Jessica is a would be author with a famous mom who is a renowned poetess. They have a relationship that is strained to say the least.

Her mom, Cynthia, asks that she come with her on a tour after another major literary achievement. Jessica does, but there is no smooth going on this tour. Old hurts, new hurts come to a head, and an old flame happens to be on one of the stops.

Jessica's life is in shambles, her best friend has a life of her own, and she's just ended a major relationship. Could things get worse?

Yes they can. Sometimes things get worse, before they get better.

Thank you Caitlan Hamilton Marketing and Publicity and Ten16 Press as well as NetGalley for a digital ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

#JessicaHarmonHasSteppedAway #Ten16Press #CaitlanHarmonMarketing #ReynaMarder Gentin #NetGalley

4.5 stars Thanks to NetGalley and Ten16 Press for the ARC. This book was a pleasant surprise in its complexities with the characters, their relationships and experiences. This would be a good book club choice as there’s lots to unpack and discuss.

Despite her immense talent at writing, Jessica was always deemed to follow in her mother's footsteps as it was Cynthia that was always celebrated. Even Cynthia herself believed that Jessica was relegated to her shadows as it was her and not her daughter's talents that should be celebrated. It is no wonder that Jessica felt she had the inability to foster deep and strong relationships with others with the exception of Penny's given the fact that she grew up essentially without a mother who put Jessica first and was her strongest champion to succeed. Essentially Jessica joined the book tour to see if her and her mother could find a way to forage a strong relationship. Even with Cynthia suffering a stroke that weakened her to the point that even speech rendered her selfless, she still treated Jessica as second best in light of her community of worshippers. Jessica especially when learning about Grace, always knew she would be the consolation prize. I applauded the fact that Jessica moved on, embraced a relationship with Raj and wrote the memorial as a cathartic tribute to her mother.

This is a short but powerful dysfunctional family drama, with a side of delayed coming of age and a little bit of romance. Main character Jessica is stuck in life - she’s 30 and still living in the same apartment since college and working at a low paid job as an editor at a vanity publishing company, and has major commitment issues. She also has a truly not great relationship with her mother Cynthia, a world-famous poet who raised her as a single mother but never seemed to have much interest in her. Then her mom wins an award that will require her to travel around the country for six weeks, and asks Jessica to go with her. A heartwarming bonding trip this very definitely is not, but eventually secrets from the past do start surfacing.

The opening of the book made me think this was going to be on the lighter side of contemporary fiction, but it actually got quite sad and quite deep as well. Jessica was certainly a character with issues, but I was rotting for her all along. And Cynthia was beyond flawed and a horrible mother, but the ultimate revelations from the past really made both of their characters make sense. I don’t know how to explain it except to say it seems like author Reyna Marder Gentin thought deeply with psychological precision into what made these characters tick, as it just really felt emotionally true. And loved the side characters too.

There’s something about stories that explore complicated family relationships that always draws me in, and this one did not disappoint.
The characters are so well developed, two writers, a mother and daughter, caught between love and resentment. They feel real, raw, and emotional, with all those “what ifs” that make you reflect on how our families shape who we are.

It’s the kind of story that would make a perfect book club pick.