everyone in our bookclub enjoyed this book. It was fast reading with good characters that led to a good discussion about parenting and people with special needs.

This was a majorly disappointing read. In my not so humble opinion (and speaking as a relative of adults with mental disabilities and Down's), this story does a major disservice to adults with mental disabilities as well as to their parents. It is contrived and stereotypical in its portrayal of these adults.

I can understand a mother being overprotective of her daughter. I can even understand her being concerned about her daughter becoming romantically, if not sexually, involved. I can't understand how such an intelligent woman, especially one that has been in therapy for so many years could be so backward in her thinking.

The premise for this story was good, but I felt the execution left a lot to be desired.

I found the secondary characters, especially Jin and Mark, more interesting than most of the major characters. I was disappointed that there was no mention of Margaret and Danny's reaction to the birth of their grandchild or death of Chloe, especially since her death would mean no divorce was necessary. Although Randall wasn't a major part of Chloe's life, there was also no mention of his reaction to his daughter's death and the birth of his grandchild. Jin had been an effective supportive system for Alicia and Chloe, but again nothing about her after the birth of the baby and Chloe's death. The story just seems to ignore Chloe's death, which I found hard to swallow especially given how overprotective and nurturing Alicia had been all along.

Even though I didn't like this story, it does provide a lot of areas for discussion.