
Description
Does running away from your problems lead you right back to them?
Clarissa Walton, her mother Essie, and Gerald Wainwright are living miserable lives.
Clarissa and Essie are dominated by their father and husband, Gerald is bullied both at work and at home.
That is until the day Clarissa and Gerald find themselves unwilling participants in a hypnotic stage show and after that, things begin to change.
Clarissa and Essie decide to go on a mother/daughter bonding road trip. When fate throws Gerald across their path, he ends up joining them. After all, he’s just found the woman he’s loved for over twenty-five years, he’d be a fool not to.
As the three travellers drive their way around the country, new secrets are shared and old secrets begin to come out, changing everything they thought they knew.
Will being out of the shadow of their abusers help them to grow and move on?
Or will the open road bring them right back to where they started?
My thoughts
I love stories where characters undergo growth and transformation. I also love stories set in tiny homes or mobile homes, so there was a lot for me to enjoy here!
When Clarissa and Gerald become the subjects of a stage hypnotist they walk out changed people. Clarissa has courage to stand up to her tyrannical father, which in turn emboldens her mother, Essie, to rebel. Once their paths cross with Gerald’s it sets in motion huge life changes for them all as they embark on a road trip together. Essie and Clarissa’s mother-daughter bond blossoms, and Gerald and Essie rekindle a long lost friendship from before her disastrous marriage.
Essie, Clarissa, Gerald, and not to mention dreamy Ross, are lovely characters who I would want to be my best friends and neighbours in real life. Their individual personal growth away from the bullying they left behind was heart-warming. I really enjoyed their travels, but especially the part set in Scotland. I didn’t want them to leave! It is a safe read in that I knew everything would turn out well in the end and come-uppances would be, but the story still held plenty of different elements to hold my attention. I liked that the ending was satisfying without being generic.
Now I’m wondering who will be featured in the next book in this new series!