Book Review: Living in Sin

Book: Living in Sin by Anastasia Vitsky

Source: Borrowed from Publisher/NetGalley for an honest review

Publication: March 25, 2015

Publisher: Less Than Three Press

Description:

Sick of playing "roommate" for the sake of her girlfriend's religious, tight-knit family, Audra issues an ultimatum: Tell your family, or I move out. After all, Audra's family supports her and loves Ciara as a second daughter. Why would Ciara’s family be any different? Audra's tired of hiding the reality of their lives. She puts Ciara first, so why can't Ciara do the same?

Caught between her family and her girlfriend, Ciara resents being forced to choose. She tries to keep the peace by accepting her aunt’s endless blind dates and comforting her mother who care for Ciara’s dying grandmother. How can Ciara shatter her family by forcing the truth on them? How can she face life without Audra if she does not?

Agonized and at her wit's end, Ciara receives an unexpected spirit visit that asks her hard questions. Does love require self-sacrifice? How much can she give up without losing herself?



Rating: 3 1/2 stars

Review:

I wasn't quite sure how to rate this book because I had a hard time with Ciara's reasons for constantly not wanting to tell her parents that her roommate Audra wasn't her roommate but was instead her girlfriend. Audra is out and have her parents' love while Ciara is so afraid to be herself and tell her family the truth. She believes their conservative nature and religious beliefs will make them no longer love her the way that they currently do.

So, she has been living a lie for nearly ten months and her family with no knowledge of who she really is, sets her up on blind dates with guys since they believe that she's single and straight. With her grandmother severely ill, this gave Ciara more excuses for not wanting to tell her family the truth.

However, Audra is tired of this situation and tired of Ciara hiding their relationship from her family. Returning home from her grandmother's birthday party, Ciara found Audra packing a suitcase and ready to leave. An argument ensued with Audra finally telling Ciara to tell her family or she's gone. Ciara was able to convince her to stay the night and said she would tell her family.

But something strange happened while she was sleeping Ciara was greeted by a ghostly visit from a younger version of her grandmother (although her grandmother was still alive) and she showed her a memory that may perhaps help Ciara with the difficulty she was going through.

The ending didn't go as you would expect it to, I don't know maybe the ending is more realistic for someone who lives in fear like Ciara. But I guess I was expecting something better than what was shown. It wasn't awful but it sort of felt like a cop out and the issue was never really resolved but perhaps if the story was longer it would sort everything out.

I'm not sure if this is what the author intended but I got an overall sense of it's better to live a lie or live through fear. Instead of telling the truth about who you and being happy being who you are.