Tour Stop & Book Review: The Second Daughter by J. Jeffrey

The Second Daughter
by J. Jeffrey

• Print Length: 275 pages
• Publisher: Top Press; 1 edition (January 3, 2013)
• Purchase Link: Amazon

Book Description

YOU try turning out all right after you overhear your mother wishing you hadn’t been born.

It had started out well. Umbrellas tangled. A storybook romance followed. A wonderful wedding. A beautiful, sweet first daughter. They were complete, a family, happy.

And then they went and had another daughter.

Her charming and witty fraud of a father Theodore starts disappearing, then worse, coming back. Her once allegedly sweet older sister Regina angrily resents her, and the sisters are at constant war. Her poor harried mother Helen is so busy what-iffing about the life she might have had that she overlooks the life she is actually having. Everyone blames younger daughter Debra for pretty much everything as the family slowly, then quickly, then one day explosively disintegrates. Along the way there are secrets and lies, heartbreaks and betrayals, plus the dramatic unexpected death of a central character at a pivotal moment. Debra, now a young woman, finds herself living awkwardly alone with her embittered mother when the phone rings—and her mother’s secret past suddenly crashes back into the present. Their life may be about to change forever; or rather, perhaps, revert back to what it should have been all along.

But not exactly because of that phone call, as it turns out.

Because of the remarkable second daughter. For what Debra Gale has is unyielding determination. What she has is an irrepressible capacity to love.

And now at last what she has is a chance.

The complex dynamics of a changing family. Mother, daughters, sisters, and the father who both divides and unifies them. That dramatic unexpected death, plus a fair amount of banana cream pie. Welcome to The Second Daughter: a funny but poignant, and ultimately unusual but beautiful love story.

My Review

Young couple, Helen and Theodore Gale are quite opposites, but maintain a magnetic attraction to each other. What one lacks in the relationship, the other one more than compensates for. After their first daughter, Regina, is born, everything seems to be falling into place for the Gales. That is until their second daughter, Debra, arrives. Life is turned upside down. The family encounters jealousy, death, and financial woes.

While growing up, Debra is aware that she is blamed for her family's misfortunes and treated differently than her sister. It isn’t until their father abandons the family for another woman, that Debra begins to build a strong connection with her mother.

I long for stories that carry me away and do not bring me back to reality until the last word is read. J. Jeffrey did just that with The Second Daughter. From the start, I was wrapped up in Helen and Theodore’s sweet and unusual romance. I followed along as Theodore was the doting father to Regina and loving husband to Helen. Then, Jeffrey spun the table rapidly when Debra came into the picture. The mood quickly changed, and I felt the emotional turmoil the family, mostly Helen, was dealing with. 

The Second Daughter gave me everything I want and need from a book. I connected to characters, I easily visualized them, and I felt for them. This story contains many ups and downs, but it reveals hope in the most bleak situations. Jeffrey shares the unique story between a mother and her two daughters, and the competitive relationship between the sisters.

Author Info

J. Jeffrey stands about six foot three and likes poetry. He has been known to climb the occasional mountain and tame the occasional lion. He sings opera as an amateur but is trained as a masseur, and he is extremely partial to his wife’s green tea perfume. He drinks too much coffee, and gets lost a lot. Two words: Florence, Italy. Pastry for breakfast, over the crossword puzzle, preferably after noon. Soup for lunch, preferably late afternoon, over another puzzle (the first having been solved). His favorite drink (after coffee) is red wine. He knows a word or two but will not play scrabble. Regrettably, he believes he might be happy if only you would think him as funny as he thinks he is. But most importantly, he is not to be trusted. He writes biographies full of lies, or are they novels full of truths? Such a fine line.

Contact Info

www.theseconddaughter.com

Twitter: @JJeffrey6589

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theseconddaughternovel

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January 28th Bookworm Brandee 
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