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Secrets She Left Behind
By:
Diane Chamberlain
List Price: $13.95
Your Price: $10.04
(as of: 02/09/10)
Publisher: Mira
Binding:
Paperback
ISBN: 0778326152
Size:
1.0'' X 0.0'' X 1.6''
Pages: 480
Condition: New / new
Publication Date: 2009-05-26
Release Date 2009-05-26
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description:
One afternoon, single mother Sara Weston says that she's going to the store—and never returns. In her absence, she leaves her teenage son alone with his damaged past and a legacy of secrets.Keith Weston nearly lost his life in an act of arson. He survived—but with devastating physical and emotional scars. Without his mother, he has no one to help him heal, no money, nothing to live for but the medications that numb his pain. Isolated and angry, his hatred has one tight focus: his half sister, Maggie Lockwood. Nineteen-year-old Maggie Lockwood spent a year in prison for the acts that led up to the fire. Now she's back home. But her release cannot free her from the burden of guilt she carries. She grew up with Keith Weston, played with him as a child…and recently learned they share the same father. Now the person Keith despises most is the closest thing he has to family—until Sara returns. If Sara returns….
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Nineteen–year-old Maggie Lockwood is fresh out of prison where she has spent the past year for setting a fire that killed three people. On the day she is released Sara Weston heads to the store and never returns. Keith, Sara’s seventeen-year-old son, is left all alone with no answers to his Mother’s sudden disappearance. In “Secrets She Left Behind” by Diane Chamberlain, many people are harboring secrets on Topsail Island.
Maggie has to face up to all the turmoil she has caused for the families with loved ones involved in the devastating fire. She has been ordered to do 300 hours of community service after spending 12 months in prison, but most of the town feels she did not serve enough time for her crime. Keith Weston is in his own prison, scars from the fire have left him grotesque to look at and emotionally damaged. He is ashamed to be seen by anyone. Neither of these people feel they can ever face each other again, Maggie because of the shame of what she did and Keith because of his hatred for Maggie for causing his disfigurment.
The Lockwood and Weston families have a long history that is gradually revealed as they try to sort out their feelings and try to rebuild their lives. Their lives have been intertwined since Maggie was a baby and “raised” by Sara when Laurel, Maggie’s mother was unable to take care of her. Add in Andy, Laurel’s 16-year-old son born with fetal alcohol syndrome and his blossoming romance with Kimmie. Andy was given an important letter to give to Keith on the day Sara disappeared. Uncle Marcus, Laurel’s brother-in-law, rounds out the family.
One day a young woman, “Jen” shows up at the grocery, befriends Keith and convinces him that he is still good looking. At the same time she runs into Maggie at the library and becomes her only friend. What is her secret? She never lets Maggie and Keith know that she is acquainted with the other.
The “Secrets She Left Behind” unfolds as another fire is started.
Diane Chamberlain is superb at creating characters we become involved with, spinning out the story of the havoc caused by a teenager’s mistake and weaving in the past to make this a novel hard to put down.
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| By: Judy Dils, ReaderToReader.com
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Customer Reviews
Hard to like...: (2010-01-29)
This book was way too long. I didn't know when I decided to read it that it was not a stand alone book to begin with and therefore, I obviously missed some of the story. Maybe it would be more likeable if I had read the previous book in the series but I don't even want to read it. The characters weren't good. What kind of mother leaves her seriously injured child to fend for himself?! I didn't even WANT to know what happened to her! I didn't like how the book was written, in diary entries for some characters in some parts of the book and narrative for some in other parts. I can read a long Stephen King novel, no problem, but this book wasn't interesting enough to make me want to keep reading it when it was so long. It took me over a month to finish it... I have 2 kids and better things to do!
Beware this is the second book in a series...: (2010-01-25)
Unfortunately I was not aware that this book was the second book in a series of books all revolving around the same characters. I think that this might be why I had such trouble with this book. I felt that the characters were unsympathetic and had no redeeming qualities- but now I think that might be because I am only getting half of their stories. I found the characters so depressing that I really didn't have a lot of luck getting into this book and it took me a long long time to finish it...plus the plot of the story seemed so focused on anger and not enough on redemption. BUT now that I realize this is the second book in the series I might go pick up the first and see what I was missing. There are redeeming points of this story- don't get me wrong there- the prose is actually extremely well worded. I just had a problem getting into it...but I think it's because I made the mistake that it is NOT the first book.
Intriguing Suspense: (2009-12-30)
Caution....one page in you are hooked and cannot leave the book without pondering the mysteries and intrigue. Chamberlain writes mainly in dialogue which speeds the tale along, leaving one breathless at times. Told through voices of the main characters, we learn there was a tragic fire that left some burned badly and others dead. Maggie is the culprit ,but only serves one year in jail for her crime....many are outraged at this sentence, but after reading Maggie's side the reader feels definite empathy. Also empathy for Keith who is victimized by hideous scars and pain of surviving. And his mother, Laurel, who cannot figure out how to tame Keith's rage or care for him financially. Secrets abound in this book; suspense is in every chapter. Why did Laurel leave Keith without telling him.....where is she? Who is Jen really, appearing to be a friend of Keith's and Maggie, but playing them both against each other? How is anyone to heal with all the treason and treachery about? I like the writer's style so much. Apparently there was a prequel to this book that tells a lot more of the back story, but I wasn't aware of it. I read this as a stand alone book and didn't feel confused or disappointed. However, reading the first book might behoove the reader as to background information. I will definitely be looking for more of this novelist's work as she is a compelling, adept writer.
Blood is thicker then water: (2009-12-22)
Two young people, a young man badly burned in an arson fire, and his half sister who was in prison for starting the fire are finally brought together as a family when his mother, Sara, turns up missing and someone from their past is trying to do them harm as they search for Sara. A good mystery with a bittersweet ending
sometimes things just dont work out: (2009-12-22)
This book had a lot going for it. A different set of relationships, a story told from multiple perspectives, and a few well rounded characters with both virtue and vice. Unfortunately, this just didn't click with me. I found myself asking why too much and some things key to the plot seemed to have dropped through the cracks. Not really a suspense story nor a "relationship" story but the promise of both kept me going to the end. It was OK, just not my first pick to recommend to a friend.
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