review to come later...but really quick. Great book!!!
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I'm upping the rating to 4.5 stars.

I love Diffenbaugh's writing! It's so beautiful and descriptive and it evokes so many different emotions. In addition to her way with words, Diffenbaugh has a way of creating real people, not just characters. At times I was frustrated with them, struggling and laughing with them and ultimately I ended up loving all of them (yep every single one. How often does that happen!)

This book is great. Not only is it a wonderful and touching story, filled with relatable and loveable characters, but it made me grateful as well as informed.
It made me realize how lucky I am that I was born into this life. And it showed a real (yes it's technically fictional) family with struggles that are incredibly relevant today and it gave me some insight and a different perspective (something great books tend to do).
I don't want to get into politics, but I think it's good to keep the whole picture in mind in regards to tough situations and this book served as a reminder to try to do that.

Anyways, the short of it is that this is a wonderful book and I highly recommend it and the author!