From the New York Times bestselling author of Love Walked In and Belong to Me comes a profound and heart-rending story about a horrific tragedy that marks one woman and her hometown and about the explosive secrets that come to light twenty years later. Ginny Beale is eighteen, irreverent, funny, and brave, with a brother she adores and a circle of friends for whom she would do anything. Because … circle of friends for whom she would do anything. Because of one terrible night, she loses them all—and her adventurous spirit—seemingly forever. While the town cheers on the high school football team, someone sets the school’s auditorium ablaze. Ginny’s best friend Gray Marsden’s father, a fire fighter, dies in the blaze.
While many in the town believe a notoriously troubled local teen set the fire, Ginny makes a shattering discovery that casts blame on the person she trusts most in the world. Ginny tells no one, but the secret isolates her, looming between her and her friends and ruining their friendship.
Over the next two decades, Ginny puts aside her wanderlust and her dreams. Moving back to her hometown, she distances herself from the past and from nearly everyone in it. She marries a quiet man, raises their daughter, Avery, and cares for her tyrannical, ailing mother, Adela. But when Ginny’s husband, Harris, becomes embroiled in a scandal, Ginny’s carefully controlled life crumbles, and, just when she believes she is regaining her bearings, the secret she’s kept for twenty years emerges and threatens to destroy her hopes for the future.
With the help of fifteen-year-old Avery and of friends both old and new, Ginny must summon the courage to confront old lies and hard truths and to free herself and the people she loves from the mistakes and regrets that have burdened them for so long.
more
It’s always a treat when this author has a new book out – she is one of my absolute faves. Her descriptions are so unique yet spot on, you could take a bite out of them and taste them. The story is a great ride through generations, filled with twists and turns you won’t see coming. Highly recommend!
Marisa de los Santos has done it again. In I’D GIVE ANYTHING, de los Santos has created complex, realistic characters who will remain with me for a very long time.
I just love Marisa de los Santos’ writing. I find myself saying some of the phrases out loud as I read. Her style is original and lyrical, and for me as a reader, she pulls me right in no matter the story. This is a beautiful story about hard things and friendships and parenting, and maybe in less talented hands it would be hard to believe, but I found it to be a beautiful read and was sorry when it was over.
I’ll read DeLos Santos any time. But this one didn’t grab me like her others.
I’ve read all of her books, some, I’ve loved. Not this one.
The story sucks you in until the very end !
I had a little difficulty following the story at first and figuring out the narrators and the plot. However, the more I got into the tale, the better I understood that this was a multi-generational story of a family that falls apart because of hidden truths and lies. I liked the character of Ginny, but I didn’t love her. I liked the character of Avery, but I didn’t love her. I did love the character of Ginny’s curmudgeonly mother Adela who makes decisions about her own life and follows through. Fans of de los Santos and contemporary fiction will enjoy this book.
Disclaimer
I checked out a copy of this book from my local library on the Overdrive App. I was not required to write a positive review.
I listened to I’D GIVE ANYTHING as an audiobook, and I can’t recommend it enough. The narration, the story, the writing, the characters were equally wonderful. I adored Ginny and loved meeting her as a teenager through her journal entries. From page one, when her adult life falls apart in a supermarket, I was rooting for her and her incredible daughter, Avery. This is a novel about strong women, the importance of trusting your instincts and friendships, and being open to truth and forgiveness. So good!
Marisa de los Santos is a favorite author! This book did not disappoint!
I’d Give Anything by Marisa de los Santos
There’s two stories in this one book that intertwine together.
Story starts out with Ginny and she’s just learned from her spouse, Harris that he’s been fired.
She learns so much more, but he keeps a LOT of other secrets to himself. The teen daughter also finds out, not much but she reaches out to the girl he was a mentor to where he worked.
Avery learns her side to the story and at times can’t believe her father did some things.
While this is all going on there is another story here in between the pages. Ginny when she was in high school and the group of her friends one night a terrible secret came out to destroy one and a fire kills a fireman…
Ginny spends time in later years at the park talking to Daniel and others at the dog park. She is able to discover some clues to that night so long ago…
Harris has a sit down with his wife and daughter as they ask him questions and he informs them of his hardships dealing with everything and who he turns to for help.
Very emotional story and how it all works out I found unbelievable.
Received this review copy via giveaway at Library Thing and this is my honest opinion.
I’d Give Anything starts off with an entry from Ginny Beale’s journal from 1997 about her and her best friends, Kirsten, CJ and Gray: the forever four. The passage shows how the group of kids were living their lives and how close they were. She and Gray were a couple and things were easy for them all. Or, as easy as things could be for kids in high school, until Gray makes a surprise admission which changes his life forever and directly impact’s Ginny’s.
However, one night, after a football game, a fire was set in the school’s auditorium and Gray’s father was killed in the blaze. Once Ginny makes it home, she overhears a conversation between her brother and her hard-lined mother that changes everything for Ginny.
