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    The Precious One: A Novel
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    The Precious One: A Novel
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    The Precious One: A Novel
    Ebook460 pages8 hours

    The Precious One: A Novel

    By Marisa de los Santos

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    From the New York Times bestselling author of Belong to Me, Love Walked In, and Falling Together comes a captivating novel about friendship, family, second chances, and the redemptive power of love.

    In all her life, Eustacia “Taisy” Cleary has given her heart to only three men: her first love, Ben Ransom; her twin brother, Marcus; and Wilson Cleary—professor, inventor, philanderer, self-made millionaire, brilliant man, breathtaking jerk: her father.

    Seventeen years ago, Wilson ditched his first family for Caroline, a beautiful young sculptor. In all that time, Taisy’s family has seen Wilson, Caroline, and their daughter, Willow, only once.

    Why then, is Wilson calling Taisy now, inviting her for an extended visit, encouraging her to meet her pretty sister—a teenager who views her with jealousy, mistrust, and grudging admiration? Why, now, does Wilson want Taisy to help him write his memoir?

    Told in alternating voices—Taisy’s strong, unsparing observations and Willow’s naive, heartbreakingly earnest yearnings—The Precious One is an unforgettable novel of family secrets, lost love, and dangerous obsession, a captivating tale with the deep characterization, piercing emotional resonance, and heartfelt insight that are the hallmarks of Marisa de los Santos’s beloved works.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateMar 24, 2015
    ISBN9780062323804
    Author

    Marisa de los Santos

    Marisa de los Santos is a New York Times bestselling author and award-winning poet with a PhD in literature and creative writing. She lives in Wilmington, Delaware, with her family.

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    Reviews for The Precious One

    4.5/5

    27 ratings40 reviews

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    • 5/5
      This is the kind of book that makes me wish I could stay curled up all day, just reading, reading and reading some more. I became sad as the pages I had left to read became fewer. I've had similar experiences reading the author's other books.) And though I've read many ARCs on my iPad, this was the first book that I actually purchased as an e-book (which I am personally against on principle because I love REAL books so much) because I just couldn't wait to read it and the library wait would've been too, too long.

      Long, detailed reviews are really not my forte, but I will tell you that this book made me stop and hold it to my chest several times, because the descriptions were so pleasing to me. The kind of sentences that make you just wish YOU could've been the one to put those feelings to words. And,....I adored the characters. Read it!
    • 5/5
      I absolutely loved this book! The story flowed so well, I didn't want to put it down. The characters were believable and likeable (or loved to hate, in the father's case). Look forward to ready more from this author.
    • 5/5
      Beautifully written.I really enjoyed the story of both sisters. High school is a maze to navigate, even more so coming from Willow's isolated upbringing.Taisy has to come to terms with her desire for her father's love and approval that he never gave her. How can her father have no love for her or her brother and yet love Willow so completely?
    • 4/5
      A truly touching tale of a distant father and his two daughters, each of whom struggles in their own way to establish a relationship with him. They have success, however, in building a relationship with each other, despite the division of divorce and the eighteen years between them. A good, compassionate story of love, family, and second chances.
    • 5/5
      Not my favorite Marisa de los Santos, and still a darned good read!
    • 5/5
      This was a great read. I loved the character development immensely. Highly recommend this fiction author.
    • 5/5
      I received this book as part of LT's Early Reviewer program and thoroughly enjoyed it. Taisy's mother and father separated when she and her twin brother, Marcus, were 18. In almost 20 years, Taisy has seen and spoken to her father only once as he rejected his old family in favor of his new wife and child, a girl named Willow. Taisy's father contacts her and asks her to come to his home...her old hometown and home of her first love, Ben. Despite the way Taisy's father has treated her in the past, she still longs for a connection with him. She also finds herself becoming emotionally involved with her father's new family. The novel also uses Willow voice to tell the other part of the story. Willow grew up being homeschooled by her brilliant father, a man who loves her deeply and has protected her from the world. She is beautiful, innocent, and brilliant herself, but now has to start attending high school and make her way in a social world, encountering those with cruel intentions in situations she was not prepared to face. The characters are deeply thought out and reveal themselves in ways that draw the reader in, while at the same time, becoming a novel I hated to put down. The Precious One explores all sorts of relationships, both the positive and negative ones, from the parent/child, lover, sibling, and friendship, and the book has all the elements of a fun story, too...love, betrayal, secrets, resolutions. I loved it!
    • 3/5
      This is my first book by this author. I had a hard time getting into the book mostly because of the teenage voice of Willow and the fact that the father, Wilson, was a thoroughly unlikeable character. But once the two sisters began interacting more I found it much more interesting. Overall, I enjoyed the story and will try another of her books.
    • 4/5
      I've loved Marisa de los Santos since I read "Love Walked In" 8 or so years ago. She has a lovely, poetic way with words and "The Precious One" doesn't disappoint there. It's told in the alternating voices of two sisters: Taisy, a grown woman, who has always wondered why her domineering father, Wilson, was never a true father to her, and who has been basically estranged from him since 18, and Willow, her 16-year-old half sister, Wilson's pride and joy.

