Review: The Secret of Joy by Melissa Senate

Thank you to Sarah @ Pocket Books I had the pleasure of reading Melissa Senates' 8th novel, The Secret of Joy which is set to release Today, November 17th from publisher Simon & Schuster.

A secret life is what Rebecca finds her father had on his deathbed. He confesses that he has another daughter. It was a short one time affair, and he never acknowledged the daughter all these eyes. But he has written her a letter on her birthday every year and has given the un-mailed letters to Rebecca. Oh what is a girl to do! She sets out to Maine in search of her long lost sister. Leaving her boyfriend (who she isn't sure she wants to marry much less continue a relationship with), back in NY with her lack luster job. She has been going through the motions for some time now and in search for something significant in her life. Wanting a sister all her life, she is bound and determined to seek Joy Joyhawk out! Thing is, Joy doesn't want to be found and couldn't care less. Melissa Senate has created a beautiful and heartfelt story of self discovery, love and forgiveness as journey with Rebecca to Maine in search of a sister she has always dreamed of and wanted. Touching and heartbreaking at times as two women come to peace about years lost and Rebecca learns how much her father really did love Joy all these years discovering a little about the man he really was.

4 STARS - A PAGE TURNER, BRING ON THE SEQUEL

Book Blurb: "Rebecca Strand, a 28-year-old New York City paralegal in a divorce mediation firm, is shocked when her dying father confesses his long-ago affair–and the baby he'd turned his back on. This fragile connection to 26-year-old half-sister Joy Joyhawk is all Rebecca has left of family. And so with her lawyer boyfriend's protests ringing in her ears ("She's just going to want her share of his million-dollar estate!"), Rebecca drives to Wiscasset, Maine, with the 26 letters her father wrote to Joy (but never sent) every year on her birthday. Having no idea what to expect, Rebecca knocks on Joy Jayhawk's door.

Turns out Joy, the separated mother of a little boy (Rebecca has a nephew too!), isn't very interested in the "father" who turned his back on her existence from day one–or her "sister." But Rebecca is so determined to establish family bonds with Joy that she doesn't go home . . . and finds herself being welcomed into small life by some very loveable, quirky characters, including the Divorced Ladies Club of Wiscasset and a sexy carpenter named Theo . . . "

About the author: Melissa Senate is the author of eight novels, including the bestselling See Jane Date, which was made into an ABC Family TV movie and has sold over 200,000 copies worldwide. She's published short pieces in Everything I've Always Wanted to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume, It's a Wonderful Lie, Flirting with Pride and Prejudice, and American Girls About Town. A former romance and young adult editor from New York, she now lives on the southern coast of Maine with her son. Find her online at her website, http://www.melissasenate.com/.

DISCLAIMER

I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me,
in exchange for my HONEST review.
No items that I receive "in kind"
are ever sold...they are kept by me, donated to The Medford Public Library,
or given away on contests on this blog.