Taisy hasn't seen her dad, Wilson for years. Seventeen years ago he walked out in her, her twin brother Marcus, and their Mom. Two weeks ago her father had a heart attack and surgery after and now he wants to see her. She has only seen him once in seventeen years. Taisy Cleary is an awesome young woman in love with three men -- her twin brother, her high school sweetheart and her absent father. She also knows next to nothing about her step-sister and Taisy has always wondered about the girl who replaced her.

THE PRECIOUS ONE is the story of Taisy and Willow and how they are forced to get to know one another. Willow is sixteen and has never had any kind of relationship with Taisy even though they are step sisters. Of course, the person who ties them together is their shared father, Wilson. And his story is just as gripping. When you finally learn his past, it will help you to make sense of his behavior. It doesn't excuse it or make it go away or make the damage that he has done over the years any less heartbreaking.

Wilson is requesting Taisy to come and help him work on his memoirs about his academic accomplishments which has her revisiting her relationship with her father. Taisy agrees reluctantly and begins to uncover many secrets about her Dad like the existence of his estranged sister and his abusive early home life. THE PRECIOUS ONE is the story of a father's two families. One he abandoned many years ago and one he has given all the love in his heart too. When those families come together, hurt then understanding and then a questionable relationship begins to build. It is mostly the story of Willow, the apple of her father Wilson's eye and Taisy, the one who was a disappointment to him years earlier.

I have been a huge fan of Marisa de los Santos ever since reading Belong To Me and THE PRECIOUS ONE does not disappoint. The only thing I will suggest is that you not start reading it at night unless you have nothing to do the next day. You won't be able to put this wonderful novel down. THE PRECIOUS ONE is written from two different viewpoints...two sisters who have no relationship besides a shared father. But in the end this is about family in all its shapes and sizes, forgiveness, truth and most of all love. Marisa de los Santos has once again hooked me from the very first page and never let me go. My heart was breaking for both of these girls and what they were going through.