Daphne is an author and she also teaches creative writing classes at the local college. The only thing that keeps her sane after her classes is swimming in her outdoor swimming pool. One evening, after a particularly trying class, Daphne heads to her pool and without even looking in, she starts to swim. She's done several laps when she realizes that there is someone in the pool with her and that the someone is no longer alive. She rushes to her house, unsure of just what to do, she knows she needs to call 911, but she also knows the disruption of her life that will bring. She gets up the courage to turn on the lights in and around the pool and discovers her star writing pupil, floating dead in her pool. When she gets up the courage to go outside she finds a note from the boy, Joshua and also a watch with not only her picture inside it, but a picture of Steve, a young man whose baby Daphne delivered as a 15 year-old but gave up for adoption because she could never have cared for him. Daphne realizes that the young man must have been her son. He asks, through her lawyer, for Daphne to care for his half-brother and Steve's son, Eric who has Asperger's syndrome, Daphne originally doesn't want to, but in the short time they spend together, Eric wins her over and Daphne knows she wants to care for this special boy. But the road to Daphne being Eric's guardian is anything but smooth and Daphne must fight if she want's to take care of him.
I really enjoyed this book. It took me awhile to get into the story, though. The first few chapters didn't seem to move very fast to me, while the last few chapters moved way too fast. I did enjoy Tanya Parker Mills' writing style. I thought that the characters were well defined and there was a lot of action. I also really liked the way I was able to learn more about Asperger's and autism too. This is a clean book.
I was able to read a pdf of this from the Whitney Awards Committee. The thoughts about this book were all my own.Labels: clean suspense, tanya parker mills
