Beachglass by Wendy Blackburn

Front Flap: When Delia entered treatment for drug and alcohol addiction at age seventeen in Los Angeles, her life changed completely: She became immersed in AA, began to heal old family wounds, and developed a whole new perspective on herself, on spirituality, on relationships. Out of the rubble, she built a life that any recovering woman would be proud of, with a loving husband, a beautiful daughter, and her own brand of hard-won wisdom. But her long-term sobriety is put to the test when she receives a phone call from her gay best friend, Timothy. Fulfilling a pact they made a decade prior, Delia tears herself away from her new life in Seattle and rushes to Los Angles, to Timothy's bedside. There she must face the one thing she fears her sobriety cannot survive- losing him. Back in Los Angeles, Delia beings to encounter familar people, places, and temptations- a barrage of memories that makes her stop and sort through her past, looking for the courage she knows she needs now more than ever. As her past catches up with her present, she sees that she has not merely survied her losses and mistakes, but she has been made stronger because of them. This understanding comes to her in full as she holds a piece of beachglass in her hand and realizes that its scuffs and scrapes give it its quiet splendor, its immperfections give it its beauty and individuality, and it is from being tossed and tumbled that it no longer shatters. She knows the same goes for her, too. Wow this took me quite a while to finish! Amazing , like the longest space between blogging on a book before I think lol. Anyways, this was a beautiful book, full of despair but also hope. It was one of those, once again, where the narrator is in a present situation, while most of the book is them telling the story of how they got to that point. And Delia was a teenager who had a serious problem, but when she met Tim they went through everything together. But Tim has AIDS, at very sadly at the end of the book he passes away, as well as Joan, her mentor did earlier on in the book, both from AIDS. It was heart wrenching to hear about how everyda his T-Cell count just kept getting lower and lower. So many people have to face this, I can't imagine my best friend having to go through that while I watched. I would be there for her 100% but to know everyday it's getting worse. But at least it wasn't as painful as it could have been in the book. But it was so real. And it says the author is some type of counselor for that type of thing with drugs and so I wonder if her story is based off of a person she counseled or parts of it. The thing is it was so raw. It was beautiful too at the same time. And it had everything in it. It was a book with real emotions and of serious problems, but also true friendship and family. And the cover is also pretty. But this was amazing. It was very sad and made me want to cry, but in the end Timothy got to be with Joan and Delia had the best time ever with her best friend, so she knows she did everything she could and there are so many memories between them. I think it was a good ending too, even though Timothy died, it was kind of expected how the book prgressed, but she just realized who she was and how she didn't have a perfect life, she had rough spots but it made her pretty and she got there because of Timothy. So I loved it and everything should read it! :]