** spoiler alert ** The book was long but I was ready to dive in and give it a shot. After reading Keyes' "Last Chance Saloon" I was hooked on her thorough and upbeat writing style even when confronting very tough subjects like life and death. I wasn't at all prepared for the weaving of a perfect story, however. In this book Rachel is a drug addicted mess of a person. She's done wrong by every single person she knows including a best friend and boyfriend (your heart literally breaks for Luke as you read how awful she was to him all along). But you can't hate her because you know (hope?) she'll enter this rehab facility and get herself better. That she'll kick the habit and finally hold herself accountable for all the wrongs she's done. That she'll apologize and mean it for the very first time.

There were parts during her stay at the Cloisters that I felt were drawn out and not vital to the story as a whole, but many other parts were integral to building her relations with other people while experiencing (being forced into?) sobriety. The relationship with the other drug user was predictable but absolutely necessary to show that she could finally understand how destructive she'd become. He was her final wakeup call catalyst and I loved that angle. Yes I could see it coming a mile away but the character needed it to happen to grow. That's good writing right there when an Author leads you into something you see happening but that you enjoy anyway.

The one and only thing that felt off to me was the whole ending with Luke. I was totally pulling for them to get back together, especially after he confronted her in the Cloisters. But something about the finality of her survivor statement in the last chapter made me happy that she had come to stand on her own for the very first time. I was actually happy she DIDN'T end up with Luke at that moment because she could just live her life without those reminders of her past. For Luke to make that big scene all "Pretty Woman" or "Officer and A Gentleman" style right away just seemed too contrived to me. As if Keyes needed a happy bow on the ending but I don't think she did. I'm all about a happy ending but I saw them more bumping into each other at a sushi place or something equally as random that would bring it back to the start of the story when they ran into each other all over the place. To me it would be enough to suggest that they'd live happily ever after without him having to make the grand gesture.

Overall though the book drew me in and it wasn't the quickest read but I definitely enjoyed it. I even learned some new Irish slang.