Susanne’s Review:
The day Willy Cherrymill fell for May DuBerry, his life changed in a myriad of ways. A chicken farmer, he fell and fell hard, for May and for her daughter Lacey. His life seemed picture-perfect until the day May abandons them both.
Now twenty-seven, Lacey Cherrymill has always felt like she was missing something. That something is her mother. A Professor at a nearby college, Lacey’s life revolves around teaching and her precocious, five-year-old daughter Tasha. Though it has been a while since Lacey saw her stepfather, a trip to the farm is just what they both need.
For Willy, Lacey, and Tasha, family is what you make of it and the bonds these three share are heartfelt, and true. When near-tragedy strikes, these three will find that together they can face anything.
A sweet, heart-wrenching, and evocative character-driven story, I adored the characters of Willy, Tasha, and Carlotta in “A Hand to Hold in Deep Water” by Shawn Nocher. The relationship between all of the characters in this story is what drew me in.
Told in the present day and through past diary entries of May Duberry’s, I found the writing and the story to be quite compelling. Though there were times where I would have liked to be shown more of the story through the lives of the characters, versus told what had happened, I think that the way this story was presented lent itself to the way it was ultimately told.
All in all, I found “A Hand to Hold in Deep Water” to be wholly compelling. The book’s message struck a chord with me and I have a feeling that it will resonate with everyone else who reads it.
Thank you to Blackstone Publishing, NetGalley, and Shawn Nocher for the arc.
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