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    When We Were Sisters
    When We Were Sisters
    When We Were Sisters
    Ebook542 pages

    When We Were Sisters

    By Emilie Richards

    4/5

    ()

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    About this ebook

    A vow of sisterhood between foster children is put to the test many years later in this heartfelt novel of chosen family and painful secrets.

    As children in foster care, Cecilia and Robin vowed to be the sisters they never had. While Cecilia went on to become a major pop star, Robin set aside her photojournalism career to have a family. But when she’s nearly killed in an accident, Cecilia drops everything to be with her.

    When Cecilia asks Robin to be the photographer for a documentary on foster care, Robin agrees, even though her husband Kris will be forced to take charge of the household while she’s away. She gambles that Kris will finally prove that their family—and marriage—are a priority in his life.

    Cecilia herself needs more than time with her sister. After a lifetime of lies, she hopes this documentary will tell the real story of their childhood. As traumatic memories return, the sisterhood they forged will help Cecilia and Robin move forward as the women they were always meant to be.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateMay 31, 2016
    ISBN9781459293946
    When We Were Sisters
    Author

    Emilie Richards

    USA TODAY bestselling author Emilie Richards has written more than seventy novels. She has appeared on national television and been quoted in Reader’s Digest, right between Oprah and Thomas Jefferson. Born in Bethesda, Maryland, and raised in St. Petersburg, Florida, Richards has been married for more than forty years to her college sweetheart. She splits her time between Florida and Western New York, where she is currently plotting her next novel.

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    • 4/5
      Cecilia and Robin were foster sisters. Robin went on to marry and have children. Cecilia became a singer, who made it big. Cecilia is making a film about foster care and asked Robin to talk about their shared experiences. The two women uncover long buried secrets about their lives when they were in foster care.
    • 5/5
      A Recommended Read.

      When We Were Sisters by Emilie Richards is a heartrending, poignant and healing novel that highlights both the positive and negative aspects of the foster care system. This riveting story about two foster sisters, Robin Lenhart and Cecelia, is a sensitive and realistic depiction of a system that is oftentimes woefully overburdened and underfunded. And most heartbreaking is the all too real fact that the children who end up in foster care through no fault of their own are the ones who pay the highest price when the system fails to adequately protect them.

      Cecelia aka CeCe and Robin grew up together as foster children who are consider themselves sisters of the heart. As adults, their lives took them in very different directions but there is absolutely nothing that can destroy the bond they forged as kids. While CeCe is a wildly famous and popular singer/songwriter, Robin put her career as a photojournalist on hold to stay at home with her two children, Nik and Pet. Although still deeply in love with her lawyer husband Kris, Robin is slowly realizing that everyone she knows seems to be moving on with their lives while hers remains exactly the same. After surviving a car accident that took the life of one of her best friends, Robin accepts CeCe's offer to become the photographer for a documentary about foster care. While it is a difficult yet cathartic journey for both women, will long held secrets and long forgotten memories destroy the lives they have worked so hard to build?

      Robin has always found it difficult to give voice to her dissatisfaction but in the aftermath of the car accident, she is much more open and honest about her discontent. She takes full responsibility for letting Kris take advantage of her but she is no longer willing to continue on their current path. His long hours and heavy workload mean little time spent together as a family and Robin is tired of allowing him to put his career first. Kris is not at all happy about her decision to accompany CeCe but Robin refuses to change her mind and their once close marriage slowly begins to crumble under the weight of his anger and inability to see things from her perspective.

      CeCe is a strong willed survivor who tackles life on her own terms. She lets nothing and no one stand in her way as she sets about accomplishing her goals. Although she has achieved success beyond her wildest dreams, CeCe is still haunted by the events of her childhood and she hopes that facing her past will finally put her demons to rest. At long last ready to face her worst memories, CeCe jumps headlong into the foster care documentary but as she soon discovers, nothing can prepare them for the sheer terror awaiting them as they confront the horror they experienced at one of the hands of one of their foster families.

      CeCe and Robin's reasons for participating in the documentary are quite different yet this decision serves as a catalyst for change in both of their lives. Robin's marriage is in crisis but for the first time, she is finally putting her needs first despite her discomfort. She is also taking an important step once she begins talking about her problems instead of keeping silent. CeCe at long last reveals the darkest parts of herself and her past and although she continues to try to maintain an emotional distance from everyone but Robin, true healing does not begin until she takes a chance on love.

      Despite its sometimes dark and gritty subject matter, When We Were Sisters is surprisingly uplifting and hopeful. While Robin and CeCe experienced traumatic life altering events, they also had positive experiences with foster parents and family members who truly loved them. Emilie Richards presents a fair and balanced perspective of both the good and bad elements of the foster care system. A beautifully rendered and impeccably researched story that has a realistic storyline that does not shy away from difficult or sensitive topics, this incredibly moving novel is an emotional and healing journey that will stay with readers long after the last page is turned.
    • 4/5
      Good CD listening----and---I particularly liked how Richards handled the ending she came up with!
    • 4/5
      This is a book I've had on my shelf for awhile, I love discovering these, and it's different then any of the others of Emilie's that I have read in the past. I thought after 50 or so pages it would get very involved with the foster system, bad and ugly, and I would unfortunately loose interest in the story but it didn't happen. The issue in the story I think was well handled just so that didn't happen, and in turn I really enjoyed this book!
    • 5/5
      Two 'sisters by choice' who met in foster care work together to shine bright camera lights upon the good and the bad in the foster care system. Cecilia has attained stardom as a vocalist and actress. Robin has created the loving home life for her husband and children which she was denied. The documentary will deliver both pain and healing for each of them.

    Book preview

    When We Were Sisters - Emilie Richards

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