This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life in Books.

This was really a great story. I wasn't sure what to expect when I started listening to this audiobook but I soon found myself hooked. The story touched on so many difficult topics and everything worked together in a way that I wouldn't have expected. I really liked that the story was told from multiple points of view and I thought that each perspective really added an important piece to the overall puzzle. I really ended up enjoying this book.

This is a book that is really about a lot of things. It is a book that tells the story of two sisters, Lily and Rose, mending their relationship. Lily and Rose have seen very little of each other in the years leading up to the start of the book but when Rose needs Lily, she comes to help. That is just one part of the story. This book also focuses on a little girl with disabilities who has a special gift.

Antoinette was a great character. She is nonverbal but she still says so much. She is her mother's world and the feeling is mutual. She is a caring child that doesn't want to see anyone or anything ill or in pain. She is willing to do anything she can to help take care of those that she loves. Unfortunately, Antoinette's gift comes with a price that those who love her work to protect her from.

I loved how so many different elements came together to tell this story. I loved the parts from Rose's point of view that really demonstrated her love for Antoinette. Lily's struggle to fit in and the things she struggles with in her life every day was very well told. Seth and Will both added to the story with their actions in the present and they both had really interesting pasts. I enjoyed the magical realism elements that helped to tell this story.

I loved the narration. I have listened to Andi Arndt several times in the past and have always enjoyed her work. This was the first time that I have listened to Cassandra Campbell and I thoroughly enjoyed the parts of the book that she narrated. I think that using two narrators really added to the impact of the story. Andi Arndt did narrate the bulk of the story but they both did an equally wonderful job. This was an emotional story and both narrators really did a great job expressing a lot of strong feelings.

I would recommend this book to others. This is the first book by Stephanie Knipper that I have read and I am really impressed by her ability to write wonderful characters dealing with a lot of difficult issues. I would definitely like to read from this author in the future.

I received a review copy of this book from HighBridge Audio via LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

Initial Thoughts
I enjoyed this story. The narration was great. I really liked the little bit of magic that made its way into the story.  

Awen Finn is a hurricane of joy and she has been able to transform her life in a gift for many other people in difficulty. I had review time ago her wonderful wonderful book: How to beat Criticism and Feel Good. Awen is back now with Soul Music Discover your personal type so YOU can lead a life of happiness and success.
 In the book you will find many singers or band's from The Police to the U2, passing from John Lennon or the Foo Fighters, with many songs explained in detail. Your favorite song will define your character

Why?

Movies of course but first of all songs are able to speak directly to our soul.
Songs are the soundtrack of all our life. When you will discover your favorite song you can also understand much better your character and your can build a most successful life  because you will have discovered your real YOU!

I love and appreciate the biography of Awen because through sufferance she has been in grade to become a successful person! And like her, you can do that as well.


I thank LibraryThing and Awen Finn  for this book.

Anna Maria Polidori

If importing books to LibraryThing, make sure you also add to collection "Your Library" or the books won't show up under "Your books."

(Background:  I'm importing my goodreads and Leafmark backup files.  I started by importing a piece of my goodreads backup to collection "goodreads import" and while it worked, none of the books showed in my library ["Your books"].  Did again importing to both "Your Library" and "goodreads import" collections and they showed up.)

I'm at http://www.librarything.com/profile/Spurts if anyone is interested.

Recently released iPad/iPhone app comes with a free lifetime membership (no book limit) for installing the app so giving it another swing at least as a backup for my book/shelf data.

As per usual when importing to a new site -- bookcovers missing in bulk.

I tried and dismissed LibraryThing years ago plus disliked their partial amazon ownership.   Several former and current goodreads friends are there, so we'll see.  I'm not even sure if I'll echo any reviews there unless possibly Leafmarks' export file reviews import seamlessly where I'd reimport occasionally--I'm not very trusting of any site with even minor amazon ownership where I doubt I want more reviews there than might import from my 2012 goodreads backup.

Their forums/bookclubs are older and may be more developed than Leafmarks or Booklikes (something I really wish one or the other would upgrade) -- but past first impressions say not very welcoming and rather full of themselves.  

So far as I know, booklikes has no backup or export for your books/shelves/reviews.  Moot point for me anyway because the shelves haven't worked for me (like most menus) since book database was introduced.  I'm reviewing and socializing here, shelving and echoing reviews at Leafmarks and looking for upgrades or new sites for the bookclubs that are dwindling for me on goodreads.

Now you can fill up your Shelf with books from your library on LibraryThing. Just import them onto your BookLikes Shelf :-)

To make it happen export your LibraryThing books to csv file, go to Settings/Import on BookLikes, select your csv file and click Import.

Your books will be imported according to reading statuses: Read, Planning to read (To read on LT), Currently reading and your tags will be changes into shelves. For example, if a book has tags: mystery, crime, romance in your LibraryThing library it will be placed on thematic shelves with the same names on your BookLikes Shelf. If your imported book has got a review, the text will be placed on your Blog and the book will receive marker Reviewed on your Shelf.

Import from LibraryThing includes: books from your library with reading statuses, book reviews, rating stars, shelves (tags on LT).

Please note that during import we don’t overwrite data and ratings unless the book in your csv file is different edition with different ISBN that the one on your BookLikes Shelf.

Updates - New Friends Page:

We've moved your Followers and blogs you Follow on BookLikes to a new place. Friends tab is placed on the upper navigation bar, next to Explore, Giveaways, Daily Deals and Goodies. Apart from Followings and Followers, you'll find there Find friends and Invite friends tabs. Now it will be easier for you to monitor who follows you and peep into your Followings' Shelves.

You can easily Find your friends by connecting your social media in Settings (Twitter and Facebook - if you haven't done it already) or by using search friends option - use mail, blog name or BookLikes username to find people you know and want to follow. 

If you know other avid readers, let them know that you're on BookLikes and invite them by pasting their mail into invite box on Invite friends tab. 

You can also search interesting blogs on Explore page where we present BookLikes Community and on Followings, Followers and Timeline pages on other blogs as well as by using search tag box where you can find readers who have the same reading taste and reviewed the same books as you did (on Dashboard in the right column, write tag or author or book title in search tag box).

Hint: We're planning some big changes concerning Explore page and blog designs so stay tuned :-)  If you would like to contribute, create completely new themes, show off your design work and make it available for BookLikes Community, please contact us.