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Description
SOMETIMES LOVE TAKES A SECOND GLANCE... When bride-to-be Harri Ryan ends up at the ER with a panic attack on her wedding day, her twin brother, George, jokes that she's the most glamorous patient there. But this is no joke. It's Harri's second try at the wedding, and when she returns to her Dublin apartment, her fiancĂ©, James, has already packed his belongings. Harri doesn't want to lose him, but she doesn't know how to convince James it won't happen a third time. George, who knows Harri better than anyone, has a hunch there's more to the story than cold feet. He confronts their parents, who are acting strangely -- as if they're hiding a secret. And the truth they reluctantly reveal devastates both twins. Now, not only has Harri lost James, but George's relationship with his partner, Aidan, begins to fall apart, and both twins have to fight to hold on to those they love -- and to themselves. As the world they thought they knew crumbles around them, can Harri and George find a way to pick up the pieces before it's too late? In her newest novel, talented young Irish writer Anna McPartlin paints a rich, multi-textured picture of ordinary people swept up in a scandal they never could have imagined. As Sure as the Sun manages to tickle your funny bone, tug at your heartstrings, and remind you never to give up on love.… (more)
User reviews
Harri's story is interwoven with the diary of a young teenaged girl who lives with an abusive step-father and a broken mother. The connection between the two tales builds gradually, easily becoming clear to the reader early on. It is to McPartlin's credit that this transparency doesn't change the reader's desire to hear the outcome of both Harri and Liv's stories. And she still manages to give a neat and unexpected twist to the outcome.
For the most part, I was caught up in the story but it did run on a bit more than I would have liked. I'm also not certain that I think Harri's panic attacks could be traced back to this old scandal and the secretive way it was buried given her age when it occurred but I suppose the unconscious does some crazy, unexplainable things. Even if I don't buy the origins of Harri's panic attacks, I still think that McPartlin has managed to capture the essence of panic attacks and of debilitating depression. And it's hard not to root for Harri to overcome both in order to win back James. His character is not present enough in the book to feel complete but Harri's family and the way that they each react not only to the revelation but to her response is eminently believable. Each of them suffers and each of them deserves pity, just as she does, working through their shared new reality. The book is well-written and deals with a darker subject than the chick-lit cover would indicate and I liked it for the most part even though it took me longer than it should have to get through it.
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Original language
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DDC/MDS
823.92 |