Blanca is forty years old and motherless. Shaken by the unexpected death of the most important person in her life, she suddenly realizes that she has no idea what her future will look like.

To ease her dizzying grief and confusion, Blanca turns to her dearest friends, her closest family, and a change of scenery. Leaving Barcelona behind, she returns to Cadaqués, on the coast, accompanied by her two sons, two ex-husbands, and two best friends, and makes a plan to meet her married lover for a few stolen moments as well. Surrounded by those she loves most, she spends the summer in an impossibly beautiful place, finding ways to reconnect and understand what it means to truly, happily live on her own terms, just as her mother would have wanted.

This was a weird one for me. I listened to the audio because it was short and I needed to kill some time. I thought it would be interesting to read about a woman close to my age grieving the loss of her mother.

While there was plenty of grieving, I’m not sure I really understood the point of the story. It was never clear whether or not Blanca had a good or bad relationship with her mom. I found it a bit creepy that Blanca’s one great love in her life was her mom; it definitely explained why she had such a hard time with the death.

I never connected with Blanca, so I found it hard to care much what happened. I’m not even a therapist and I know that her coping techniques were terrible (pot, alcohol, and sex), but she also didn’t seem to care whether or not her sons saw her high, drunk, or hooking up. I think the point of the book was that she realized the pain and grief would eventually pass, but there’s no real character growth or a-ha moment that leads up to it–she just realizes it.

Overall, I wasn’t impressed with the story. The writing style wasn’t bad (I’m not a huge fan of literary fiction, but I didn’t mind), but I wanted to see more structure to the story.

R rated for swearing and adult themes. Get your copy here.

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