Monday 26 February 2018

✪ Before I Let You Go ✪ Kelly Rimmer ✪





The 2:00 a.m. call is the first time Lexie Vidler has heard her sisters voice in years. Annie is a drug addict, a thief, a liarand in trouble, again. Lexie has always bailed Annie out, given her money, a place to sleep, sent her to every kind of rehab. But this time, shes not just strung outshes pregnant and in premature labor. If she goes to the hospital, shell lose custody of her babymaybe even go to prison. But the alternative is unthinkable.

As weeks unfold, Lexie finds herself caring for her fragile newborn niece while her carefully ordered life is collapsing around her. Shes in danger of losing her job, and her fiancé only has so much patience for Annies drama. In court-ordered rehab, Annie attempts to halt her downward spiral by confronting long-buried secrets from the sisters childhood, ghosts that Lexie doesnt want to face. But will the journey heal Annie, or lead her down a darker path?

Both candid and compassionate, Before I Let You Go explores a hotly divisive topic and asks how far the ties of family love can be stretched before they finally break.






ARC received from Hachette Australia for an honest review

This is the first Kelly Rimmer book that I have read, but it will definitely not be my last.

Before I Let You Go is not always an easy read - not the writing, but the subject matter. Dealing, with drugs, addiction and all those that it affects, I spent a good deal of my time reading through my tears.

Lexie and Annie's story is heartbreaking, it is frustrating, it is down right anger inducing at times.  I was drawn into the story right from the start, and I coudln't put it down once I got past the first few chapters.

It shows both signs of the addiction coin - the addict and the family who get caught up in their whirlwind.  I have been fortunate to neither be an addict or have and addict in the family, however I felt that to this reader that Ms Rimmer dealt with both sides of the story sympathetically.

The bond between Annie and Lexie makes the reader wonder - how did two sisters so close as they grow up end up where they are today?

I did feel more of a connection with Annie. Not the addiction side of things, she just felt more real to me than Lexie.  Lexie at times, to me, was quite unlikable, particularly the way she treated those around her - however this could just be me.

So when you pick up this book, make sure you have tisses (and probably vodka too!) close by as you will need them.