I really hoped I would this book by Julie Andrews Edwards better than I did the last one. And I did, but only marginally. The basic plot — an orphan discovers an abandoned cottage and sneaks away to spend time in it, even lying to cover herself until she falls deathly ill when she discovers the people who own the cottage are wonderful and all she really needs is a family — probably could have been intriguing. And, I’m sorry to all those who loved Mandy as a child, the writing is just plain silly. Too much exposition, not enough action. There are probably many, many ways to show us that Mandy was unstable emotionally rather than saying, “Mandy had just had an emotionally confusing conversation” This wasn’t the bottom of the barrel — Edwards was attached to her characters, I think. I have read worse books. But there are also better ones out there.