is how I feel about this novel. It’s big hearted, like Anna, it’s warm, hopeful, open, endearing, and just makes all of your feelings come to life. People are human. They make mistakes. Many of those mistakes are strangely from a good place. Forgiveness. Kindness. Hugs. Acceptance. And that grass that looks greener on the other side? Nope. It’s full of pesticides that will kill you.
The Keepsake Sisters is filled with such good feeling and layered characters and well-developed plot, pacing, writing, everything is just so good, that I have to tell you, read this. Hope is good. Love is all around. We need this. Especially now.
There are grand gestures. There are people who misunderstand each other coming to understand (sounds like fantasy, right?). There is joy. There is even a Doberman with bared teeth called Cujo.
The Keepsake Sisters may be part of a series, but it is very much a standalone. It’s chick lit/women’s fiction, and I 100% hope that Lori Wilde continues to write in this genre with her poetic prose detailing the world around us, making us feel just a little bit more.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
rating:
5 out of 5 butterflies