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"poignant drama"
Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted March 25, 2003

An anonymous benefactor is willing to contribute to a wellness center if the residents of Martha's Vineyard show they want it. Doctor Hastings comes up with the idea of a breast cancer support group to show how much the center is needed and asks Rita Blair-Rollins to be the Read more...

"Sequel to PLACES BY THE SEA is poignant journey of self-discovery."
Reviewed by Anne Barringer
Courtesy Old Book Barn Gazette
Posted April 9, 2003

Rita Blair-Robbins, first introduced to us in PLACES BY THE SEA, is now the proud, if beleaguered, mother of twin toddlers. When Doc Hastings, Martha Vineyard's caring and staid physician, asks her to counsel and guide three very distinct women, each in a different stage of breast cancer, she unwillingly Read more...

"Women's Fiction that Romance Readers will Enjoy"
Reviewed by Maudeen Wachsmith
Posted May 8, 2003

Rita Blair Rollins has no idea why Doc Hastings thinks she is qualified to lead a women's breast cancer support group. She figures they will soon find out just how unqualified she is and find someone else. But being the kind soul she is, she leaps to the Read more...

No one captures the tide of a woman's heart quite like Jean Stone in her highly acclaimed novels set on New England's celebrated island, Martha's Vineyard.

This new novel brings back one of the author's most memorable characters, Rita Blair-Rollins. Rita reluctantly meets three courageous women whose struggles ultimately change her life and reveal startling truths about the people and places she only thought she knew....

Summary

Lifelong Vineyarder Rita Blair-Rollins is more than a little surprised at old Doc Hastings's proposal. A former waitress, summer cottage housekeeper, and real-estate saleswoman, now the harried mother of rambunctious twin toddlers, daughter of a cantankerous mother, and wife of a saint, Rita thinks she is far from the perfect role model to head a breast cancer support group. But Doc Hastings needs her-her help could result in a much-needed women's center for the island. Rita sets aside her hectic life and plunges into a world of secrets, lies, and hope, where even her own past cannot stay hidden long.

The women begin as strangers: Katie, the vibrant, violet- eyed rock star who must choose between saving her own life and the life of her unborn child; Hannah, the selfless housewife who finds herself abandoned by her friends just when she needs them most; and Faye, the wealthy marketing executive who thought she'd already survived the greatest fight of her life.

Before the summer ends, these women will form a lasting bond. For Rita, it will be a season of bittersweet discovery-a summer when old hurts are finally healed and love becomes rekindled as life begins anew....