Contemporary/Upmarket/Women’s Fiction
Date Published: September 2017
Vi Masters wonders…can you come home again? More, she wonders why anyone would want to. She fled upright, backwater Freedom, Iowa at seventeen and hoped never to return. But this time, she can’t stand up against the pleas of the aunt who raised her. It’s one weekend. How bad can three days be?
Three measly days in a wonderful eighteen-year marriage – that’s what Vi’s stepmother hopes. But what if Ben discovers what Tammy knew about why his daughter ran away – something he seems determined to finally find out? She can’t be sure Ben would forgive her, and that’s got Tammy scared to her bones.
One day in and Vi has to face how Aunt Sadie is failing, Caregiving will surely wreak havoc on Vi’s hard-won career, but how can she not? At least she might be able to turn the party Sadie’s planned into a night even Alzheimer’s won’t let Sadie forget.
But that’s before Vi finds out Nate Barlow has moved back to town. Now after all she’s already survived, Vi must dig deep for courage. Nate will never be able to accept Vi’s past. Will he? Who knew hope would be so scary?
My Review
In the quiet little town of Freedom, Iowa lives the story of multiple families that are always in one another’s business. We start the setting with Ben and Jane Johansen who are married with two children: Sonny and Vicky. Jane succumbs to depression and dies younger than expected from health complications and Ben remarries Tammy, who comes from her own dark past. As the kids age and tensions bloom between Vicky and Tammy’s son JT, things turn from bad to worse quickly. One quiet night, Vicky dissapears into the night with no explanation as to why she’s left or where she’s gone. Leaving her senior prom date and love of her life wondering what happened.
Ten years later and little Vicky, now Vi Masters – an starlet in Hollywood, is returning home to celebrate her maternal Aunt’s sixtieth birthday. But as she returns to town, so do terrible memories of why she left in the first place as well as new torments as her Aunt suffers from Alzheimer’s .
Crosiar builds an astounding cast of characters that are abound with their own unique traits and backgrounds, lending happiness, sorrow and straight out of goofy times into the story mix. Those around Vi (Vicky) that care about her, help to ease her back into a comfortable visit for the weekend as she faces some of her past demons. She reignites with her former flame who is now a promising and well-to-do artist and also faces down her overbearing father that just can’t think of anything but himself.
The trial and tribulations that the reader suffers through alongside Vi, reminds us that not everything is pretty in life and sometimes difficult decisions have to be made to survive to the next day. But staying confident and true to ourselves is just as important as standing up for yourself no matter what you decide to do.
A wonderful read that reminds me of female self-confidence and overcoming life’s challenges that are thrown our way constantly.
About the Author
Sally Crosiar lives in the Finger Lakes of New York State where she reads incessantly, enjoys time in and on the water, savors dark chocolate with red wine at every opportunity, and teaches about health and play for Empire State College. She is the author of Find the Love of Your Life, based on her own true story, My Uncle Dave, a children’s book with an adult message, and co-author with Dr. Sidney B. Simon of Love Builders: Tools to Build Every Relationship. Come Back is her debut novel.
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