Island Girl ~ Book Review & Giveaway!

Island Girl was just such a lovely read. The heartwarming and heartbreaking story of a family impacted beyond what one expects when you open up a book with such a pretty cover (and yes, I read the hard copy!).

There is so much to say about Alzheimer's Disease, and if you have not been impacted by it surely you know someone who has. And if you haven't before, well, now you do.

My paternal grandmother suffered from Alzheimer's for thirteen years. She lived many of those years in a nursing home. Alzheimer's was not *well known* back then. Or at least to me, in my teenage years, it did not seem to be. It is well known now. People know it, they fight against it and they fight to cure it. It's a horrible, horrible disease.

I never knew the extent that my grandmother (Bubby, we called her bubby!) knew what was happening to her. At such a young age, to me, she didn't seem to. But the more I read about characters and people who did know, I think to myself that perhaps, even without an official diagnosis - or maybe she had one? I really need to ask my parents - she knew. She felt her world slipping away.

Did she ever think to herself how much she wanted the suffering to end? Ruby does. Ruby isn't even at the fullest extent of the illness when we first meet her, and yet she is already preparing her future. Her ending. She leaves notes all over the place, and I love how immediate and short they are, telling her what to do next, what to do to remain herself.

Ruby's daughters are pivotal to the story. I love that we get their precise perspective. They have their own chapters. Actually, at that point, the first page I turned to that was not in Ruby's voice (I must check, but I think it was Liz that we met before Grace), I knew I'd love this book. Something about hearing the voices of more than one primary sole character leads me to love a book just a little bit more.

There are secrets and anger, relationships fallen apart and put back together. Memories fading and burning in the mind's eye. Emotions and silence. Love, pure and frightening. These characters, along with the others who join them on their journey, are real. They live. They live in the pages of Lynda Simmons' book. Island Girl is a place you'll want to go to be impacted in a way that you didn't expect when reading a book.

There's water and birds. Open air and a place to call home. Go join them there and hide away in their world for a bit. Watch Ruby flick through her notes to herself and see what she s going through. What happens next?

I can't tell you. You'll have to see for yourselves.


If you'd like to read this book for yourself, now's your chance. Lynda has graciously offered up a copy for one of my readers (US/Canada) to receive.

All you have to do to enter is tell me the last book you've read.

For extra entries there are a few options (1 entry available per comment):

* Tell me about one of your favorite books or authors.
* Tweet about this giveaway and provide the link to your tweet here.
* Encourage a friend to come and enter and have them let me know you invited them in their comment

New addition to my reviews ~ let me know if it seems like a good idea to you.

If you liked: Still Alice, by Lisa Genova you will enjoy this book.

** I received a copy of this book from Pump Up Your Book to review, and was offered an extra copy to give away to my readers. All opinions expressed are strictly my own. **


Congrats to commenter #3 - Lisa, from Two Bears Farm, our winner of this book!

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