Meridy Dresden has spent her life trying to be perfect. At least, all the years after her teenage years, when she was a hellion who drove her mother crazy. The struggle to control her impulses and stifle her free-spirited personality came about after her first love and high school boyfriend was killed in a tragic fire. Carrying guilt for the cause of that fire has changed Meridy's life.

But despite that, Meridy has built a well-ordered, contented life with her husband, Beau. Then she hears that her hometown, where the fire occurred, is trying to make an innocent man pay to restore the building burned down in the fire. All these years later, and Meridy knows she must go home to make things right. Home to a mother who has never approved of her.

As Meridy reacquaints herself with old friends (most of whom she lost contact with after the fire), she begins to find those parts of herself she had buried in a desperate struggle to survive after the fire. But can she return to her life with Beau and her children after such deep soul- searching? Can Beau even love the woman she is becoming?

I enjoyed this book, caught up in the story of Meridy's childhood and the terrific girl she was then. I definitely wanted to see how it ended. But the book also had the feeling of being too trite. The storyline didn't challenge me at the end. I think it wrapped up too easily, too neatly, given the extremes of emotion that had gone before. Also, there's a sub-story line with the husband Beau that I thought was too contrived.

Book Summary

Meridy Dresden was once a free-spirited, fun-loving girl. All that changed when the boy she loved was killed in a tragic fire. Now, years later, Meridy must return to the South Carolina Low Country and summon the courage to make a decision that may destroy everything she's worked so hard to protect-including her heart.