Blog Tour: The Imperfect Art of Caring – Jessica Ryn

One small act can make a big difference

Violet Strong is strong by name but not by nature, or so she thinks. She listens but never talks about herself. She’s friendly but doesn’t have many real friends. She’s become good at keeping people at a distance ever since she left home at eighteen and never looked back.

But when Violet is forced to return home to care for her estranged mother Glenys, she quickly finds out that life as a carer isn’t easy. Feeling overwhelmed, she’s forced to turn to the other local carers, including childhood friend Adam, for help. Although returning home still feels like a mistake, maybe it will help Violet right some wrongs. After all, she can’t keep running from her past forever, and in learning to look after others, perhaps Violet can start to finally love herself.

My thoughts: I loved Jessica Ryn’s first book, The Extraordinary Hope of Dawn Brightside, and this is brilliant too. It made me cry, I felt so connected to the characters. I’m technically a carer, although I have my own disabilities, my husband is a paraplegic and I care for him. It can be very lonely at times, when things have been bad, and I totally related to the caring figures in this book. But I also related to Abbas, and his mental health issues, I have depression and anxiety, there are days when I can’t cope, can’t get out of bed, can’t do simple things. So I understood him, and Violet’s mum Glenys, too.

This book was so lovely and sweet and sad, and I wanted to reach into the pages and hug Violet and Tammy. Honestly if you need a dose of comfort reading, full of friendship and hot chocolate and soup, and love, then read this.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.