The story was interesting and it held my interest.Just Beginning by Theresa Rizzo – a ReviewĪmazon / Barnes & Noble / The Book Depository / BAM Overall, this is a good story, and I did like it. That as long as you are here breathing on this earth, you have a second chance at making things right! What a powerful message! This is what I took away from the The Long Thaw, by Katie O’Rourke, that life goes on.

The ending was anti-climatic, and disappointing. When I saw she was from New England, I was very surprised.

I say that because of her language: “favour”, “kerb”, “pyjama”, “favourite”, “colour”, “neighbour”, “behaviour”, etc. If the story was structured differently, I would have given it 4 stars.Īnother thing I found peculiar, but in no way did I take it into consideration for my review, was that I thought the author was from the United Kingdom. It would get to a really good part, and the next segment would go way back in time which irritated me. There was a lot of back story throughout the book. The story is separated by segments, chronicling each character’s POV, (specifically Abby, Juliet, Mary the Grandmother, Rachel the aunt/mother, and Allen the uncle/father). I did have some problems with this story though. They are lucky to have this bond, and they both need each other more than ever. These girls act more like sisters than cousins. Even after not seeing each other for ten years, they immediately click back together. They take care of, and lean on one another. Juliet and Abby have a bond that cannot be broken. I liked this story, because I like stories that center around family. This broken family sets out to make things right, because life goes on, and as long as life goes on, there will be more chances to get it right. At Thanksgiving dinner, a family secret is let out, leaving everybody to question, “why?”, and “how could I have missed so much?” “What can be done to make things right?” He rationalizes that they don’t need him, they have each other, but he tells his family otherwise.

All Juliet wants is a man who won’t leave her, and then there is Abby, who has a list of 50 qualities that are required in her perfect mate.Īllen made a mistake ten years ago, and as a result he lost his wife and his daughters. Perhaps her poor choices in men are because her father abandoned her and her sisters at a young age. Juliet is tough, in many aspects of her life, except when it comes to love. Abby is her cousin’s keeper and protector. “Looks like it’s going to be a long thaw.”Ībby has always had a safety net, unlike her cousin Juliet, who has an absent father and a drunk mother who depends on her financially.

Just Destiny by Theresa Rizzo