Wow, this broke my heart. Celestial and Roy, married for fifteen months, have their lives torn apart when Roy becomes a victim of mass incarceration.

Roy is innocent of the crime, there is no doubt of his innocence throughout the entire story which I loved. But, while Roy is innocent, he is still sentenced to seventeen years in prison. What follows is the struggles between Roy and Celestial as they try to make their young marriage work via letters, miscommunications, heart-ache, and distance. It's not a happy story. But it is an important one.

The character development was extraordinary. Jones never allows you to pick a team, even while other characters are. Both Roy and Celestial's pain is made real, and understandable, no matter how angry their actions make you.

I can definitely see what Oprah chose this for her book club. Definitely the first hit of 2018.

I was happy to also have this check off my 2018 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge "Read an Oprah's Book Club Selection."