published by: Harcourt Children's
publish date: September 12, 2011
Willa is lucky: She has a loving blended family that gets along. Not all families are so fortunate. But when a bloody crime takes place hundreds of miles away, it has an explosive effect on Willa’s peaceful life. The estranged father she hardly remembers has murdered his new wife and children, and is headed east toward Willa and her mother.
Under police protection, Willa discovers that her mother has harbored secrets that are threatening to boil over. Has everything Willa believed about herself been a lie? As Willa sets out to untangle the mysteries of her past, she keeps her own secret—one that has the potential to tear her family apart.
This was a rather short book, but it packed a really powerful punch. I read the entire book in one sitting. I was so absorbed in the story I couldn't put it down. It dealt with the issue of blended families which is one that you don't really see very much of in YA, usually the parents are mostly or completely absent in YA books, but in this one it seemed like there was an overabundance of them.
The second paragraph of the provided synopsis is a little misleading I think. I don't think Willa's mother was really harboring secrets. That kind of sounds sinister. I think she was just trying to leave her past behind her and not think about Willa's father anymore. Also, Willa is keeping her own secret, but I don't think it has the potential to tear her family apart.
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