From Publishers Weekly
In this show-biz drama by the author of Beaches, two first cousins and former best friends rekindle their friendship while struggling with questions of mental illness, genius and personal integrity. As teenagers, Sunny and Dahlia Gordon created an intense bond though a shared love of music. Sunny, five years older than Dahlia, is the wilder and by far the more creative of the two, and her talent inspires Dahlia to write lyrics. Their music is good, and their friendship singular, but when Sunny's eccentricities devolve into a dangerous mental illness and her well-meaning family can no longer cope with her, she is placed in a mental institution. The cousins lose contact with each other until 25 years later, when Dahlia is living in Los Angeles and earning a living as a masseuse while trying to sell her songs. Possessed of an ambitious pragmatism that allows her to slide easily into ethical lapses, Dahlia reconnects with Sunny, who is living in a halfway house in San Diego, in order to get a song out of her. From this point on, the women are together again, each helping the other find her way out of desperate situations. Dart keeps the story moving at a fast clip with generous helpings of weddings, funerals, sing-alongs and spontaneous disrobings of the (gorgeous) Sunny. These made-for-the-movies moments are balanced by Dahlia's acerbic wit, making this an entertaining if formulaic read. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
Moira Driscoll's hushed voice gets a good story off to a slow start, but listeners who hang in through the first couple of tapes will be glad they did. A down-on-her-luck songwriter tries to stage a comeback through her schizophrenic cousin. Their separate journeys intertwine through paths of music, family history, and romantic love to daring destinations for each. While Driscoll's breathy narrative never lose its muzzy quality, her characterizations exhibit individualism and depth, particularly those of the two cousins. Her portrayal of a young child doesn't ring true, but this insignificant character matters little. Driscoll's compassion for complex people and situations saves the performance. R.P.L. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
She may not write the songs the whole world sings, but budding songwriter Dahlia Green has had one bona fide hit and is on the verge of a second. Trouble is, she can't take sole credit for the song that has caught the ear of a Hollywood producer; this she shares with her cousin, Sunny, a schizophrenic who has been out of Dahlia's life for 25 years. Getting Sunny's signature is the ticket to Dahlia's dreams of stardom, and like other visions of a golden life, will be nearly impossible to obtain. As Dart turns to the heady world of entertainment for her familiar themes of love, family, and friendship, she shines the spotlight on the recording industry and a love of music that offers both her unsettled young women characters a means of escape. Despite the predictability of its conclusions, Dart's latest novel unexpectedly excels at shedding light on the dark subject of schizophrenia. By transforming Dahlia's selfish ambition into selfless empathy for her cousin's illness, Dart again demonstrates her considerable talent for showcasing sympathetic characters facing serious situations with grace and aplomb. Carol Haggas
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Description

Cousins Dahlia and Sunny Gordon were best friends growing up, bounded by a shared love for making music. When Dahlia's soulful lyrics combined with Sunny's soaring melodies, magic happened, and they promised they would stick together all the way to the top. But a darkness was descending on Sunny, one that would ultimately plunge her into a nightmare of solitude and schizophrenia. After their lives were torn apart, a quarter of a century would pass before the two would meet again.

After long, struggling years, Dahlia's dream of making it in the L.A. music business rests on one song. Desperate for success, Dahlia must find her cousin again in order to secure the rights to the song that promises fame and great fortune.

But Sunny refuses to sign a contract, and Dahlia discovers there are no depths she will not sink in order to get what she wants -- even if it means moving her tragically damaged cousin into her own home. For the first time since she was a girl -- and, perhaps, ever -- she will have to put someone else's needs before her own, and her own life will be unexpectedly transformed in the process.

About the Author
Iris Rainer Dart is the author of eight novels, including the much-beloved New York Times bestseller Beaches. The mother of two children, she lives in California with her husband.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Cousins and childhood best friends Dahlia and Sunny Gordon shared a love for making music that was as radiant as the California sunshine. But a darkness was descending on Sunny that would ultimately plunge her into a nightmare of solitude and schizophrenia and tear their lives apart.

Years later, Dahlia's dream of making it in the L.A. music business rests on one forgotten song. Desperate for success, she must find her cousin again in order to secure fame and fortune. There are no depths Dahlia will not sink to in order to get what she wants -- even if it means moving her cousin, demons and all, into her own home.

Yet selfish motives and greed are, remarkably, leading Dahlia somewhere she never imagined she'd go. For the first time she will have to put someone else's needs before her own, and her own life will be unexpectedly transformed in the process.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

Dahlia, Los Angeles masseuse and aspiring songwriter, hasn't penned a hit song in years. Just as her house and romantic relationship fall into disrepair, a rich but extremely repugnant film producer client mentions he needs a title song for his new movie Stay by My Side. Luckily for Dahlia, this was the title of a great song she wrote with her cousin Sunny, a schizophrenic she hasn't seen in 25 years. Dahlia dusts off the old reel-to-reel recording, copies it to a CD, and sends it off to the producer, who, of course, loves it. Contract in hand, Dahlia sets out to locate Sunny, whose signature she needs to close the deal. However, when she finds her cousin at a group home in San Diego, the years of antipsychotic medication have left her a shell of the vivacious young woman Dahlia remembers-and, to make matters worse, Sunny refuses to sell their song. Although the characters are memorable, the plot often crawls along-something exacerbated by the deliberate pace at which Moira Driscoll reads the novel. For large fiction collections.-Beth Farrell, Portage Cty. Dist. Lib., OH Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews