Aimee finds herself surrounded by family and friends in a church on her wedding day. It's supposed to be the happiest day of her life. But instead, she finds herself at her fiance's funeral. And if that wasn't heart-wrenching enough, a woman approaches her in the parking lot afterwards with a business card saying that she's a psychic, specializing in missing persons. "James is alive, " she tells Aimee, and suddenly Aimee doesn't know what to believe.

While she's dealing with her grief over losing James, she also finds out that her parents have been struggling in their restaurant where Aimee works as a sous chef. When an offer came up to buy the restaurant, her parents couldn't refuse. Their decision to retire has left Aimee without a job. No job, no marriage, no idea what to do next.

It takes time and lots of support from friends and family, but slowly Aimee starts to put a new life together. She envisions a new cafe, with specialty coffees and fusion dishes. She meets an artist who calls her when he's in town between trips to take his photographs. She starts to move forward and see a future for herself again.

But then she starts having visions of James. Is it possible that he wasn't killed in Mexico, and if that's true, can Aimee find him? Or is she just running away, scared of her new future and the possibility of falling in love again?

Kerry Lonsdale's Everything We Keep is a moving story of moving on, of the resilience of the human spirit, and how family helps us heal from even the worst wounds. Even if the story has the feel of a soap opera at times, it read likes butter, and the story does keep you turning the pages until the end. This debut novel is incredibly readable and a good sign of things to come from author Kerry Lonsdale.

And stay tuned--tomorrow's blog post will be a review of her latest novel, Everything We Left Behind, the other half of this story.

Galleys for Everything We Keep were provided by Lake Union Publishing through NetGalley.com, with many thanks.