Publisher: William Morrow
Genre: fiction
Trade paperback, 384 pages
Book Source: TLC Book Tours
My Rating: 75/100
From the Tour home page:
Jacqueline Sheehan made serious waves with her much beloved runaway bestseller, Lost and Found(“The best book I’ve read in a long time” —Susan Elizabeth Phillips). Now she treats readers to a sequel, Picture This—a story of rebirth and personal redemption that is as moving, funny, and heart-soaring as its predecessor. Whip-smart contemporary women’s fiction with heart and soul, in Picture This, Rocky Pelligrino is back on Peaks Island off the coast of Maine, along with Lloyd the dog, the beautiful black Labrador retriever who gave her a new “leash” on life. But this time a new wrinkle warps the fabric of her world when a young girl shows up on Rocky’s doorstep claiming to be the long-lost daughter of her late husband.
First thoughts?
Not what I had in mind when I accepted this book for review. I read and reviewed Lost and Found (review link) about two weeks ago. In that book, Rocky lost her husband suddenly and she had a great deal of sorrow and loss to go through. I felt like she conquered that and was ready to move on. However, with Picture This, I felt that all of the growth and acceptance she had made was now thrown away because of two events. I'm sorry but I couldn't accept that. I know people deal with grief differently and you don't know how you will grieve when your significant other passes, but a "possible" long-lost daughter shows up and that's it; you lose it and welcome her into your home because she may represent a piece of your deceased husband? Maybe it's just my city girl instinct talking, but I wouldn't open my home and start planning my life around a shady young stranger who claims to be a long-lost daughter. And this is the main reason why I had issues with the majority of the book. I think I also thought more time would have passed between the two stories, but Picture This picks right up where Lost and Found leaves off. Maybe that's why Rocky just falls to pieces? I don't know, but unfortunately I couldn't reconnect with Rocky and this story fell flat for me.
With respect to the other characters, Melissa, Tess, Lloyd, etc., they help to move the story along, and it's their parts of the book that I did enjoy. Rocky purchases a house on the island, and even the House has some things to say, and those parts were enjoyable as well.
As for Natalie, the long-lost daughter, I don't want to give anything away. However, I will say as bad as I feel for her, because she had a rotten paper route through life, she is quite a sullen person. I don't know if she could have ever been saved, but she did make some strides in the end.
Recommend?
All I can say is please read what other people had to say and don't base your decision solely on my review. Sheehan is quite popular for a reason. I think this book is a little too much "Women's Fiction" for me. I normally steer clear of those books, and so the blame lays with me, not the book. It just wasn't my cup of tea. Again, chocolate or vanilla ice cream for a reason.
For more information about Jacqueline Sheehan, please visit her website and Facebook page
For other points of view on Picture This, please visit one of the wonderful bloggers below:
Tuesday, May 22nd: Silver & Grace
Thursday, May 24th: Iwriteinbooks’ blog
Monday, May 28th: Hospitable Pursuits
Wednesday, May 30th: Chocolate & Croissants
Tuesday, June 5th: Just Joanna
Wednesday, June 6th: Jenny Loves to Read
Friday, June 8th: Kritters Ramblings
Tuesday, June 12th: Peppermint PhD
Tuesday, June 12th: BookNAround
Wednesday, June 13th: Peeking Between the Pages
Thursday, June 14th: My Bookshelf
Thanks to TLC Book Tours for my review copy :)
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