Title: Providence
Author: Lisa Colozza Cocca
Pages: 254
Format: Kindle ebook (provided by Netgalley)
Goodreads Rating: 3.95
My Rating: 7/10
Synopsis
The eldest of ten children on a dirt-poor farm, Becky trudges through life as a full-time babysitter, trying to avoid her father's periodic violent rages. When the family's barn burns down, her father lays the blame on Becky, and her own mother tells her to run for it. Run she does, hopping into an empty freight car. There, in a duffel bag, Becky finds an abandoned baby girl, only hours old. After years of tending to her siblings, sixteen-year-old Becky knows just what a baby needs. This baby needs a mother. With no mother around, Becky decides, at least temporarily, this baby needs her. When Becky hops off the train in a small Georgia town, it's with baby "Georgia" in her arms. When she meets Rosie, an eccentric thrift-shop owner, who comes to value and love Becky as no one ever has, Becky rashly claims the baby as her own. Not everyone in town is as welcoming as Rosie, though. Many suspect Becky and her baby are not what they seem. Among the doubters is a beautiful, reclusive woman with her own terrible loss and a long history with Rosie. As Becky's life becomes entangled with the lives of the people in town, including a handsome boy who suspects Becky is hiding something from her past, she finds her secrets more difficult to keep. Becky should grab the baby and run, but her newfound home and job with Rosie have given Becky the family she's never known. Despite her guilt over leaving her mother alone, she is happy for the first time. But it's a happiness not meant to last. When the truth comes out, Becky has the biggest decision of her life to make. Should she run away again? Should she stay--and fight? Or lie? What does the future hold for Becky and Georgia? With a greatness of heart and a stubborn insistence on hope found in few novels of any genre, "Providence" proves that home is where you find it, love is an active verb, and family is more than just a word.
Review
There is so much good stuff in this novel. Top of the list would have to be the fantastic main character and narrator Becky. I found her voice in this book to be really strong, unique and able to pull me into her world and her story. It felt real to me and that's something that I love in books.
I really liked the way she told her story, and led us through her life after finding the baby and taking on the role of a mother.
This book was seeped with emotion and great characters who all wove into the story so well. I loved the atmosphere of this book. I could picture the inside of the Second Hand Rose, and as I was reading it I could hear the characters all taking on different voices in my head, because they were all really individual.
It's truly a great story, however it did, for me at least, have it's downsides as well. Only a few minor points that didn't stop me really enjoying this novel, but worth noting.
In some places I felt that the pacing was a little off, and by this I mean that sometimes I found it a little bit slow and it lost my interest. Not often, but on a couple of occasions this happened.
Secondly, and this is where the book lost a few points for me, was that the ending fell a little flat. I felt as if there were some things that weren't resolved fully, and some things I would have liked to of been expanded on.
Lastly I would have liked to of seen a little more balance between the drama with Becky and the baby, and the lighter romance aspect. When I read the synopsis for this book, specifically the part about her meeting a boy who suspected she was hiding something in her past, I did think that he'd play a bigger role, but as it was, I would have liked more.
Those are the only negative points though, and like I said, I did really enjoy this novel and I'm really pleased I got the chance to read it.
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