I absolutely loved this book. :) I've read all her books (this is the eighth, I think) and this is my favorite.

Rebecca Strand is not doing so well. Her job isn't a perfect fit (she's a paralegal at a divorce law firm, and she's surrounded by angry couples all day) and things aren't right with her boyfriend either (he's a partner at her firm). But the worst thing is that her dad's dying of cancer. And one day, not long before the end, he tells her that she has a half-sister that she didn't know about, one who's two years younger than she is (making the sister 26).

After her dad dies, Rebecca heads to Maine, where her sister (Joy--so the title's clever) lives. She has this big fantasy that she and Joy will be insta-BFF, but Joy's not so excited to meet her back. So now Rebecca has to figure out what to do with her life and how to make Joy her sister.

I think part of the reason I loved this book so much is that a lot of it is true for me, too. It's not exactly right--my dad did die of cancer and I do have a half-sister, but from my biological father, not my dad. But it's hard, because she's 10 years younger than me and we're not close. And we may never be, but that's okay. There's a line in the book that Joy says, and it's something like, "We're not sisters. We're related by DNA." (That is not an exact quote.)

And that's the thing. My best friend Jen is my sister. Meredith and I are related by DNA. (And not even good DNA; our biological father is an ass.) But I think most people get the distinction. There are people that you consider family and there are those that you're related to. And "family" doesn't always mean that there's a blood tie.

But her books are always good, so even without the weird family dynamics I have, I bet you'll like it. :)