From the first page to the last, this book with its sensitivity, its commitment to family, was one I couldn't put down. As a grandmother to a young woman similar in age I cared for Ariella who learned from painful mistakes in judgement. Set in Israel in the 1950's, this is a sensitive description of the loss of a parent, betrayal by a first love and the support of her family. Highly recommended.

What a disappointment! I don’t want to give away a spoiler but this read like a bad YA novel. The main character was immature and shallow. I skimmed the last quarter of the book, thankfully as it just got worse.

I had high hopes of this novel but in the end it disappoints.
The main character is Ariella Paz a flirty and slightly naive 19 year old living with her family in Tel Aviv. The author states she has used her own family as a backdrop to the plot and in the dedication to those who have suffered breast cancer I think the story line about the illness is both realistic and tender.
Ariella is soldier in the Israeli Army as both men and women must serve in the military in their early years as adults. Ariella is beautiful (and knows it) and a lot of the novel describes choices of clothes and accessories (mostly bought by her rich love interest) about which I wasn't very interested.
However we are given an insight into Israel in 1957 - no phones in homes. The still, in many areas, friendly links with the Arabs and the beauty of the scenery as the characters travel across the country.
As with many Jews, family is important and many distant relatives play a pivotal part in the novel - aunts in South Africa, cousins in America and the heritage of the family itself coming from Poland.
When Ariella meets the beautiful, and older Arik at her office (he's a friend of her boss) she quickly falls in love with him and steps into a whirlwind of gifts, sex and passion.
But is Arik all he appears to be?
Will the consequences of Ariella's decisions impact on herself or her family as she has to decide which way her life must go?
Overall a bit too unconvincing for me and I genuinely disliked the main character (perhaps even more than the men who should have been worse) I did like the family dynamics and some of Ariella's friends were nicely set against her flightiness.
I wouldn't want to read any further novels by this author unless she manages to develop characters beyond the superficial.