I received a free copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. This is a beautiful and enriching story of love, friendship, loss, forgiveness and redemption. Ellie and James Cameron were the perfect couple until the Vietnam War took James and left Ellie the single mother of two young girls. The only friend she had was Nina Judd, the woman whose cabin James had rented for them while he was away. Jamie and Kate Cameron were polar opposites. Kate was three years older than her sister. Not only did she help to raise her, but Kate was the perfect child, while Jamie struggled through life, leaving her older sister to pick up the pieces, cover for her and made everything okay again. The one anchor they have is dying of cancer, and they all reunite at The Sandpiper to be reminded of what is really important.

Susan. Brace Lovell has written a wonderful book. The characters are so realistic and a connection is immediately felt with them. Each scene felt like I was right there on the patio sipping hot chocolate and chatting along with them. I think the most important thing I learned about myself as I read Jamie's plight, is that in order to really move on, I need to forgive myself before I can completely accept others forgiveness. This novel certainly feels more like a family friend, one that I will revisit time and time again.
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The Sandpiper, a novel by Susan Lovell is the story of Ellie and her two daughters, Kate and Jamie. The setting is a small town near Lake Michigan. Raising children by yourself is never easy no matter why you find yourself a single parent. When the demons of alcoholism or mental illness touches your family, it clouds and challenges every decision or action you or your loved ones make, staying together on the journey is so much more difficult.

Jamie, Kate and Ellie’s thoughts and actions are laid bare in this novel and touch the tender spots that always exist with family and friends that must fight the battle with addiction on a daily basis. The descriptions of their surroundings are beautiful, the sense of love and hope seems to be ever present, no matter how tenuous. Walking the moment to moment struggle with this family makes living with alcoholism, drugs and other addictions all the more real and helped me understand the tremendous challenges so many families face on a regular basis. I give this a 4 star review. ( )

I received a copy of this book through the GoodReads Giveaway program.

Put this novel on your Summer Reading List. This is a first novel from Ms. Lovell, who before this has written several non-fiction works. I hope she's working on her second novel.

If you've read and liked Patricia Gaffney or Nancy Thayer novels, this one is right up your alley. Strong female characters making up a tight knit family, overcoming adversity. Perfect Kate, married to a surgeon, trying desperately to have a baby, and her sister Jamie, a recovering alcoholic/addict. Their father died in the Vietnam War when Kate was a toddler and before Jamie was born. Their mother never remarried. Include an adopted "aunt", a former high school English teacher, now retired and dying of pancreatic cancer. She pulls no punches in voicing her opinions to anyone in the small town in Michigan that they live in.
Wonderful story, and a satisfactory conclusion. ( )

The Sandpiper is the name of a home on Lake Michigan, where the lives of four women, Nina who owns the property befriends Ellie when Ellie's husband goes off to a war. She is pregnant with Jamie when her and Kate move in with Nina. Nina is a down to earth woman who becomes the women's adopted 'aunt'. Nina finds out she has cancer and the women all come back to the Sandpiper to help Nina through this devastating time.
Kate has always looked out for Jamie, who never got to meet her father at all, but Jamie's addictions to drugs and alcohol tear them apart. Kate does not trust Jamie and Jamie is dealing with daddy issues, if you will. Kate remembers their father but Jamie of course was not even born yet when he died in the war.
Kate and her husband battle infertility issues, Jamie battles her addiction, Ellie battles her inability to talk about her husband and of course at the center of the story is Nina who faces the biggest battle of all. Together these women make up a dysfunctional family, but in the end things do work out as they do in most families.
I loved how I got totally immersed into the lives of these awesome women and the author wrote with such a depth of feeling as to each of these women were going through. This is not a chic lit novel and it is not all touchy feely, but it shows the emotions and inner turmoil of modern everyday women. This could be your family or mine. I highly recommend this entertaining bittersweet read.
I received a copy of the book for review and was not monetarily compensated for my review. ( )