This story just didn\\\'t get anywhere. Characters are woefully underdeveloped. In a word: boring.

This book had a lot of promise, but the characters are very shallow and the conflicts flip flop a lot. And what is up with the animals that Lucy drew...they didn't tie into anything. Very appropriately named protagonist "Lucy", for the loosely held together plot.

We all wanted to know more from each character and then it ended so quickly.

The children's ages, for instance, were way off base. They should have been more like 15 and 8 instead of 12 and 5.

In spite the title, this is not particularly a love story except for the love between mother and child. Rueben is just a jerk. Lucy, unmarried mother of two, comes to live in a close-knit neighborhood of neighbors with more friendliness than she is prepared to recipicate. There is a little Alice-down-the-rabbit-hole about her detached observation of suburban life and her inability to fit in. There are no heros or villians in the story, just people with weaknesses,unfulfilled longings and plenty of secrets.

I read the book in one day, very caught up in what was happening in Wichita Hills, and was satisfied by the ending. A lot was learned by several of the characters, and the negative effect of keeping secrets and trying to hide one\'s inner pain and guilt while appearing to be cheerful and \"normal\" was explored at length.