Leigh's life is great! She's just gotten married to the love of her life, Brian, and she got his little boy Nathan in the bargain. She has a nice house in Provo, that she's excited to live in with her new family. And she's just reconnected with her older brother who has been estranged from the family for 10 years. Things couldn't get much better, but that's when everything comes crashing down. Leigh realizes that all of her small symptoms that she's been noticing add up to the fact that her ovarian cancer has returned. Things were terrible for her as she went through the treatments to rid herself of the cancer the first time and she knows that this time it will be even worse, especially as she has added responsibility for her new husband and his young son. One of the things that makes life harder for Leigh is how hard Brian has to work to pick up the slack for all that Leigh can no longer do. Leigh needs to learn, and fast, how to lean on those around her when she needs help, and not to shut them out when things get tough, but will she be able to?
This is the sequel to The Next Door Boys, and I have to say that I am so glad there was more to Leigh and Brian's story, you should probably read that one first! This story made me laugh and cry, I love that I felt like I knew the characters well enough to care what happened to them. I love the way that Jolene Perry writes, you feel as though you are there, in Leigh's home, in the dreary hospital as she goes through her treatments, though that's not somewhere I would rather be, but it felt so real. This book was clean and well written. Labels: jolene perry, LDS fiction
