Bitch, this made me cry! If you know me, you know that I don't cry reading purposely-marketed sad books (e.g. A Little Life, The Fault In Our Stars, Me Before You, etc.) Now I realize that the books that make me cry are those that are just heartwarming, words so simple, subtle, and not emotionally manipulative and faux-philosophical, but certainly packs a solid punch in my lacrimal glands.

Perhaps I just felt connected to Lillian, the protagonist. She was a lost soul, wandering in this world, not knowing what her true purpose was. One day, Lillian received an offer from her long-time bestfriend Madison—now a wife of Jasper, a powerful man in the US—for her to take care of Madison's stepchildren. But the thing was, these kids had this special ability to catch on fire literally, a rare condition where they could combust spontaneously. At first, she hesitated, skeptical onto this whole narrative but since she had this connection with Madison, she agreed. With the help of Carl, Jasper's right hand or something like that, Lillian started her 'job' as a nanny—or in a fancier term the 'governess'—of these children. And from there, the story focused mainly on her self-discovery and learning her purpose in life as she built new relationships and refurbished some tainted, but not necessarily broken ones.

The story was light, the writing was so accessible and easy to understand but they were not shallow. Wilson explained Lillian's internal conflicts in such simple ways without sacrificing their depths. When reading literary fiction, I always expect that things would be quite boring, and that I would just depend on the beautiful writing to keep going. But in here, there was actually a plot. I was able to keep track where, in the course of the plot structure, I was.

Loneliness, friendship, parental relationships, and FOUND FAMILY were the main themes of the story, which in my opinion were explored in ways I was satisfied even though the story was relatively short. I know that Kevin Wilson could write it even longer, should he prefer, but I had no complains.

I also loved how the side characters were interesting in their own ways. For example Madison—she wasn't your stereotypical stepmother, mean and aggressive. I felt that she tried her best to show that she could support her husband and also be gentle to those kids who weren't hers. Some people could interpret that she was just using Lillian up until the present but I don't think that's the case. She was just afraid to commit mistakes because that was how she was raised. She just wanted everything to go perfectly, and I knew that she really loved Lillian. Jasper, on the other hand, was an ambitious man yet you could his soft side when it comes to his own family. There was this final conflict in the climax where he discovered something about his legitimate son, and he wanted to address the problems in his own ways without sacrificing his position and image, and I thought it was reasonable to do that (no spoilers: just read the book). Lastly, Carl was just a semi-grumpy yet soft middle-aged man. Naïve, but funny on his way. He followed everything Jasper wanted but also not afraid to speak up when he thought that something was off. And the kids, Bessie and Roland, were just precious babies! All they needed was protection, someone who wasn't afraid to take care of them despite their fucked up conditions, which they didn't even wish in the first place, someone to love them for who they were.

Okay so I have to shut up because I feel like I could talk endlessly about this book, but if you want something sweet, heartwarming, and humorous, READ THIS BOOK!