The book is difficult to rate for many reasons. Unfortunately, the opportunity is not given to the reader to emotionally invest in the characters at any time. This book entirely consist of characters physically moving through choppy scenes and time jumps with little dialogue or growth.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

As a mother, this felt completely ridiculous. Impossible to empathize with the character, as her choice of how to deal with tragedy was so absurd. Choppy, too quickly faced. Not a fan.

First off this is a very heavy book that deals with the loss of a child. I’m conflicted on how to rate this one because it took me some time to read it. The story was interesting but I wish they would have covered more. If felt as if something was missing. This book won’t be for everyone but if you handle the loss and grief in the story it might be the one for you.
My final rating is 3.5

Thank you to NetGalley for this ebook in exchange for my review.

This book was well written. It was extremely heavy with dealing with grief, and the loss of a child. Definitely took time while reading it

This book was okay. The premise was good but I found the story a bit choppy and all over the place. I felt like there was no emotional connection with the characters because I didn’t have enough time to connect with them before it jumped to something else. I did like the idea of this story though.

I'm obsessed with this cover, it is absolutely beautiful. This was a heavy and emotional read with a bit of a slow pace. The writing was phenomenal. I really loved this one.

A family, a tragedy, secrets.....count me in! This was an all-around wonderful novel by Bobbie Jean Huff --- and her debut novel! I will keep her on my radar for future reads from her!

A very emotional novel. The characters are unique and well-written. Family drama at it's best.. It is written in different characters perspectives and jumps around a bit, but it is one of those novels where it works and keeps your attention.

The Ones We Keep was a deep and heartfelt book. It made me think so deeply that it was difficult for me to formulate a review. Overall, it was very well-written, emotionally-driven, and had great, often frustrating, characters.

This is the story of a mother who deserts her family after one of her sons drowns during a lake vacation. This was honestly one of the most frustrating books I've read. Through the whole book I wanted to grab the mother and shake her to her senses. I found it highly unbelievable that someone could just totally abandon their family to live all alone for the majority of her life. This was a tough read.

How does a mother respond when the inevitable happens? In Olivia Somerville's case...not well. She goes from being a devoted mother to disappearing without a word. Why? To protect herself from the heartache. Instead, she lives a solitary life near the sight of the tragedy for decades. It was a thought-provoking novel but not an idea I could ever imagine connecting with, truthfully. This is Olivia's story but also that of the sons left behind who lost two family members that day...

Heartbreaking.

As a mother, how would you react upon being told one of your three children has drowned? This is the crux of the book The Ones We Keep by Bobbie Jean Huff - a début novelist in her 70s!

This was a difficult, heart wrenching read. As a mother of young children, 5 & 6, and a former lifeguard, this plot line is my greatest fears rolled into one. It took me a few weeks to finish this short book as I questioned Olivia, former mother of three, and her choices.

Olivia is returning from a hike when a passerby tells her of a drowning at the summer resort she is staying at with her husband and three boys. She knows instantly it is one of her children and she is paralyzed by the fear of knowing which child she has lost. So, instead of returning, she leaves, never to return. What would you do as a mother amidst that unimaginable grief? How do your loved ones move on in your absence?

I like to imagine I would never do this, never add to the terrible burden of losing a sibling as well as a parent, but who am I to judge having never been in this position? It was awful to witness the impact this had on the two remaining children and her husband - a life built around an absence.

Although a thoughtfully crafted novel, my only critique was that the author never focused on the loss of the child, almost exclusively on the loss of the mother. Admittedly, the absence of the mother was the ethical question at hand, but I felt for this absent child who seemed to be lost almost a second time as his untimely death and his young, vibrant life, were overshadowed by the choices of our protagonist and the ripple effect of this choice on all other family members and their lives to come.

This novel had such a profound impact on me, and I still find myself reflecting on what I would do in Olivia’s shoes. Bobbie Jean Huff has held my attention long after the conclusion of the novel.


Thank you to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Landmark and the author for the electronic ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A family. A mother, a father, 3 young boys. Life seemingly moving along as it always does. Preparing to move, a quick family vacation to a Vermont resort. Skipping rocks, tennis lessons, naptimes. These are what Olivia’s days are made of that fateful summer. Life - moving along. Until it isn’t.

