One Whole And Perfect Day by Judith Clarke

Lily has always been the sensible one in her dysfunctional family. What she finds annoying is that that is all that people expect of her. She always gets stuck with the jobs and never gets to have any fun. And to add to that, her family never gets along. Whether it be because her brother doesn't know how to handle his life or because her grandma is talking to her imaginary friend, Sef, again, things never seem to work out or go as planned. So Lily decides to break out of the mold and do something unexpected. Perhaps, she thinks, she should fall in love. But when her grandfather and her brother write each other off, Lily has to put her plans on hold and put the pieces of her family back together again. But will Lily ever get some time to spend on herself or will she be left doing the dirty work once again?

I kind of have mixed feelings about this book. I'm going to get my complaint out first. I wasn't really able to fully get into the book. I thought it was a great story line and everything but nothing in it ever grabbed me and made me want to keep reading. I think if I had to, I would be able to put the book down and not really care about the ending. It just wasn't the kind of book that made you want to flip pages. Other than that, I don't have very many things against it. The thing I really liked about the book was how in depth the characters were and yet the story still had this laid back, sunny feel to it. It kind of seemed like you were getting to know all the people the family as you were sitting in their backyard drinking lemonade. But I also liked how despite the laid back feel, you still got a really good insight into all the aspects of their lives that you wouldn't normally be privy to. It was also just a sweet and simple plot line that had all these nice, but meaningful aspects to it. I think the best thing about the plot was the way it tackled racism. It was deep and yet you didn't feel as if it was bogging the story down. I also liked the way we got to see all the family ties. And I think my favorite part would have to be the cute little twists at the end in which everything turns out happily and every little thing gets resolved. So although it wasn't the easiest book to get into, I'd still recommend One Whole and Perfect Day because it really is just a great, feel-good kind of story.