Livie Saunders is fluent in the language of flowers; she taught the meanings to her fiancé, Cotton O'Dell, but then Cotton vanished without explanation on their wedding day forcing Livie to learn the language of desolation. Heartbroken, she buries her wedding gown beneath a garden pond and she resolves to move on, but there are nights when she slips . . . into a sequined red dress and a pair of stiletto heels, a stranger's bed, a little anonymous oblivion that is not without consequence. Still, she recovers a semblance of ordinary life and imagines herself content. After all, Cotton told her to forget about him. Livie even maintains a friendship with Delia, Cotton's mother, whom he also abandoned without a word of explanation.
Then, six years later, an unsigned card and a bouquet of irises signal Cotton's presence, but his reunion with Livie isn't as joyous as he had hoped. While she struggles to forgive him, Livie can't hide her own past and how she has changed since Cotton left.
Meanwhile, Cotton is still haunted by the crime that caused him to flee...a crime for which the legal clock is still ticking. For a moment, it seems they can both forget the past and rebuild their lives together, but then Cotton goes missing again.
Time telescopes, avenues of escape close, and as lives hang in the balance, choice teeters between mercy and revenge. And a decision that will take only a moment will carry the consequences of a lifetime.
THE NINTH STEP is a story of redemption, of being brought to your knees to face a monstrous error and somehow finding the strength to make it right. Even if that effort breaks your heart, endangers your freedom, and ultimately threatens your life (Goodreads).
My Thoughts:
I requested this book from NetGalley, I thought it sounded interesting. I have to say it was not what I expected, not that that is a bad thing.
This book revolves around forgiveness; but it also deals with mistakes that people make some big some small. But the main focus is forgiveness. I am not sure that forgiveness is everything, personally I think that forgiveness is overrated. When I read this book I asked myself who I ever forgive a drunk driver who kills my mother or anyone close to me for that matter. I do not think I could or would want to forgive. There are some things that you never can forgive or forget.
Regardless of whether I would forgive Cotton, I still sympathise with him and what he did. I know that he regrets what he has done, but it is little to late. But at least he is trying to make amends, and it can not be easy to face the family and tell them that he is the one who killed their loved one in a hit and run. It must be hard to face Livie after so many years and dealing with the fact that he left her at altar.
Like I say I do not know if I could forgive any of this, hit and run or being left at the altar by the man I love. But than again I have never been in this situation. You never know what you would do if you are actually faced with this something like this. If I say no I would not forgive, would that make me bitter and unable to move on. I really do not think so. I do not believe that you have to forgive someone in order to move on.
Overall this was a good read and I really wanted to see what happens to Cotton. I felt for him, and that tells me that the author did a very good job when she makes me sympathise with a drink driver who killed someone and run off. Writing was good and characters were well defined and developed. This was my first book by this author and I have to say that I liked and enjoyed it very much. Even though this book deals with a serious issue the book is not too heavy on the subject matter which I liked.
I give this book 4/5 STARS - Happy Birthday!!!
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