A Complicated Life in a Small Town by Tammy Maas Review

The road to hell really is paved with good intentions. 

Bitter that she was robbed of her childhood, at age eighteen, Lydia Lawson severed all communication ties with her alcoholic parents. Her father commits suicide one year after she leaves home. Twenty-three years later she receives word that her mother is dead and that she has inherited more than just the family home. Lily, a twenty-one-year-old, morbidly obese half-sister with Prader-Willi Syndrome, is found in the basement, too big to move out of the home. Lydia sets out on a life-changing journey trying to help Lily, trying to find Lily s father and trying to find herself. In the interim, she falls in love with Tommy Porter who remains with her right up to the climatic, mind-blowing reveal at the end.

Tammy Maas is a writer who moonlights as a domestic Goddess. Her debut Novella, A Complicated Life in a Small Town, is slated for publication on 2-27-2012. Tammy ghost writes for several online clients. She was published by Oatmeal Studios, and was a writer/photographer for Houston County News. Check out her blog at: http://animaasity.weebly.com.

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My Thoughts:

A Complicated Life in a Small Town is a novella about a woman who left her hometown and never intended to return. She left because of her alcoholic parents and the mistreatment she received from them. She became a successful author and lives only 45 minutes away for where she grew up. She is contacted by the Police Chief of her hometown letting her know that her mother has passed away. She reluctantly returns only to find that she has a sister who is morbidly obese and cannot get out of bed and lives in the basement. Lily has Prader-Willi Syndrome which is the most common known genetic cause of life-threatening obesity in children. Although the cause is complex it results from an abnormality on the 15th chromosome. Lydia finds that caring for her sister is a difficult undertaking that she really does not want but she eventually gives in to the fact that there is no one else and no one knows who Lily's father is as Lydia's own father passed away before Lily was conceived. 

This short story is unique in the fact that it covers an illness that people generally shy away from. When someone is morbidly obese and can not leave their home, they are often ridiculed and called lazy but there are usually reasons other than laziness and neglect that can cause a weight condition. I feel that the author covered this touchy topic with honesty and compassion. The ending caught me unawares as I never saw it coming. The only complaint I had was some editing. There was a reference to a caregiver by the name of Robin and then the name was changed to Rose... other than that I enjoyed this little story and recommend it. 

I received an ebook for review from Sizzling PR and was not monetarily compensated for my review.