Thank you to the author and Alliance Press for this book.

I really enjoy reading about families. This one was no exception. A lot going on in this book set in Key West, FL. Living in a historical lighthouse, there is Poppy and Thomas Chandler and their daughter Ivy. Ivy has "issues" but her mother refuses to acknowledge them to her own family and sweeps it under the rug until something horrible happens. It is not stated until it comes to fruition that Poppy's mother had an mental illness but she "got over it" and thought Ivy would too. Delphina is one of the twins who lives with her mother-in-law, husband and baby who runs a snorkeling business. LInnea is Dephina's twin who has her own issues and lies about them all and comes to Key West from Boise where she moved to get away from her phobia of water. That truth comes out too. Along comes Hurricane Irma when everyone evacuates except for Ivy who lies about it and that's when it all comes to a head with heartache. It ended sort of abruptly and who knows what happens to this family trying to hea ( )

This is one of those rare books that I had to wait a few days before I could write my review. The characters continued to resonate in my thoughts after the last page and I wanted to make sure that I could wait to give an honest review. My short review is YOU MUST READ THIS NEW NOVEL by Peggy Lampman. My longer and more in depth review follows:

This beautiful and well written novel is about a family in Key West, Florida - not just the Key West that we've all seen but the Key West that isn't full of tourists and souvenir shops. Twin sisters Linnea and Delphina were very close when they were younger but now they are nothing alike. They are in their early 30s and Linnea has moved to Idaho and returns home rarely while Delphina runs a snorkeling company with her husband and is proud to be part of the island. They have a younger sister Ivy who spends most of her time at home alone creating art. The girl's parents run a b&b and the twins think they are overly protective of Ivy and vow that they will spend some time with their sister.

All of the sisters are hiding secrets from each other and as those secrets are gradually reveled throughout the book, the reader can only feel more compassion for each of them. Parts of the novel are fun - parades in Key West, chickens roaming the streets but parts of it are very difficult and deal with mental illness and dysfunctional families. ”You tell me about a family with some sort of dysfunction, and I’ll tell you that family is lying.” A hurricane heading towards Key West makes the family members realize the things that are most important in life.

Thanks to the author for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own. ( )