I'm so lost on how I feel about this book. It's... difficult.

When Angel and her brother TJ are brought to live with her grandparents on Martha's Vineyard, their world has been turned upside down. Their father has just been murdered by their mother. Their grandmother changes their names to Angela and Thomas, to give them a new life.

Angela had always been fond of the island; they would spend summers there with their grandparents, and she was close to her cousin Kiki, who was only a year younger. Upon moving, Kiki's father (their father's brother) warns Kiki away from Angela, and it's almost easier to Kiki to hate Angela, who she'd been jealous of. Angela had gotten away from the island, and now that she's back, she gets to live with her rich grandparents, while Kiki is stuck alone with her abusive alcoholic father.

Both girls fall in love with Bo Brooks, the island's baseball star who's sure to make it to the major leagues. Angela dated him first, but when she moves away for college, Kiki move in. Bo loves Kiki and can't imagine leaving her, but he can't resist carrying on an affair with Angela when she's in town. Both girls end up pregnant with his child, and as luck would have it, both go into labor the same stormy night. Kiki well before her due date, due to her father's abuse when he found out she was pregnant. Angela's grandmother Kathleen is the only doctor available, and she opens the closed hospital, hoping help with arrive in time. None does, and when Kiki arrives later, Kathleen is forced to deliver both babies, leaving the girls alone and struggling more than she'd wished to. One girl goes home with a baby, one girl is sent to the psych ward convinced she'd heard her stillborn baby's cry.

The years that follow, Kiki struggles as a single mother. She's finally free of her father, but life is not good. She's still stuck on the island, left with Bo's indifference and his parents' cold disapproval. She spends years in a shed with the daughter she can't seem to feel close to. Angela struggles with her memories of the night, with the fear she'd done something awful to her child that she can't remember. Just like she can't remember clearly the night her father died.

I'll be honest - I struggled through the middle of this book. While the trauma they were raised with, and their continued experiences trying to survive, were dealt with expertly... I just didn't like them. Was I sympathetic to the trauma they faced? Did I wish for them to find better lives, absolutely! Instead, they were caught up on both wanting to keep Bo - who was in no way an ideal boyfriend. How either of them were attracted to him was beyond me, and the years they wasted in that pursuit, the pain caused by it... it made all three of them toxic.

One of the books I was close to not finishing, it might come as a surprise to why it's getting a 4 star rating from me. I think, in the end, it came down to the fact that while their problems didn't all magically go away, things did take a turn for the better. We did get answers - not ones that made everything ok. I severely disliked actions that were taken, to the point that I gave up on characters and thought them beyond redemption. Why should I care, when they instigated so much of their own suffering? However... I did find it very realistic. What both girls experienced, the trauma that shaped them, and their struggles to survive. To just be ok. Real life doesn't always have happy endings. You can't just wish things better. Instead, you have to work at it daily - and you're going to need help along the way.

If you enjoy realistic stories, stories of people who live with trauma and struggle to find their way. Of people who don't make the right choices, who some how seem to make that wrong step at every turn, this one is for you. If you like stories of the women who survive, who find themselves wanting to give every opportunity to those who come after them, this one is for you.

I've visiting Martha's Vineyard so liked the idea of reading a book set on the island. I enjoyed the book and the intertwining stories of the families and how fractures can open up and misunderstandings can linger and make things worse for everyone.

You were rooting for it to all turn out well in the end but not sure what that ending looks like. Gave a different side to the island than the shiny tourist one.

Im using this book for next months book club. Its a feel good page turner about perseverance and love how the island becomes a chatacter.

I really enjoyed the scenery and descriptions of Martha’s Vineyard in this book. However, I just didn’t connect to the story and I had a hard time finishing it. I just wasn’t for me.

Unfortunately I wasn't a huge fan of this story. I was initially drawn to the setting itself, but everything else failed to grab me. The characters weren't my favorites by any means. Still, it wasn't a bad book, just one that didn't suit my personal tastes. Hopefully others like it more.

The Vineyard Remains ny A. McKnight, published by Lake Union Publishing, is a story that goes deep under the skin.
Two women on a journey to Martha's Vineyard, finding themselves/ a new purpose. An intriguinf trope, well written, a quick read that gives all the feels.

I don' t know why I finished this book, I found it to be so bad in parts. Two cousins,two babies(one a stillborn) and the father of both infants are bought together in this book to reveal these dysfuncyional people. I did enjoy reading about the scenery on Martha"s Vineyard. I will not be recmmending this book.

Angela and Kiki were drawn together at the same time as they were pushed apart. Both had tragic childhood, Angela’s mother was a murderer, and the reason Angela came to live on Martha’s Vineyard. It’s the reason she met her cousin Kiki, who is own childhood was marred by the disappearance and presumed death of her mother. The two women had too much in common, including the same man. But they come together when a box of bones is found in the woods nearby, and the two women realize they have much to learn about the secrets their families have kept from them

I give 2.5 stars. This book was a quick read, but heavier in topic than I anticipated. Both narrators were unlikable, and the plot twist was fairly obvious from the beginning. It took the characters much too long to work it out for themselves and constantly got in their own way with how they dealt with the tough situations they were thrown into.

** I received an advanced readers copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!**