“It’s like Little Women with basketball.” New York Times
William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him. So it’s a relief when his skill on the basketball court earns him a scholarship to college, far away from his childhood home. He soon meets Julia Padavano, a spirited and ambitious young woman who surprises William with her appreciation of his quiet steadiness. With Julia comes her family. She is inseparable from her three younger sisters. Happily, the Padavanos fold Julia’s new boyfriend into their loving, chaotic household. But that idyllic picture doesn’t last for long.
This is a family saga after all, and slowly things begin to fall apart. The novel is character driven and full of emotional tragedy which gave it a slightly unbelievable and laboured feel (like a soap opera). However, I found the Padavano women endlessly fascinating, even if (as a reader) I was often frustrated with the choices they made. What kept me going was the surprisingly compelling readability of the novel and my curiosity about how it would all turn out in the end.
Napolitano was a new author for me, and though I found this a bit melodramatic, I have already put her other bestseller Dear Edward on my TBR and am curious about that one too. I gave this book slightly higher marks than it deserves because it drew me in and was a surprisingly enjoyable read, not because it was all that well written.
Joanne's Reading Blog 
I really appreciated your balanced review. I was quite captivated by this book at first, but somehow lost some momentum for the second half. You nailed it. I understood what happened after I read your review.
Well that’s affirming! Thanks Nel!
Yeah, but you found the words to express what I was sensing.
I resonate with much of what you said. In fact, I wrote in my book journal, “I just wanted the characters to relax into their love.” Still, I found the characters complex and intriguing.
That’s a great way to put it Nancy. You put your finger on what the characters were doing…running from love and thinking that was bravery. They SO needed to relax into love.
I also didn’t love this book and couldn’t put my finger on exactly why. I was intrigued by the Little Women connection but didn’t feel it delivered. I often enjoy steering into the sadness of sad books and have read many great descriptions of depression and melancholy, but this one didn’t work for me – it felt too clunky and over-dramatic. Like you I wanted to DNF it but I had to see it through to the end. I had read Dear Edward first and felt similar – great premise, not executed well at all. I don’t think this author is for me (and I don’t actually recommend that you read Dear Edward.)
Thanks Suzanne. It helps to know you felt the same. I wanted to bail out a few times but also wanted to keep reading. And thanks for your thoughts on Dear Edward even though it has glowing reviews saying people liked it better than Hello Beautiful! I won’t bother then, I’ve got enough books on my TBR and will happily move on to another one! 🙂