After returning from a hike, Olivia is made aware that a young boy from New Jersey has drowned. Her boy. She has 3….which one? In the blink of an eye, she makes a choice. To leave. Right then. Get a bus ticket, head home, sell a painting and leave for good. If Olivia never knows which of her sons drowned, they will continue to live.

What a story! What a tragic, heartbreaking story. What follows is Olivia returning to that Vermont town, buying a house across the lake from where her son died and visiting that dock, Every single day. She does her best to live normal. She never speaks of her life before. She makes friends and teaches piano.

Her husband will eventually remarry. Her two remaining boys will grow into men. One will be plagued with the memory of his mother.

As a mom, I cannot even imagine the grief within Olivia. But could I abandon my other child/ren? I don’t know. But I suppose one cannot judge her to harshly. A heartbreak like that is unimaginable.

My only complaint is the ending. It was so abrupt and in my own selfish way I wanted more of their story.

Well done for a debut novel!

Thank you to NetGalley, Sourcebooks and Bobbie Jean Huff for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

(4.5 stars)
"If she stays here long enough, if she remains in this bed and in this house, she will eventually find out what happened—and who it happened to." The Ones We Keep surprised me. It starts with a tragedy and an almost ridiculous premise: that a mother (Olivia Somerville) upon hearing about the tragedy, might abandon her surviving family members in order to avoid ever knowing which one had died. However it quickly draws you into the lives of the four surviving family members and the impacts of the tragedy and resulting abandonment upon them.

By detailing the lives of the children as they grow into adulthood and have the perspective shifts that relationships and their own child-rearing bring, Bobbie Jean Huff, helps you soften toward Olivia with them. You also get to watch how Olivia's own life unfolds with the certainty that "she will always live with the guilt of her treacherous abandonment." In this novel, alternative chapters moving between the lives of the abandoned and the one who abandoned actually makes sense, as they proceed along the same timeline. It makes you see the key events Olivia misses out on through her startling choice.

The Ones We Keep is a good study in the impact of grief and the different ways we process it. Push past the first shock of Olivia's (frankly selfish and weird) actions. It's worth it.

I received a complimentary copy of this book "The Ones We Keep" and all opinions expressed are my own. I just kept hoping something good would happen with Olivia, a break through. We never know how people react to situations when presented to them. I never would have made those choices, but everyone is different. It was how she coped with everything. Overall an interesting story.

It would be easy to feel judgmental or superior over Olivia’s action after her tragedy— after all, that kind of grief is difficult to understand. But I envision that kind of grief is difficult to understand for Olivia, too. One moment, a family. The next, apart.

I found this to be a very emotionally difficult character study that painted a profound picture of grief and, ultimately, the depth of a mother’s love.

I found this book difficult to read at times. It was a struggle to connect with Olivia’s actions, to feel like I too was loving with the choices she had made, made more of a challenge due to the occasional time jumping that made things hard to follow.

I found this book to be incredibly well written. It just wasn’t quite what I was expecting.

A family, tragedy and the family's struggle to work through their grief and find hope. An emotional roller coaster of a story that kept me thinking long after I closed the book.

"An emotional and heartfelt meditation on the nature of loss, the gift of recovery, and the bonds of love, The Ones We Keep tells the story of one family as they learn to face their grief and fight for hope."

Wow! This book is a rollercoaster of emotions and I could. not. put. it. down.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book - what does a mother do when she finds out one of her children has drowned? She runs away to avoid finding out which one, thereby allowing all of them to live on in her mind. How it affects her remaining children is nothing short of tragic.

The Ones we Keep by Bobbie Jean Huff has written a very different, thought provoking scenario. Lots to think about after reading.

This is a debut author at age 76 so congrats to her!! Thank you @bookmarked for my free review copy. This is a hard book to review. During a 1970’s family trip to a summer resort the unthinkable happens when one of Olivia’s three boys drowns. Olivia was on a hike when this happened and the boys were being cared for by a babysitter. Rather than face the loss Olivia disappears without even knowing which of the boys died. In her grief Olivia believes that if she doesn’t know which boy died she can continue thinking all three are alive. I was actually more invested in the sections about the boys and their father and how their lives turned out. I am still a bit conflicted about my thoughts on this one. This was definitely difficult to read at times as the tragedy destroyed what initially seemed to be a perfect family.