Sunday, June 7, 2020

Book Review: "Tangled in Ivy" by Ashley Farley

Family drama, secrets, enduring love—this one’s got it all!!

Lillian is there when her beloved father passes away. She is devastated by his loss and wonders how she’ll carry on. But just before he died, he told her to “look to Hemingway for answers.” What could that mean?

When their father’s will is read, Lillian and her estranged twin sister, Layla, learn that the Stoney family fortune has dwindled nearly to nothing. This sets up a war between the two sisters, familiar territory for the both of them.

Escaping to the family cottage, Lillian finds a thumb drive and a letter marked “for Lillian” inside a hollowed-out book by Ernest Hemingway. The thumb drive contains her father’s memoir of sorts, and it recounts the story of his relationship with the twins’ mercurial mother, Ivy. As Lillian reads the document, she finally begins to understand the root of her strained relationship with Layla.

But more importantly, the document sheds light on the events that occurred the night Ivy died, when the twins were six. Lillian has always blocked out the events of that night, and always has borne some guilt for what happened, even though she doesn’t know why.

This is the second book of Farley’s I’ve read and I’m blown away at how completely she hooks you into her story almost immediately. I’m a sucker for family drama and melodrama, but this book also has rich character development and gorgeous imagery. (God, I love Charleston and the South Carolina coast.)

There might not be a lot of surprises, but I literally read this in one sitting. So addictive!

Excited to be on the blog tour for this book. Kate Rock Book Tours, Ashley Farley, and Leisure Time Books provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!

The book publishes 6/9.

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