Ruby Among Us by Tina Ann Forkner

5 stars
R-1-2

A really fitting read for Memorial Day.

Lucy is a 19-year-old senior in college who is making her first friends. Needless to say, she's lived a fairly sheltered life. But now she is determined to break out of the shell she feels kept in by her grandmother's secrets... and hopefully she can remember her mother in the process.

Lucy's story was touching. Her side/love story is sweet and naive, in rather sharp contrast to the tangled web of secrets and misunderstandings (and a few outright lies) that make up her mother's and grandmother's stories.

But maybe time really can heal all wounds, and as Lucy makes Kitty open up about the past, maybe she can finally heal too. And maybe Lucy can find family.

I really enjoyed this one. And it went a lot quicker than I expected. Yes, at times you want to strangle Kitty for the ridiculously tangled mess, but you can't entirely blame her, either. There's also an element of Christian fiction as Lucy struggles to decide whether or not she has faith. The story does leave you wanting more. Lucy's love story is VERY secondary. But sometimes it's nice to finish a book and have a whole world of possibillities open to the characters. :D

There is (apparently) a companion novel! (Amazing what you learn poking around on Amazon...)