I’d Give Anything (Love Walked In #4)

This is my first book by this author but I definitely will be reading more. There were two timelines utilized in the story, one from the school year of 1996-97 and secondly present time twenty years later. The main characters during the school era are four friends at a pricey private school Zinny,
Kirsten, C J, Gray and Zinny’s older brother Trevor. Zinny and Trevor also have some interactions with their Mother during this timeframe. The narrative jumps back and forth between the eras. In the later years Ginny(Zinny) is now married to Harrison with a teenager.
The plot was centered around generational family emotional distress. Zinny’s parents have been divorced about six years. Her mother a medical doctor has custody and is very cold and controlling. Trevor and Zinny are very close and provide each other strong support and love. Zinny has her close friend group at school. The author seamlessly weaves into their young lives dealing with all the emotional hot buttons. Love, Abandonment, Loss, Bullying, Sex, Sexual Orientation, Depression, Emotional Abuse, Self-Destructive Behavior
In the current timeframe things are still happening! G(Z)inny’s Harrison has gotten enamored with 18 yo beautiful summer intern…Panic Alert! Her Mother’s health is precarious. A 20 year old arson case has resurfaced on who did set the high school on fire?
So that’s the sbort stuff! The good details are I really liked the book. The characters were true to who they were, multi-faceted.

Books by Marisa de los Santos are like finding a last slice of still-good pie in the fridge you forgot was there. Every time I forget how much I love her work, but in the best possible way. The way she builds plots and strings words together are artful and makes everything she writes worth reading. This story is well-paced, never drags, and is some of her best work. And not just because I have a 15 year old daughter, although few capture them parent-child relationship like this author. Highly recommend all her work.

My heart broke a thousand times while reading I’d Give Anything. The characters that fill this story are so human, so real, in their imperfections. What we believe shapes us, for better, and for worse. When those beliefs are hammered to pieces, or yanked away from us suddenly, we often become lost, even to ourselves. And yet, the sadness isn’t the ending. We can find joy in the rebuilding, in moving forward, and circling back to the people and the truths about ourselves that matter most. This book is a treasure…once again, Marisa de los Santos has woven magic with her words.

I was doing dishes last night and thinking about how proud Ginny must be so proud of her daughter when I realized that Ginny was the main character in the book. I had been thinking of her and her daughter as friends of mine. So kudos to the author for making this book so real.

I have read and enjoyed almost all of de los Santos’ books over the years. I associate them with summer break, and grabbing a lighter fiction book for pleasure reading. This book did not disappoint. Marisa de los Santos is quite consistent in her format, themes, and focus – relationships, missed love, and coming together. Her books always give me hope for new chapters and new relationships, and most importantly, forgiveness.

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