Before I Let You Go: A Novel

I haven't read any other reviews of this novel. I may read some after I write this and post it, but it wouldn't be fair for me to read any other reviews before I write my own. Before I Let You Go is a beautiful story of love and caring and tragedy. I read it as often as I could during the past ten days because I continued to want to know where it was leading. Any story that does that to me is a good story. It was by chance that I chose to read this novel; I was looking for something, anything, in Amazon, to read, and I looked at many previews. When I came across this novel and read the first few pages in the preview, I decided to take a chance. I wasn't disappointed. A long time ago a writing professor at the university told our class that if the writer could make the reader FEEL something for her characters, she had done her job. Well, Kelly has done hers. I felt something for each one of her characters, all of whom were multi-dimensional, REAL people. The story had me in tears from time to time. The sensitivity, the emotion, the sense of understanding, the poignancy with which Kelly writes made this novel a very worthwhile read. Not that I felt good with every page, because the story is not a pretty one, it's a rough one--but it's an honest one. I tell my kids, when you meet a person, you never know what life they have lived up until then. For that reason, you have to give people the benefit of the doubt. This novel is that kind of story. It is also a love story not like any other I've read. It is a love story between two sisters, and between a sister and her mother. I don't want to give anything away, but I do want to highly recommend this novel. If you are looking for a perfectly composed story, then you may miss a beautiful story here. I won't say the novel is perfect, but I'll say it was very beautiful and it REALLY made me FEEL something for the two sisters, and gave me a better appreciation for people who suffer from drug addiction. Good work, Kelly!

This is heart wrenching family drama / contemporary fiction earned four stars from me.SUMMARYWith a rewarding medical career and a fabulous fiancee, Lexie's life is going extremely well up until she gets the late night phone call she has been dreading for the past two years. Her younger sister is on the other end of the phone and desperately needs her help.Two years ago Lexie cut her sister, Annie, out of her life after years of dealing with Annie's heroine addiction. Now Annie desperately needs her and Lexie comes running.WHAT I LOVEDThis was a great story, so sad and frustrating yet beautiful, well told.WHAT I DIDN'T LOVESam was a little too good to be true. He seemed like a romance novel character.OVERALLGreat book. Totally worth reading. Don't take the length of this review as a statement on the quality of the story, take it as a statement on the fact that my life is crazy busy at the moment.

Such a wonderful book cried many tears while reading because I have a family member dealing with addiction and it's so sad but I really loved everything about this book loved the characters it was very well written first book by this author looking forward to reading more

If you have ever loved an addict, this book is a must read! I cried reading it and identified with it in so many ways. Not exactly how my story went, but I understood it and all the emotions of loving someone with this problem. This author is amazing!

This story about the bond between siblings, addiction and society’s response to this destructive disease is good. The writing is good, there are times when it meanders a little too much. The plot draws you in but there are times when it is a little too predictable. The characters are well drawn but there are times when they fall prey to stereotypes.All in all a good but not great read.

The 2:00 a.m. call is the first time Lexie Vidler has heard her sister’s voice in years. Annie is a drug addict, a thief, a liar—and 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, she’s not just strung out—she’s pregnant and in premature labor. If she goes to the hospital, she’ll lose custody of her baby—maybe even go to prison. But the alternative is unthinkable. As the weeks unfold, Lexie finds herself caring for her fragile newborn niece while her carefully ordered life is collapsing around her. She’s in danger of losing her job, and her fiancé only has so much patience for Annie’s drama. In court-ordered rehab, Annie attempts to halt her downward spiral by confronting long-buried secrets from the sisters’ childhoods, ghosts that Lexie doesn’t want to face. But will the journey heal Annie, or lead her down a darker path?My Thoughts: Before I Let You Go was a familiar story to me, after working with dysfunctional families and addicts for a number of years. Each story has its unique journey to the horrific slide toward “nothing left to lose,” but each one is filled with the frustration of human vulnerability and failure.The author offers a unique perspective with alternating narratives: Lexie’s voice in the first person, revealing the family history and how her own life has gone off the rails because of her sister’s addiction, followed by Annie’s journal entries. The horror of her stepfather’s abuse reveals much about Annie’s need to sever ties with family and regain control of her life, but whenever she faced challenges, she sought escape through drug abuse, sinking further into the pit.After the baby’s birth, she faced criminal charges, since the state’s laws demanded this outcome…unless she could complete a rehab program. Lexie stepped in to provide “kinship” care of the baby, who had suffered withdrawal from drugs after the birth. As a doctor, with her fiance Sam who is also a physician, the future looks promising for this temporary family.Would Annie finally reach sobriety? Would Lexie be able to let go of her own feeling of responsibility for Annie’s outcomes?A familiar and tragic tale that tugged at my heartstrings, even as I felt Lexie’s frustrations. I wanted to tell Annie that she needed to open up with the whole truth of her past life and what led her down that dark road…but, like Lexie, we had to let go of our own sense of responsibility for the outcomes. Urging Annie on would not be enough. Sadness follows these characters, but I felt hopeful for Lexie and the baby. By the end, I needed tissues to deal with the tearful finality of Annie’s choices. 4.5 stars.

