Aimee Tierney has a perfect life. About to marry the man of her dreams, her best friend since grade school. A chef close to opening her own restaurant. Until the unimaginable happens.
On our wedding day, my fiancé, James, arrived at the church in a casket.
These first powerful words of the novel thrust us into the tumult that has become Aimee’s new and unexpected reality.
Then into Aimee’s grief and bewilderment enters Lacy, a mysterious psychic who tells Aimee that James isn’t really dead. But Aimee saw the casket with her beloved lowered into the ground. A cruel prank, or a scam for money, she isn’t sure which.
Aimee robotically moves through her life. The sweetness of the bread she bakes every day no longer gives her a sense of home and self. She and James had been inseparable since they were little, and now she feels she’s missing half of herself.
Aimee’s best friends Kristen and Nadia try their best to get Aimee to move on. But Aimee can’t get the psychic’s words out of her head. What if James weren’t dead?
At Nadia’s request, Aimee checks out an art gallery Nadia is renovating, and meets Ian, a talented photographer preparing to show his work. Ian is charming and friendly, and Aimee is shocked by the electrical spark between them, one she hasn’t felt since James was alive. But Aimee can’t bring herself to let Ian become anything more than a great friend.
After an unexpected twist of circumstance, Aimee makes arrangements to open her own gourmet coffee house and café, working hard to make her dream of owning a restaurant come true, and making life more bearable without James. But soon, Aimee receives a postcard in the mail that changes everything, Could James still be alive after all, and living in Mexico? What are the family secrets James had kept during all the years they’d known each other? And what would she do if she actually found him?
Torn between the memory of James, and the warmth and love of Ian, Aimee must decide what direction the rest of her life will take.
I looked across the ocean, my mind as chaotic as the fierce waves. Seeds of doubt sprouted in the pit of my stomach and grew thorny vines, twisting around my bones. No, I wasn’t sure. Not anymore.
Lonsdale keeps the suspense in the forefront as Aimee tries to uncover exactly what happened to James, while also trying to find herself. I kept turning pages, wanting to solve the mystery of James’ disappearance, and to discover the next twist in Aimee’s life.
And just as I was satisfied with what fate had planned for Aimee and James, Lonsdale’s last two pages threw me for a loop, making me actually say Wow! and wonder how in the world they would deal with the truth!
I recommend Everything We Keep for those looking for romance, friendship, mystery, and suspense all rolled into an entertaining page-turner.
