I loved everything about this book; the style of writing, the prose, the dialogue, the characters, the setting ; everything. ⁣The story centers on 17 year old Nadia, whose mother has just committed suicide. Beautiful Nadia finds solace in the arms (and bed) of local Pastor’s son Luke. An unwanted pregnancy and abortion ensue......later that summer, Nadia befriends loner Aubrey, who is also motherless but in a different way to Nadia. Aubrey is chaste and religious but her clean-living is just her way of dealing with a horrible and disturbing secret.....⁣

Years later, Nadia is forced to come home to care for her sick father, and when she does return to Oceanside she finds herself having to confront the decisions she made back in that summer when she was 17.⁣

Highly, highly recommended. It’s extremely thought provoking and anyone who loves underlining beautiful or powerful sentences while reading will have a field day with this book..... there are so many of them. This was Bennett’s debut novel (not that you would ever know it) but she has a new book coming out this year. It will be a must-read for me.