Amanda Addison

4.5
Book source ~ TWR Tour

Lucie is the odd duck in her family. Her mom never really told her about her biological dad, always avoiding the subject. When she was a baby her mom married her stepdad and they had a daughter named Maisie. All are pale, blue-eyed, and blond haired while Lucie is darker with brown hair and eyes. When she turns 18 she secretly decides to do a DNA test and that one decision starts a chain of events that changes her life forever.

What a great book! I love the show more characters, the circumstances, the writing, and the pacing. Don’t worry. The chain of events that Lucie starts is a good thing though it’ll have you biting your nails at times. It’s heartwarming and positive even with the stupidity of people who ask such thoughtless and racist questions. I’m sure most don’t mean anything by it, just curious or nosy. But for fuck’s sake. Come on! This is a young adult’s journey of discovery with unexpected results that will warm your heart and soul. show less

4.5
Book source ~ TWR Tour

Lucie is the odd duck in her family. Her mom never really told her about her biological dad, always avoiding the subject. When she was a baby her mom married her stepdad and they had a daughter named Maisie. All are pale, blue-eyed, and blond haired while Lucie is darker with brown hair and eyes. When she turns 18 she secretly decides to do a DNA test and that one decision starts a chain of events that changes her life forever.

What a great book! I love the show more characters, the circumstances, the writing, and the pacing. Don’t worry. The chain of events that Lucie starts is a good thing though it’ll have you biting your nails at times. It’s heartwarming and positive even with the stupidity of people who ask such thoughtless and racist questions. I’m sure most don’t mean anything by it, just curious or nosy. But for fuck’s sake. Come on! This is a young adult’s journey of discovery with unexpected results that will warm your heart and soul. show less

A budding textile designer, Lucie Hansen doesn’t fit in. She’s darker than her half-sister and her mom and people ask her constantly where she’s really from. Her mother only tells her that her father was a sperm donor and that’s all. Now that Lucie is 18, she’s decided to take matters into her own hands. She sends off a DNA sample and waits for the results. What will she learn? Will it be a revelation or another mystery? Can she ever know the true story?

Along the way, Lucie show more encounters a young man with whom she has an instant connection, not romantically, just fast friends: Nav, a Brit of Pakistani heritage. He encourages her to join a DNA research project that his mother is part of to get more information on her father’s side of her story. This leads to untold and incredible twists and turns. Is it coincidence, destiny, fate or just luck?

The book is broken up into sections from different perspectives, first only Lucie, then Nav, and we eventually hear from several of the other characters, too. This adds a unique structure to the story as it broadens the plot and fills in many of the blanks in Lucie’s story. Hard to put down because we want to know what will happen. show less

It's not a terrible book but really, when I think back, the characters seemed to blur into each other and possibly she should have reduced the cast a bit to get a bit more character into them.

Now, while I do appreciate that there are people who make a success out of a crafty business, it usually takes a while for it to catch on. She also seems oblivious of such things as Craftsy and Etsy. I saw a commenter elsewhere bemoan the lack of illustration for the described stitches that are the show more opening for every chapter (and honestly, chapter 9, is Cross Stitch aka Berlin Stitch and chapter 45 is Berlin Stitch aka Cross Stitch, there are more stitches out there!), the yurt sounds interesting but could have done with more description, the work people were doing could have also done with more description, actually the book could have done with more description, the author seems to have assumed that people knew what she was talking about without allowing references to creep in.

It's a story about a woman coming to terms with what matters in her life but it's also a story that appears to be a little superficial and just a bit unsatisfying. show less