Luis F F من عند Usovo, Tyumenskaya oblast', روسيا، 627624 من عند Usovo, Tyumenskaya oblast', روسيا، 627624

When I first read the summary of The Good Daughters I figured it would end up being a 'switched at birth' plot, but really it turned out to be a story that focuses on two girls lives as they struggle trying to find their places in the world. The chapters alternate between Ruth and Dana, through love, secrets, and loss, as we follow them through their adult lives. Ruth Plank was born into a family that owned a lucrative farm. With just her and her sisters, her parents no longer had any hope of passing the farm down to a son as was the custom with previous Plank generations. Her father accepted this outcome and loved all of his girls equally and was not shy in showing his pride for his lovely family of daughters. Ruth just cannot understand why her relationship with her mother is such a struggle through her whole life. Dana Dickerson is born to a family that cannot seem to put roots down in any one area. She finds herself longing for stability and a place to call home. The Plank family seems to show up at their doorstep for a visit at least once a year and although the Dickerson's don't look forward to these visits, Dana does enjoy spending time with Edwin, Ruth's father, as he is always generous in sharing agricultural information with her. As much as Dana enjoys agriculture, Ruth finds an artistic side of her just waiting to burst out of her skin. She has no desire at all to join her sisters in the farmwork, except for managing the small roadside vegetable stand. Through the work that she does in the stand she finds a special place in her heart for the farm that helps her develop a closer relationship with her father. As truths and secrets are revealed in the book I found myself getting angry with Ruth's parents, Edwin and Connie Plank. Before I knew it, I was all upset with the story as I couldn't imagine the path that Edwin and Connie decided to take. Connie especially frustrated me as she appeared to be such a God-fearing and strong-willed woman, but then I came to understand why her character reacted the way that she did. Everything did come full circle for me in this novel that let me find the appreciation that this book deserves. I think this book would make a great book club selection with themes of love, family, secrets, and loss. As I was reading it I could only imagine the different comments that would be made from various members of my group. I did enjoy this novel and I'm confident that many of you would also!

I really liked this sixth book in Mercy Thompson series. (view spoiler) In this book we have to chance to know more about Mercy's origins as I really appreciated to read about it. It was mighty interesting. But even more important than that was to see Mercy and Adam as (view spoiler) That was the best part in the whole book. The cases in the previous ones were much more interesting than this one. Nonetheless it was pretty great to see something different than the usual.