      After Wilson suffers a heart attack, he summons for Taisy and her twin, Marcus. Only Taisy -- still longing for the fatherly approval she could never attain-- comes. There she learns that Wilson wants her to write a book about his scholarly life. As she embarks on that quest, she learns more than she bargained for about her father, her halfsister, her stepmother, and herself.

      Here's the thing about this book. Much of it is incredibly implausible. It's kind of insanely implausible. There's a line where Willow, who is truly this pure, kind child of 16, after being isolated her entire life by her father, is talking to a school friend and asking how anyone could possibly be so nice. That's how I feel about half the characters in the book. Willow, said friend, Luka, Taisy... we also meet Taisy's high school boyfriend, Ben, whom she abandoned when the Wilson craziness happiness. Even he's amazingly nice.
      They're all so kind and amazing and introspective. Well, except for Wilson, who is a completely horrible person: even after you learn about his past, he's just an ass.

      But it doesn't matter if the characters seem a little too nice, or things happen a little to easily. There's definitely adversity, and poor Willow is certainly put through the wringer in a short period in this book. You find yourself rooting for her (she's just so nice, dammit) and Taisy (she's just so feisty and kind, dammit!) and for their relationship(s). There's also a beautiful moment, where things sort of come full circle, and you find yourself amazed about de los Santos' writing all over again.

      It's a pretty book, and a romantic book, and a slightly improbable book, but still a good read nonetheless. Rated 4 stars here, probably truly a 3.5 rating (there's a little de los Santos nostalgia that goes into that rating).

