One Sunday, Hannah Ryan is waiting for her husband, Tom, and two daughters Alicia (15), and Jenny (13), to return home from their yearly summer camping/fishing trip. As it starts getting later and later, Hannah starts getting more and more worried. Finally, two police officers come to her home, and tell her there has been a horrible accident. Tom and Alicia die instantly and Jenny is in critical condition. They also tell her the other driver was drunk. She rushes to the hospital, where she says her goodbyes to Tom and Alicia, and goes to be with Jenny. She immediately sets out on a mission to make sure the other driver, Brian Wesley will pay for what he has done.
Jenny makes a full recovery, physically, but emotionally, is another story. In her desperate attempt to make Ryan pay for what he has done, Hannah pretty much ignores Jenny, and makes her take care of herself. Despite the fact that Jenny is 13 years old, Hannah grows frustrated with Jenny for not being there for HER, when in reality, it should be the other way around! Jenny feels like Hannah wishes it was HER who had died, instead of Alicia and even contemplates suicide, so she can be with her dad and sister, the only two people who she feels still love her. Jenny and her mom grow further and further apart as time goes on, and Jenny continues to contemplate suicide, while Hannah ignores people's attempts to get her to notice that Jenny is withdrawing more and more from everything as time goes on. It isn't until the day the verdict is read, that Jenny tries, unsuccessfully, to kill herself. Luckily Matt and Hannah find her and Matt is able to save her life by performing CPR, then getting her to the hospital just in time.
They reach the day of the trial, where Brian is found guilty of the crime of drunk driving, and gulity of the crime of first degree murder of Tom and Alicia. This was the most severe punishment anyone had ever recieved for drunk driving in the State of California, which was what Hannah and her attorney, Matt, had been hoping to accomplish all along.
During this time, Hannah also lost all faith in God. She felt that since God took her husband and her daughter away from her, that she didn't want to believe any longer. She shrugs off anyone who tries to tell her to pray, and refuses to even look at a Bible. It isn't until Jenny is in a coma, that she finally gets the urge to pray, and finds God again.
She also insisted that once Brian was found guilty, she would find peace within herself. However, it isn't until she finds it in herself to forgive Brian, that she finds that peace.
My thoughts: I could not put this book down. I finished it in right around 24 hours. And I'm very eager to read the next two books in this series. The thing that got to me the most was Hannah's reaction toward Jenny. Hannah was really not there for Jenny in the months after the accident at all. Hannah claimed that Jenny was being really selfish for not wanting to help put Brian behind bars, when really I felt that HANNAH was the selfish one. Jenny was only 13 years old, and no way could she have or SHOULD she have been able to deal with all those emotions on her own. It really bothered me how Hannah blew off everyone's warnings that Jenny wasn't doing so well and to get help immediately. I'm looking forward to reading the next books to see how their relationship is going.
I finished this on 3/1/09
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