Dancing on Broken Glass

Lucy Houston and Mickey Chandler probably shouldn’t have fallen in love, let alone gotten married. They’re both plagued with faulty genes—he has bipolar disorder, and she has a ravaging family history of breast cancer. But when their paths cross on the night of Lucy’s twenty-first birthday, sparks fly, and there’s no denying their chemistry. Cautious every step of the way, they are determined to make their relationship work—and they put it all in writing. Mickey promises to take his medication. Lucy promises not to blame him for what is beyond his control. He promises honesty. She promises patience. Like any marriage, they have good days and bad days—and some very bad days. In dealing with their unique challenges, they make the heartbreaking decision not to have children. But when Lucy shows up for a routine physical just shy of their eleventh anniversary, she gets an impossible surprise that changes everything. Everything. Suddenly, all their rules are thrown out the window, and the two of them must redefine what love really is.

Every now and then I come upon a book that really hits home.  This book did it for me, I come from a family that has lost many our female relatives to breast cancer, aunts, cousins, my mother had a run in with it a few years ago and it now is cancer free. I'm one of those people that have to have a mammogram every two years, not only for my piece of mind but also my family's. The fear is always in the back of my mind, I have two children and I plan to be around for a very long time, but the fear is there.


Lucy is no stranger to death, not only has she faced it with her bout of cancer, but she also lost her mother to cancer when she was 17 and her father when she was only 5 years old. Mickey suffers from bipolar disorder, he controls his meds but he has his good and bad days.  Before Lucy and Mickey get married they decide that they don't want to pass their ailments to their children so they decide not to have them.  They are definitely surprised when Lucy discovers that she's pregnant.


I was an emotional mess reading this book.  The book made me smile, laugh, and it made me cry.  I'm not talking about the occasional tear running down my face. Nope. It was the down right  ugly gut wrenching crying.  I felt it, I felt the happiness, the love, the confusion, the anger, the disappointment and the loss so vividly. 


I absolutely loved this book.  I read the book through the library, but I will definitely be buying my own copy.  


I highly recommend this book!


Dancing on Broken Glass by Ka Hancock (5/5) General Fiction; Published: Gallery Books (3/2012); New Author; New Release; Favorite Read 2012; Library; Books 2012 (28);