      Note: I received a free ebook copy of this novel from Edelweiss in return for a honest review.
    • 3/5
      I've read and enjoyed Marisa De los Santos' other books, but I had a hard time getting into this one. I found the characters Willow and Wilson incredibly annoying at the start of the novel. However, I was able to get into the story, and it got better. I would say it isn't as good as her other books, but still worth reading.
    • 4/5
      This was a very enjoyable story. De los Santos is one of my favorite authors. I love being able to be immersed in a story which has a happy ending. By telling a story through the voices of half-sisters a full story story emerges. Although I felt the happily-ever-after ending was a bit contrived, I still love it when the story ends in happiness. I even felt some compassion for Taisy's and Willow’s father.
    • 4/5
      An enjoyable quick read about a woman who goes to stay with her estranged father and his new wife and daughter. I really enjoyed reading about Taisy and her half sister, Willow, that she really had no previous connection to until her father called after a heart attack. I look forward to reading more books by Marisa De los Santos.
    • 3/5
      Another good book by de los Santos and one I enjoyed. The story revolves around a young woman who returns home after seventeen years to confront her father and to write his memoir that he has requested. The family was divided many years ago after a divorce and the father remarries a younger woman. A child from that marriage was the most important one it seems but after a while they all come together and talk about past mistakes and secrets.
    • 4/5
      Though it took me a little while to get into, The Precious One eventually hooked me. I enjoyed the characters and plot, and feel that this is another good novel by de lots Santos.
    • 5/5
      While I am as avid a reader as I was when I was a kid, my reading experience is often different. Even with very good books, I seldom have the kind of transporting experience that I had when I was a teenager and a book would just grab me and not let me go. When I find a book that can do that now, at 43 years old, I am in love - and Marisa de los Santos' books always do that for me. I fall in love with her characters, and when I finish the book, I actually miss them as if they are real people. She also has a magical way of putting words together, so that her prose sounds more like poetry. I listened to the audiobook edition of The Precious One, and that quality is even more evident in the hands of a good narrator. Ms. de los Santos has given us another must-read novel, and I look forward to whatever she has next.
    • 5/5
      i really enjoyed this. it was a good read on the plane
    • 4/5
      Poignant tale of family ties and broken hearts and the ultimate road to acceptance and second chances. The protagonists, Taisy and Willow are sisters, a generation apart, that were separated by their egotistical and flawed father. Their alternating points of view reveal heartbreaking secrets and complex family dynamics. This intricately woven tale details the evolution of their relationship. A gem of a book with a satisfying conclusion.
    • 4/5
      Many thanks to librarything.com for sending The Precious One, by Marisa De Los Santos, in return for an honest review.I love the way Marisa De Los Santos writes. There is an easiness to her writing and style without sacrificing depth of content. She has such a sense of her characters and develops them so fully that the reader becomes emotionally invested in them. Many of her characters are my long-time favorites like Cornelia Brown, Clare and Teo from Love Walked In and Belong to Me. I will be adding Willow, Taisy, Caro and Luka to that list of characters that have touched me.The novel is about a complicated family. There is a father, Wilson, who fractured his first family by not just having an affair but through his cruelty and neglect. It is one thing when a person does not seem to have the capacity to love, but this man was able to start again with his mistress and their child, Willow, as a much softer, gentler, kinder man, a much better version of himself. His eldest daughter Taisy is trying to reconcile the intense hatred her father continues to have for her and her twin brother and the devotion and genuine love for his daughter Willow. The relationships that developed between Willow and Taisy, Taisy and Caro and Willow and Luka were ones that could have gone on and on forever for this reader. I enjoyed them so much. I was less connected with the relationship between Taisy and Ben.But, this novel is not without its faults. By the end of the book you get a glimpse into Wilson and some reasons as to why he is the way he is, but there is no real satisfactory explanation as to his dismissal of one family while he exhibits such pure joy and acceptance for the other. There could never be a resolution, but a cathartic confrontation was warranted, in fact, needed. Perhaps, there are situations and actions in life that can never be explained. Recommended
    • 3/5
      Taisy was more likeable, but Willow was much more of a complex and layered character. Their father, Wilson, was a sad caricature of a grouchy old man. I did like the storyline for Willow, but the overly saccharine ending was so cheesy. I've realized that is the formula that the author uses. The story begins with abandonment, tragedy, recovery, followed by unbelievable family reunions and grudges being swept away with the wind. It was refreshing in her first book Love Walked In, but now its just tired, predictable and unrealistic. I skimmed the last 20 pages of the book because I'd already spent too much time of my life on it to stop so close to the end.
    • 4/5
      Loved this book. Really glad I got to review it and find out what an awesome author she is. I will definitely be reading her other books. The story flips back and forth between two half sisters who share an overbearing father. The story was tender, smart and romantic without all the fluff like other novels. Thank you for sharing this one!
    • 5/5
      The Precious One by Marisa de los Santos was an enjoyable book. There were a number of themes that were addressed and it was nice how the story was told by two sisters in alternating chapters to provide more depth and differing viewpoints to the the story. The sisters did not know each other previously (they have the same father, but were not in contact until one was an adult and the other was in high school) and how their friendship evolved . Untimately it was about families, second chances and relationships.
