This book had me from the very beginning and I didn't put it down until I was finished.

It's told from two different time lines and two different women in the same bloodline but 64 years apart. In one (the year is 1999), Justine, with her two young daughters in tow, leaves California and the ridiculously manipulative Patrick (her live in boyfriend) behind to claim the Minnesota lake house she just inherited from her great Aunt Lucy. In the other, great Aunt Lucy tells the story of what really happened that fateful summer in 1935 when her little sister Emily disappeared without a trace never to be seen again. The summer Lucy and her older sister Lilith would change forever.

Some of these reviews mention the story starting out slowly and then developing more later on. I disagree with this. I was completely taken in by the time Justine's first chapter was over. Her suspicion about Patrick's actions and her quick decision to leave once she had an out.

As the secrets of the Evans women start to unfold (both in the past and the present) and I started to understand what wouldn't be confirmed until closer to the end, I found myself taking a moment every once in awhile to brace for what I knew would eventually be coming. Even after I got past that part, I was caught off guard by the end of Lucy's story and actually put my hand over my mouth in shock and said "Oh my god".

The book ended with Justine and her daughters, along with a couple other important side characters, carrying out Lucy's wish for her final resting place. Scattering her ashes in the lake. The perfect ending if you ask me. I'd definitely recommend this one.