This book had me from the first few pages. It drew me into Annie and Lexie’s life feeling so much for both of them. The author really captures childhood trauma and abuse and healing to the core. Phenomenal read!

Très beau roman écrit dans un anglais très compréhensible. Très passionnant. Je l'ai lu en 4 jours tellement il est captivant. Merci Kelly.

Read this novel in one reading the whole night. Couldn't put it down.😢 And couldn't stop tearing up and crying 😭. A really heartbreaking story. I don't have a Sister but the characters of Lexie and Annie touched me so much so deeply, my heart cracks of their love, life stories and POV. Heartbreaking and a healing one in the end. This is one of the best stories I have ever read and a book I will always remember, feel and think about. A really good novel to discuss about in every book club. A MUST read and don't forget to have your tissues beside you at all times. 😭💔😢

Oh my. What a beautiful, heart wrenching and moving story this is. It is really hard to put into words why but I'm going to try. This isn't as emotionally charged as perhaps Me Without You or A Mother's Confession, both of which I will openly confess made me cry. However, that said, it captures you in a different kind of way, manipulating a different set of emotions, and you cannot, as a reader, fail to be moved by Annie and Lexie's story.The story begins when Lexie receives a call in the middle of the night from her sister, Annie, begging for help. Annie is pregnant and nearing childbirth when she develops a complication, one which puts her and her unborn baby at risk. Lexie hasn't seen her sister in two years and has no idea about the baby. Annie has caused her untold problems in the past and yet Lexie does not hesitate over helping her, no matter the problems that Annie brings with her. Because Annie is a junkie, a heroine addict whose need for drugs nearly cost her sister everything.What follows is Annie and Lexie's story, both past and present, exploring how the two sisters came to be so very, very different, from their humble and yet contended beginnings as the daughter's of a fireman, through to their polar opposite circumstances now. Add in another layer of jeopardy - in the state of Alabama, Annie's addiction can see her face charges for child endangerment which could see her face jail time - and you are set for a tense, sometimes shocking and altogether emotionally charged tale.Now I don't want to go into the story much further than that. You really need to read for yourself. And if you read the author notes at the end of the novel, you will understand the very personal inspiration which drew Kelly Rimmer to the story in the first place. Now I would not claim to have any first hand knowledge on the subject of addiction - the closest I have come is an infatuation with food containing chillies - but every part of this book rang true to me. The presentation of Annie's condition, her lack of willingness to take charge of her addiction or to go to group therapy. Her mistrust of others. As you learn more of her story you will understand why and understand how a young girl, who once showed so much promise, went right off the rails.In contrast you have Lexie, a woman who has pushed to get herself out of the situation that she and Annie were thrust into. There are key reasons for the difference in their fortune, and they are shocking, gut wrenching ones which seem almost inevitable. The way in which Kelly Rimmer expands upon Lexie's character, her conflict over protecting her sister and the growing love she feels for the baby, even how defensive she is over her relationship with her family and the anger she feels towards their mother, it all rings true. It is perfectly pitched and very well written.There are so many moments in this book that I wanted to cry for the two sisters. For everything they lost and everything they could have been. The ending, although I could see it coming, was no less heartbreaking to read. To think that things could have been so different, that one decision, one change of routine for very beautiful and positive reasons could lead to so much heart ache. That the keeping of secrets too dark to share could cost a family so much. This was such a moving and well written story that it will likely stay with me for some time.Kelly Rimmer's books have a habit of doing that. Don't believe me, read one for yourself.

Deep, poignant, true and moving as only Kelly Rimmer's books can be.I love her style. Long may she write.