Review: True Colors by Kristin Hannah

The Grey sisters have always been close. After their mother’s death, the girls banded together, becoming best friends. Their stern, disapproving father cares less about his children than about his reputation. To Henry Grey, appearances are everything, and years later, he still demands that his daughters reflect his standing in the community.

Winona, the oldest, needs her father’s approval most of all. An overweight bookworm who never felt at home on the sprawling horse ranch that has been in her family for three generations, she knows that she doesn’t have the qualities her father values. But as the best lawyer in town, she’s determined to someday find a way to prove her worth to him.

Aurora, the middle sister, is the family peacemaker. She brokers every dispute and tries to keep them all happy, even as she hides her own secret pain.

Vivi Ann is the undisputed star of the family. A stunningly beautiful dreamer with a heart as big as the ocean in front of her house, she is adored by all who know her. Everything comes easily for Vivi Ann, until a stranger comes to town. . . .

In a matter of moments, everything will change. The Grey sisters will be pitted against one another in ways that none could have imagined. Loyalties will be tested and secrets revealed, and a terrible, shocking crime will shatter both their family and their beloved town.

With breathtaking pace and penetrating emotional insight, True Colors is an unforgettable novel about sisters, rivalry, forgiveness, redemption—and ultimately, what it means to be a family.

I knew there was a reason that I didn’t read Kristin Hannah very often. The emotion in her books is almost more than I can take. I still remember reading Home Again; I thought about it for months afterward. At least this time I knew what to expect, so I was partly ready for the emotional punch that I knew this book would pack.

I would clarify this more as women’s fiction. While there is romance, the book is more about the bonds of family. The book starts in 1979 when Winona, Aurora, and Vivi Ann’s mother dies. It continues to 1992, when the girls are all grown up. Winona’s first love comes back to Oyster Shores and Winona can only hope that Luke sees her as something other than his best friend. She doesn’t count on Luke’s attraction to Vivi Ann and is devastated when they start dating. Though Aurora warned her repeatedly to tell Vivi Ann, Winona held her silence while the two where dating and even after they got engaged. She kept hoping that something would go wrong, Vivi Ann would break Luke’s heart and she would be there to pick up the pieces.

I didn’t like Winona at all from the beginning. In fact, it was only the last 20 pages or so that I actually liked her. She was a self-absorbed, selfish bitch that only thought about herself. She wanted daddy’s approval more than anything else, even though she had never gotten it. She acted like everything she did in life was to help her family, but her main concern was helping herself. I had absolutely no pity or compassion for her when Luke started dating Vivi Ann. Aurora gave her sound advice when she told Win to tell Vivi Ann how she felt. The bonds of sisterhood would have withstood Winona’s confession. But she was too stubborn to tell Vivi Ann and the jealously festered in her like a disease.

Vivi Ann is the youngest in the family and the most beautiful. Never taken seriously, Vivi Ann is determined to turn the family ranch into a profitable business. When Dallas Raintree is hired as their ranch hand, Vivi is instantly attracted to him and the attraction is mutual. Suddenly there is a man that sees her as more than a pretty doll. There’s only one problem…she’s engaged to Luke. She can’t stay away from Dallas, though. After they’re together for the first time, Vivi goes to find Luke to tell him she can’t marry him, but Winona has beaten her to it. That made the rift between the sisters a little bit wider.

The years go on. Dallas and Vivi have married and had a child. The ranch is profitable and Vivi has never been happier. Then Dallas is arrested and charged for a crime he didn’t commit. She begs Winona to help Dallas, which as a lawyer, is in her power to do. Winona refuses, having seen Dallas as an interloper in their family all along. And that is the final tear in their relationship.

Reading about Vivi and Dallas going through what they went through was simply awful. Vivi has had to drag herself back from the verge of destruction so she can be the mother her son needs her to be. Dallas has cut himself off from her and Vivi accepts that he’s trying to protect her. It’s not until Noah is a teenager and starting to ask questions about his father that the wound between the sisters is once again opened.

This time, Winona is determined to do the right thing. She sees herself for who she has been and wants to right the wrong she has done to both Vivi and Dallas. It takes time, but Winona has faith in the law and knows that Dallas isn’t where he belongs.

The book was emotional. The reunion at the end of the book was extremely emotional. Reading about Noah’s confusion and him trying to find his way was just heartbreaking. I really felt for him. And Vivi…*sigh*. She would have done anything for either of her sisters and the fact that her oldest sister turned her back on her when she needed her was almost too much for her to take. I think that seeing Vivi grow up from a 24 year old carefree girl to a 39 year old heartbroken woman was the hardest thing to read. If anyone deserved a happy ending, it was her.

4 out of 5.

This book is available from St. Martin’s Press. You can buy it here.

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