2025 Book Review #23: Ruby

 

I've seen this author listed on Goodreads and Storygraph but had never read any of her books until this one. What a wonderful story. It had sad moments, funny scenes, intense scenes, and inspiring ones. 

STORY SUMMARY

Olivia, a millener who lives and works in New York City, but has a beach house in Rhode Island, is in the throes of grief after her husband David was hit by a young woman early one morning in RI while jogging. Olivia knows she has to rebuild her life. Normally, she is a strong, assertive and vivacious person...but she finds that she just cannot get a grip on the grief...and it's been almost a year.  

Until she meets Ruby. 

Ruby is a 15 year old, delinquent and pregnant teen.  

She has broken into Olivia's beach house and helped herself to a glass of cold water, when Olivia comes back from an errand. Ruby has been abandoned by her parents, has no home, and seems so immature to raise a baby. Olivia wants to adopt the baby and convinces Ruby to stay with her until the baby is born.  Ruby and her older boyfriend agree to sign over their parental rights. 

An unlikely friendship is formed between Olivia and Ruby.  Olivia helps this wayward teenager and the unborn baby, and Ruby helps Olivia live her life again.

But will Ruby really turn over the baby to Olivia??

My Thoughts

This is a powerful look at how some teens face unwed pregnancies, poverty, and no support from parents.  It is also a powerful look at the sudden loss of life when all of your hopes and dreams have been tied up into the person/spouse who has died unexpectedly. 

This is an intimate story.  It has amazing character development and I loved the setting/descriptions. 

Some of the main themes in this story are:  sudden death/grief; teenage pregnancy; perseverance and resilience; love; friendship; starting over; facing the past; difficult relationships; family relationships; emotional healing. 

I only found a couple of editing errors in this book. 

I loved that the ending did not go the way I was predicting.  It's powerful and I don't want to ruin it for you so I won't reveal what happens to Ruby and Olivia. 

In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 17 and older (due to some mature content centering around pre-marital s*x and drug use).

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 9.