📚 The Conditions of Will by Jessa Hastings — Book Review & Reflections (2025)
⭐ Quick Take
I’ve never felt more grateful for my own family than after finishing this book. The Conditions of Will is a layered, emotionally intense story about trauma, identity, and the complicated, often painful path toward healing—especially when those around you refuse to change. While the romance element felt a bit repetitive for me, the emotional depth and family dynamics more than made up for it.
📖 Genre: Contemporary Fiction / Romance / Literary Drama
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🎯 Rating: 4.3/5
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🖋️ What’s It About?
At its core, The Conditions of Will is a deeply emotional novel centered around Georgia Carter, a woman with an uncanny ability to read people—and a past she’s spent years trying to silence. When her estranged father’s death pulls her back into the orbit of her complex, dysfunctional family, long-buried secrets start to surface.
As Georgia confronts the truth about her childhood, her father, and herself, she’s also navigating a forbidden connection with Sam, her brother’s AA sponsor. It’s a book about unraveling: of lies, identities, and relationships, and what happens when you stop hiding from the truth—even when others still do.
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🧠 First Impressions
Going in, I expected a compelling family drama, but I wasn’t prepared for how much it would hit emotionally. I found myself reflecting a lot on my own family dynamics. This book dug up a lot: grief, guilt, resentment, and love, all tangled together.
There were moments I was bored or frustrated with the romance arc—it often felt repetitive—but when I zoom out, it served a larger purpose in showing how our patterns in love often reflect our unresolved wounds.
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🕵️♀️ Themes & Takeaways
This book dives deep into the uncomfortable reality that healing doesn’t always come with closure—or change from those who hurt us. It’s about what it means to accept yourself, even when others won’t. And it asks: Can you find peace when the people who broke you still refuse to own what they’ve done?
Some of the major themes that stood out to me:
• Truth vs. Silence — how much it costs to finally speak, and how freeing it can be
• Family trauma & favoritism — the way siblings can be assigned roles that define their whole lives
• Self-worth — especially in the context of abuse, secrecy, and parental rejection
• Love as risk — and how love rooted in truth is always messier, but more real
One of my biggest takeaways: Healing is not about fixing other people—it’s about freeing yourself, even if no one else comes with you.
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🎨 Writing Style & Pacing
Jessa Hastings has a beautifully observant writing style—layered, introspective, and full of quiet tension. That said, some parts of the book, especially the romantic repetition between Georgia and Sam, slowed the pacing for me. But Hastings nails emotional complexity and inner monologue.
If you like character-driven stories that linger on nuance and don’t rush to the next plot point, you’ll love her voice.
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👥 Characters
Georgia is one of the most complex protagonists I’ve read in a while. Her trauma isn’t just part of her backstory—it shapes every interaction, every silence, every impulse. Sam, too, is layered, though at times I wished we got more depth from him beyond his role in Georgia’s journey.
Oliver stood out for me—his pain, his honesty, and his redemption arc hit hard. The rest of the Carter family? A tangle of secrets, silence, and bitterness. But that’s what made them real.
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👍 What Worked For Me
• The raw, unflinching honesty about trauma and healing
• Complex sibling dynamics that felt deeply authentic
• The setting and tone... moody, intimate, immersive
• A genuinely shocking plot twist that I didn’t see coming
• The emotional payoff at the end
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👎 What Didn’t Land
• The romance arc felt overly repetitive in parts
• Some pacing issues, especially mid-way through
• Secondary characters (like Maryanne) sometimes felt a little underdeveloped or one-dimensional
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📚 Recommended For…
• Readers who enjoy deep, emotionally charged fiction
• Fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid or Colleen Hoover, but want more depth around family trauma
• Anyone who’s ever struggled to feel accepted in their own family
• People drawn to books about messy healing, unspoken truths, and self-redemption
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💬 Final Thoughts
The Conditions of Will left me emotionally spent in the best way. While I had mixed feelings about parts of the romance, the depth of the story—particularly around truth, self-worth, and familial dysfunction—stuck with me long after the final page.
This is not a tidy book. But that’s exactly why it matters. It reflects the real-life chaos of healing when those around you are still choosing denial. It’s about deciding to move forward anyway.
🔗 Grab your copy here: https://amzn.to/42vKPVu
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💡 Bonus: Pair It With…
• 🎶 Song: “Family Line” by Conan Gray
• ☕ Drink: Black coffee with a splash of oat milk—strong, a little bitter, but grounding
• 📘 If you liked this, try: Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane or The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller
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🗣️ Let’s Talk!
Have you read The Conditions of Will? What did you think about Georgia’s journey or the role of truth in the story? Drop your thoughts or favorite quotes in the comments—I’d love to hear your take.