    • 5/5
      Told from the alternating perspectives of two of Wilson's daughters (the first one, and then the one who came from the second marriage), this is a story of discovery- of family, of self, of love and life and the freedom that comes with accepting what has happened, for better or worse. I love de los Santos's writing- so achingly beautiful in spots, so real and raw in others. Her characters defy caricature and insist on being three dimensional. I teared up in a couple spots because the emotion is conveyed so well, it's as if the events are happening to good friends. Bravo, Marisa de los Santoas, and thank you!
    • 4/5
      I loved this new book by Marisa los Santos. Wilson Cleary, a pompous, self righteous man, abandons his first wife and twins, Taisy and Marcus, when he marries Caro and has another daughter, Willow. He asks Taisy to visit under the pretext that he wants her to write his biography. Taisy becomes close to Willow, and helps her sister who has lived a very sheltered life.Wonderful writing! Great book!
    • 5/5
      I absolutely loved this book. Once again Marisa De Los Santos has woven a tale of broken lives that have somehow found a way to become whole again in an unexpeted way. The story of Taisy and Willow and their father Wilson will captivate you from the beginning and leave you breathless at the end. Beautiful.
    • 5/5
      To think that I didn't realize she had another book out there waiting for me to find! Her writing just makes me want to read, or listen in this case---wonderful, wonderful story material that flows. I loved the double narrative between Taisy and Willow.
    • 5/5
      Wilson cut his first wife and twins (Taisy and Marcus) out of his life when the children were 18 and remarried and had another daughter, Willow. The story begins when Willow is 16 and Wilson has had a serious heart attack. Willow, who has until now been homeschooled by Wilson, is sent to high school and Wilson summons Taisy and Marcus. Marcus refuses to go, but Taisy still seeks her father's affection and agrees to visit for a few weeks.The story is told in alternating chapters from the viewpoints of Taisy and Willow and I am rounding up generously to 4.5 stars because I thought the Willow/Luka/Mr Insley sections were perfect. I liked the echoing of the Middlemarch storyline and found Willow's actions and reactions very plausible and relatable. The Taisy sections were not quite as convincing for me - I thought her relationships with Caro (the second wife) and with Willow were well-done, but there was something just slightly off for me about her interactions with Ben. The revealing of the secrets of Wilson's past was intriguing for a while, but the ultimate revelation by Barbara of the supposed root of all Wilson's problems just didn't seem sufficient somehow.
    • 4/5
      The Precious One is a great book that really makes you think about the title. Usually when there are two narrators, I find myself liking one over the other, but not so with this book. I could relate the most to Taisy, and loved that she was trying to undercover the "mystery" that is her father, but Willow made this feel almost like a YA novel, which is my favorite genre. This combined so many elements that I love, that I could not help greatly enjoying reading this.
    • 4/5
      As Marisa de los Santos' The Precious One opens, Taisy Cleary receives a phone out of the blue from her estranged father Wilson, the man who left her mother, twin brother Marcus and her to marry a young sculptor. After not hearing from the man in ages, he calls her to inform her that he had a heart attack two weeks ago and summons her to his home to discuss an important matter.Marcus tells Taisy she is crazy to go see the man, but Taisy cannot say no. When she arrives, she finds that her father- a brilliant professor, inventor and self-made millionaire- wants her to help him write his memoir. Or rather, he will dictate it to Taisy and she can interview the many people who think he is brilliant too.Taisy says yes, even though she has to stay in the poolhouse. (You wouldn't expect her to be allowed to stay in her father's house with his wife and brilliant and beautiful golden child Willow, would you?)The only thing Willow knows about her half sister is that Taisy committed some horrible act when she was a teenager that made Wilson infuriated and lose all respect for her. Now Taisy is in their lives and Willow feels she must protect her father from her.The story is told from the alternating perspectives of Taisy and Willow. Taisy is curious about her father and his other family and slowly comes to care for Willow and her mother. Willow has been isolated from most other people, being homeschooled and smothered by her father's attention.As Taisy and Willow get to know each other, they come to understand and even like each other. Taisy helps Willow join the outside world, teaching her the things she needs to know.As I read this book, I felt like Taisy could be a character in an Adriana Trigiani novel. She is a hardworking woman with a good sense of humor, and an even more developed sense of right and wrong. There's even a crazy family dinner scene that reminded me of the Roncalli family ones from Trigiani's Valentine series.The ladies in the book club all agreed that we liked Taisy, she might even make a great addition to our book club. Her growing affection for Willow and Willow's mother was touching and sweet. One of our members has twins, so she especially enjoyed the relationship between Taisy and Marcus.We did not like Wilson, he was pompous and self-righteous, although Taisy's discovery of his past helped to mitigate that feeling somewhat (OK, just a little bit).This was the first book I have read of de los Santos, and I would like to read more of them. I like her style of writing, and the way she was able to write in the voices of two distinct characters.If you're looking for a good family story, The Precious One is an excellent choice.
    • 4/5
      Liked it, didn't love it. A lot of things rang true with me about step families. The father's back story just didn't seem plausible somehow. It would have almost been better to leave it a mystery why he was a nutcase.
    • 5/5
      This book took my breath away, page after page. A rare joy to read. The writing is just so beautiful. True talent. It was like eating chocolate - such a delicious sensation. And though Ms. de los Santos is a contemporary writer, there was none of the modern slang and disregard for the beauty of the language - that appealed to me too. Phrase after phrase - pure craftsmanship. Giving it five stars with all my heart.