Before I Let You Go: A Novel Paperback – April 3, 2018

This story is moving, it’s heart wrenching and hard. There’s struggles, and loss such deep grief & loss. But there is also hope and healing & justice. Definitely a good read!

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.

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!

Great book that will hold your interest throughout the book. She is a great storyteller and I have read most of her books. They are all first rate.

I gave this four stars because the writing and story was good. But I am not sure how I feel about this book. It is very a sad situation.I blame the mother (Deborah) 100%. She received a pension and her home mortgage was paid off after her husband dies. All she needed to do was get off her ass and get some type of job. She was not educated, but she could of gone to work at a grocery store where they get a pension, pay raises and are in union. At least here in NJ they do. Maybe in Alabama they do not. Then get two jobs, do what it takes to take care of her two girls. Going back to that sect was insane. What kind of mother allows some man to beat and degrade her girls? No excuses sorry. To me she was lazy and took the easy way out for her.I was not so sure about Sam either. He seemed a little controlling. If I read one more time about how Alexis needed to ask him for help, I was going to scream. Most men run from that kind of baggage. He seemed a little unbelievable. To me he was annoying.I just did not connect with this book for some reason. But I do recommend it because I think some women would relate to this story. Plus, the author is making a strong point regarding addiction, abuse and how women are viewed.

Few of us have escaped the beast of addiction. It seems to attack every race, sex, and economic group. Although Rimmer develops the characters well, somehow her story felt more like an afternoon teen educational special to me and did not live up to its potential. With that said, the story held my attention and I found myself rooting for the characters in this book.

This was an absolutely great story that made my feel. Love stories that make you feel something.

I couldn't put this book down. It captured me from the very beginning in the realities of addiction; the trauma that leads to the need for escape, and the constant hope that life can get better and the past can be forgotten. Honesty can also lead to healing if we can bring ourselves to get there and realize we are stronger than we think.