Author: Kim Synder
Genre: Drama
Short Summary: Willow has been holding a secret ever since she was a little girl. But the older she gets, the more her secret weighs on her, causing problems in marriage and making her health suffer. At her husband's plead, she goes to a life coach but is adamant about keeping her secret, out of fear of rejections from family and friends. Will Helen, her life coach, be able to help her find peace or will Willow have to make a sacrifice to keep her secret? And just what in the world is wrong with all the plants?
Here is Goodreads' summary:
Thoughts: Let's get the good things out of the way. The story is nicely written. There are not any scenes that are jarring, excepting for perhaps the ending and even then, it's not bad. Willow's habit of labeling things by exact color names never gets exasperating. In some ways, I could very much relate to Willow. Especially her struggles in opening up to Helen, which serves as the major catalyst of the plot. In fact, most of the characters, if somewhat simply drawn, are believable. It's a charming story.Masquerading as a mystery romance drama, this novel invites you to find yourself in the character(s). Love, laugh, cry with them, and leave hope-filled with the power of human kindness at the turning of the final page.
"You're only as sick as your secrets," Helen reminded her. Well, in that case, she was sick indeed. Childhood years had taught her to guard her obsessions and wandering thoughts. Most of her world was a secret. ADHD... letters attached to her at an early age, caused misguided loved ones to train her to harness the thoughts that set her mind traveling...
"Tell no one," Gramma warned, "they will all think you have gone mad."
Her health and her marriage headed to ruin, she continued in silence. "They won't believe me anyway," she sighed.
Bad things? There's a positivity and a sentimentality in the book that, for me, rang false. I very much agree with the major themes of the book, which revolves around being kind to people in order to better the world around us. This is shown in a very physical way in the book, thanks to Willow's secret, but ultimately, it rings true for all people, not just those with Willow's secret. However, the whole plot is based on the message, which tends to get a bit moralistic for me. Also, the last chapter somewhat broke my suspension in belief with all of the celebrity name dropping and a direct message to the reader. If you don't have an inbuilt cynicism like I do, you'll probably enjoy the book more then I did.
