Flimsy justifications are at the epicenter of all crimes and misdeeds. So laments, Max Lipton, the narrator of this compelling contemporary family drama set in intensely beautiful Nova Scotia, Canada. Told in the first person by seventeen-year-old, Max, this engaging story deals with life's eternal questions as seen through tender teenage eyes. Tragedy comes with Max's fifteen-year-old cousin, Molli. Her family has died and she has been shipped off to Nova Scotia to live with Max and his parents, people she barely knows. Over the course of eight summer weeks, Max and Molli are forced to fight their secret battles alone, and finally together. The Christian themes in this novel are subtle but real, and are personified in a stranger Molli meets while walking by the ocean. This touching but deep story is a breezy read set in the fictional ocean side community of Chandler's Cove. "Breezy" yes, but it carries the pleasurable weight of a classic. Check www.brianlcox.com for details.