Loved It!
5
By pegg12
The Identicals is a brilliantly crafted, complex, family drama. Eleanor Frost is a driven career woman. Her success, however, would come at a hefty price. Eleanor sacrificed the love of her family for her business. She divorced her husband, Billy, and insisted that one of their twin daughters live with her, and the other with Billy. Tabitha and Harper, were identical twins, and inseparable until their parent’s divorced. Tabitha stayed with Eleanor, much to her dismay, on Nantucket, and Harper went with Billy to Martha’s Vineyard. Eleanor had no idea at the time of the separation, just how much her selfish decision would cost her daughters. The twin’s relationship would suffer terribly, and they would not see one another, for any length of time, until Billy died, fourteen years later.
Tabitha thought her sister had it easy. Harper didn’t have to contend with her mother’s impossible demands. She also didn’t have an out-of-control teenage daughter to raise. Harper had a perfect life, Tabitha thought. She did what she wanted to do and had the matching reputation to prove it. Harper didn’t care about anyone. But, that wasn’t true, Harper cared a great deal. She also carried a heavy load of guilt around with her every day. However, after their father died, Tabitha thought she had the perfect punishment for Harper. They would switch places for the summer. Instead of it being a punishment, however, it turned out to be a positive learning experience for both of them. And for Tabitha, the best thing that could ever happen to her.
Love, forgiveness, and healing would touch many lives on those two Islands. Owning up to selfish mistakes was the first step in healing for the Frost family; the second was forgiveness. I loved this book. It’s a well-crafted, complex story, with realistically flawed characters. They all had lessons to learn, and by the end of the book, I knew every character intimately and felt deeply for them. The Identicals completely captivated me until the very last page. I highly recommend giving it a read.
Thank you, Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley, for my advanced review copy.