Title: The Secret of Joy
Author: Melissa Senate
Publisher: Downtown Press
Publication Date: November 2009
Paperback: 330 pages
ISBN: 9781439107171
Genre: Fiction
In Melissa Senate’s sweet and sentimental eighth novel, twenty-eight year-old Rebecca Strand is about to lose her father and be left alone in the world without a family. But her father makes a confession on his deathbed—that he had a secret affair twenty-six years ago and Rebecca has a half sister named Joy that neither she nor anyone else has ever known about. Shocked by her father’s infidelity and secrecy, Rebecca is determined to find her sister and make up for Daniel Strand’s abandonment of his second daughter. She leaves New York City, her job, and her boyfriend behind and heads to Maine to track down the only family she has left. But when Joy doesn’t exactly welcome her with open arms, Rebecca must look within herself to discover the meaning of the word sister, and to figure out what she wants out of life and where her future lies.
My Review:
The Secret of Joy is an extremely tender and thought-provoking novel, which takes a deep look at love, and it’s many facets. Rebecca appears to be treading water in a job she is not particularly fond of, living with her boyfriend who she is uncertain if she wants to marry, while struggling with the fact her father is lying in hospital dying. His deathbed confession changes Rebecca’s life and is about to change many other lives as she travels to Maine to find her half-sister Joy. Little does Rebecca realise the impact her actions will have as her life becomes entangled with Joy’s life, Joy’s business and friends. The Secret of Joy is a beautifully written novel that will have the reader crying one moment and smiling with happiness the next all the while cheering for the many wonderful cast of characters. Senate weaves together many tales of love and in so doing discusses, through a brilliant array of characters, what it means to love and be loved. Senate’s descriptive prose and realistic storyline make the reader feel a part of the small Maine community. The Secret of Joy drew me in from the prologue and I was sorry to see the story end. I cannot praise this novel enough and look forward to reading Senate’s other novels.
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. To learn more please visit Melissa Senate’s website.
I received a free copy of The Secret of Joy by Melissa Senate from Simon & Schuster as part of the tour. Receiving a free copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned novel.
Recent Comments