Twenty years later, Ginny is at the grocery store where she encounters one of her husband’s co-workers and discovers that her husband has been fired due to some kind of scandal. Ginny is not convinced at first. But, when she confronts her husband about the supposed scandal, her world crumbles once again. She visits her mother, Adela, who is a fixer of sorts and also has cancer. She’s high-profile and even though Ginny doesn’t always agree with the things Adela has done, she knows that she has to talk to someone. When Adela starts strategizing out loud, Ginny puts a stop to it. Even though Ginny worries about her daughter Avery having to deal with the scandal, Adela’s plan does not set well with her.
Ginny is still best friends with Kirsten and eventually tells her what’s going on. As Ginny navigates her new reality, Kirsten asks her to host an engagement party for her and her fiancé. The only drawback is that she wants CJ and Gray there as well, whom Ginny hasn’t talked to in almost twenty years. Kirsten also wants Ginny’s brother there. Even though the two of them have been somewhat estranged for years, Ginny gives in as she will do anything for Kirsten and the party planning begins.
In the meantime, Ginny has made a couple of new friends at the dog park and has become close to Daniel. The two of them finally admit their attraction to each other and Ginny invites him to the party. He politely declines, but does offer to come over afterwards to help clean up.
They have the party and even though Ginny is a little uncomfortable, she does enjoy herself just like everyone else. When the party ends, Daniel and Ginny are cleaning up. Someone knocks on the door and Ginny sees it’s her brother. She lets him in and when Daniel enters the same room, her brother is not happy and Daniel leaves. When she and her brother talk, she finds out that everything she thought was true was the farthest thing from the truth. And, once she delves into what DID happen, to say their worlds are rocked would be an understatement.
I’d Give Anything is a brilliantly written book, although I have to be honest. I had a hard time with the first few chapters and thought about stopping. I’m so glad I didn’t. Once you get used to the journal passages from the past and then reading the story unfolding in the present, it all comes together so well. The characters are well written and the world building is phenomenal. The story pulls you in and doesn’t let go. I’d Give Anything is ultimately a story of facing one’s past in order to face your future. There are twists that bring old friends back together and tear others apart. It’s a very emotional read and I couldn’t read it fast enough. This is the first I’ve read by this author, but it will not be the last. Well done, Marisa de los Santos! Very, very well done!!
It has been a while since I’ve read a Marisa de los Santos book (The Precious One in 2015) but the moment I started, I’m once again delighted by her lyrical prose and evocative storytelling.
I’d Give Anything has a lot of the elements I love in her books: personal awakening due to a life-changing event, memories revisited, long-held secrets finally revealed, relationships ended, renewed, and freshly-forged, and self rediscovered. Throughout it all, the themes of family, friendship, and love are woven in and the concepts of diversity and inclusion are celebrated.
I found all the characters sympathetic. Some, like Ginny/Zinny and Avery, are utterly lovable while others like Harris and Adela are understandably human. I liked the seamless shifts from present to past and back. I also liked the symmetry of the beginning and the ending.
The only thing I didn’t fully understand was the connection of this book with the rest of the series.
In I’d Give Anything, Marisa de los Santos has written one the most nuanced and layered women’s fiction books I’ve ever read. The story is perfectly plotted and the execution of it was utterly flawless. It’s evocative and I was hooked within minutes. It’s the kind of book where upon finishing it, I found myself thinking about it for a long while after.
Part of it maybe that I love stories where the past unfolds through journals entries and the present through the eyes of out main character. In this case it’s Ginny. Ginny who has a very complex love/dislike relationship with her mother and her brother. Ginny with a husband that has made a few poor choices, who is staid and very disconnected. Ginny, with a best friend Kirsten, who will do anything to get back the passionate Ginny she knew as a teenager. And finally Ginny, the mother of one of my favorite characters ever, the brave and principled Avery.
Each and every character can be felt by their actions and/or words. Her writing is so descriptive and not a word is wasted. In this story, de los Santos manages to explore love, friendship, forgiveness, and grief, all while pulling the reader through a year or so in the life of the Beale family. My heart ached and sang for joy as Ginny and Avery reckon with their new future. How these two rise above as they struggle to find the truth about both the past and the present.
While this is part of a series, I read this as a stand alone as it’s my first by Marisa de los Santos. But, now that I understand the magic that is her storytelling, that I fully understand the praise for her writing, I will be blocking out time to read all that I can by her. I savored every minute reading this book. I’d Give Anything is by far one of my top reads of 2020 and a book I emphatically recommend. 5++ Stars!
I’d Give Anything is a captivating, touching novel about friendships, truths, and forgiveness. Ginny’s life has been shaped by events that happened when she was a teenager, events that splintered friendships as well as Ginny’s heart. When scandal shakes up Ginny’s family, she must confront the past, and rediscover who she was twenty years earlier. The relationships in this book all felt so real—the love, the disappointments, the friendships, and the pain. I was completely invested in the lives of these characters, hoping for reconciliation, healing and love for them all.
This was a very intellectually deep and insightful look into a tragic event that changed many lives. I absolutely fell in love with the characters. If you have ever done self reflection and asked yourself “what if” you’ll enjoy this read.