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She wakes up in a hospital in Ireland and doesn’t remember anything. She doesn’t know why she’s there or even who she is. When she’s told her name is Clementine and she’s from Cleveland, Ohio (on Lake Erie), it doesn’t mean anything to her. And when she learns she’s the only survivor of an airplane crash, and reporters are waiting outside the hospital for more news of this “lucky” young woman, she takes a chance and escapes.
Kieran is visiting the hospital, and when they end up chatting in the courtyard, “Jane” convinces him to take her away. She doesn’t know how she can face a father she doesn’t remember or recognize from a photo, and she doesn’t know how she can fit back into a life that’s somehow not hers anymore. So Kieran takes Jane to his family’s vacation home near the ocean in small-town Waterville, Ireland. There, Jane tries to start figuring out what she likes and doesn’t like, piecing together a personality, a self, saying she’ll give herself some time to regain her memories or at the very least get used to the idea of creating a new self. But she has to deal with Kieran’s antagonistic twin sister, Siobhan, and as time goes on and she gets to know Kieran, she must also try to figure out how to deal with her growing feelings for him. Can she start a completely new life as Jane with Kieran? Should she? What about her father and her past life?
I was utterly charmed by this story. I enjoyed spending time with the characters, spending time in small-town Ireland in the summer, and being along for the ride as Kieran and Clementine/Jane get to know each other, open up to each other, and challenge each other to find their best authentic selves despite unusual obstacles. And when certain truths were revealed near the end, I was swept up and my heartstrings definitely plucked.
I’ll be checking out other books by Rebekah Crane and hope they are just as satisfying as this one was. It made for a good, mostly light read with just enough heft that kept it real and not just fluffy.
Rated: High, for 8 instances of strong profanity, and more uses of mild and moderate language. Sexual content includes some talk about a character’s possible past sex life or interests, and a couple of scenes of sex that largely “fade to black” after some kissing or removing of some clothing.
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